What Does Isaiah 13:22 Mean?
And the coastland creatures will cry out in their emptied houses, and jackals in the palaces of delight; her time is near to come, and her days will not be drawn out.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And the wild beasts of the islands shall cry in their desolate houses, and dragons in their pleasant palaces: and her time is near to come, and her days shall not be prolonged.THE KEY
The end draws near while the city’s days cannot be drawn out, its splendor cannot stretch its appointed time.
THE MEANING
The verse places wild cries inside the houses and palaces, where delight and security are meant to dwell. The city’s appointed time draws near, and its days cannot be extended. It speaks to you now wherever a polished structure is mistaken for proof of permanence.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A place that looks splendid and secure can still postpone its ending indefinitely.
THE ROOT
יִמָּשֵׁכוּ
yimmāshekhu
GROWS FROM
משך
To draw, pull, or extend.
The verse says the city’s days will not be drawn out. Hebrew makes duration feel like something pulled farther; here, that extension stops.
ALSO GROWS
māshakh: To draw or pull.
מָשַׁךְ
The root’s basic action gives “prolonged” a physical sense: time is not pulled farther along.
nimshakh: To continue or be drawn out.
נִמְשַׁךְ
This form carries the sense of something continuing; the verse says the city’s days will not continue beyond their limit.
קָרוֹב
qarov
GROWS FROM
קרב
To approach or draw near.
“near” in this verse is qarov. Qarov describes nearness as movement toward arrival, not simply short distance. Here, what approaches is the city’s appointed time, paired with the statement that its days will not be extended.
ALSO GROWS
qārav: To approach or draw near.
קָרַב
The verb shows the movement inside “near”: the city’s time is on its way to arrival.
qorbān: That which is brought near; a drawing-near.
קָרְבָּן
This related word preserves the root’s movement toward nearness, echoing the verse’s approaching time.
עֹנֶג
ʿōneg
GROWS FROM
ענג
To be delicate or luxurious; to take delight.
“pleasant” in this verse is ʿōneg. The palaces are described as places of delight or luxury, yet wild cries occupy them. The shared root connects pleasure with the very rooms that the verse shows losing their former character.
ALSO GROWS
hitʿannēg: To take delight or luxuriate.
הִתְעַנֵּג
This verb uses the same root for delight as an experience, showing that luxury names a condition, not a promise of permanence.
ʿōneg: Delight or luxury.
עֹנֶג
This noun appears in the verse’s description of the palaces, so the contrast between pleasure and wild habitation is carried by the wording itself.
THE PATTERN
A city’s collapse is pictured through its grand spaces becoming habitats for wild or unclean creatures.
Thorns rise in its palaces, nettles and brambles in its fortresses. It becomes a dwelling for jackals, a courtyard for the ostriches.And he cried out with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great has fallen, has fallen, and has become the place where demons settle, and the holding place of every unclean breath, and the holding place of every unclean and hated bird.THE THREAD
The LORD is near to all who call out to him, to all who call out to him in truth.Isaiah calls the city’s time קָרוֹב (qarov, near); Psalm 145:18 uses the same Hebrew word for the LORD being nigh to those who call. The root means drawing near, while each verse’s subject shows whether what approaches is an ending or help.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us