Isaiah 43:20 - Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Bible Comments

The beast of the field shall honor me - The sense of this passage is plain, and the image is highly poetical and beautiful. God would pour such copious floods of waters through the waste sandy deserts to supply his people, that even the wild beasts would be sensible of his abundant goodness, and would break forth into thanksgiving and praise for the unusual supply.

The dragons - (See the note at Isaiah 13:22). The Septuagint renders the word used here (תנין tannı̂yn), by σειρῆνες seirēnes - ’sirens’ - among the ancients a marine monster that was fabled to use sweet and alluring tones of music. It is probable, however, that the Septuagint understood here some species of wild-fowl which responded to one another. The Syriac translator here interprets it as denoting some wild animal of the canine species - a wood-dog.

And the owls - Margin, as Hebrew, ‘Daughters of the owl, or ostrich’ (see the note at Isaiah 13:21).

Isaiah 43:20

20 The beast of the field shall honour me, the dragons and the owls:d because I give waters in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert, to give drink to my people, my chosen.