Isaiah 34:16-17

16, 17. Seek ye out of the book From the recorded prophecies delivered by Isaiah from Jehovah many a time heretofore, declaring judgments the like unto this one, and read, ponder. Not one of the creatures here alluded to shall fail; not one shall “want,” nor be without, its mate; not one shall miss the other: for, commanded by Jehovah, the prophet assuredly believed what he had declared. He also is to write it down, for other prophets after him to attest its truth by observing its fulfilment in the due time. The creatures named shall surely be gathered by the breath or command, the providence, of Jehovah, into that doomed land, and the “satyr” and the “screech owl,” names used by the prophet for poetic, spectral expression of effect, but which he endorsed not as fact, they too shall be there, fit place for the gathering of devils as the popular belief would have it and as a seclusion truly most appropriate for them in point of fact.

He hath cast the lot Such an allotment Jehovah has accurately, as by a measuring line, laid out for them. It is their legitimate home for ever.

The desolateness of this so graphically described region is also emblematic of the spiritual desolations that shall yet sweep over all nations, and peoples, and individuals who, like ancient Edom, join themselves in hostilities to the overthrow of the truth and kingdom of God. All these shall fall, never to rise again. But the next chapter the contrast to this and the closing part of the prophecy commencing with this, presents an opposite destiny for all who are the friends of God. They pass, as through a dark and sad desert of tribulations, to an entirely new change of scene, when Messiah is fully come, and God’s foes are overthrown.