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 wild beasts of the islands - rather, jackals. Jyyim-literally, howlings called by the Arabs sons of howling: an animal standing midway between a fox and a wolf (Bochart and Maurer).
Shall cry - rather х `aanah (H6030)], answer, respond to each other, as wolves do at night, producing a most dismal effect. Dragons - serpents of various species, which hiss and utter dolorous sounds. Fable gave them wings, because they stand with much of the body elevated, and then dart swiftly.
Her time is near - though 174 years distant, yet "near" to Isaiah, who is supposed to be speaking to the Jews as if now captives in Babylon (Isaiah 14:1-2).
Remarks: When God has a work of righteous vengeance to execute, He is at no loss for instruments; He can wield at will the passions of haughty warriors to carry out His purposes. If the elect nation were doomed, because of sin, to succumb to Babylon for a time, Babylon herself must ultimately fall forever before the "sanctified ones," who are God's executioners. How consolatory to the people of God to know that, though chastened temporarily, they shall not be destroyed ultimately; but their enemy, who triumphed over them, shall be laid forever low! The day of the Lord shall come on unpardoned, because unbelieving, sinners "as a destruction from the Almighty," sudden, stupefying, and irresistible. The "cruel" shall be paid in their own coin: "he shall have judgment without mercy that hath showed no mercy." "The arrogancy of the proud shall cease, and the haughtiness of the terrible be laid low." Revolutions in the world of nature shall probably accompany the vengeance which shall overtake sinners in the spiritual and the political world.