What Does Isaiah 13:22 Mean in the King James?
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 analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
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.
“prolonged” in this verse is yimmāshekhu. 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.
And thorns shall come up in her palaces, nettles and brambles in the fortresses thereof: and it shall be an habitation of dragons, and a court for owls.And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.THE THREAD
The LORD is nigh unto all them that call upon him, to all that call upon 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.
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