Therefore the wild beasts of the desert with the wild beasts of the islands shall dwell [there],.... Of these creatures
Isaiah 13:21; and
and the owls shall dwell therein; so mystical Babylon when fallen shall become the habitation of devils, the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird, Revelation 18:2;
and it shall be no more inhabited for ever; neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation; interpreters observe that this was gradually accomplished: it was taken by Cyrus, and made tributary to the Persians; the seat of the empire was removed from it; its walls were demolished by Darius; it was drained both of its inhabitants and its riches through Seleucus Nicator building the city Seleucia r near it. In Adrian's time there was nothing but an old wall left; and in Jerom's time it was a park for the king of Persia to hunt in;
Jeremiah 50:13; and
r Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 6. c. 26.