“Yahweh will stretch out
His hand
Against the north.
He will destroy
Assyria.
He will make
Nineveh
A desolation,
A dry waste,
Like the desert.
Herds shall lie down in it.
Every wild animal
Shall lie down in it.
The desert owl,
The screech owl
Shall lodge
On its capitals
The owl shall hoot
At the window.
The raven shall croak
On the threshold.
Its cedar works
Will be laid bare.”
Yahweh was going to stretch out his hand to destroy the enemy of Israel to the north, the Assyrians. He had just punished the people on the west, the Philistines, the people on the east, the Moabites and the Ammonites, and the people to the south, the Ethiopians. Yahweh was going to make northern Nineveh a desolate wasteland desert. Every kind of wild animal and various herds would live there. A variety of owls would nest in their ornate towers. Owls would hoot at their windows, while ravens would croak at their doorsteps. All their cedar wood work would be open to the weather.
Eugene Finnegan Bible Project 