But the cormorant and the bittern shall possess it; the owl also and the raven shall dwell in it: and he shall stretch out upon it the line of confusion, and the stones of emptiness.
The cormorant - the Hebrew, quaath, is rendered, in Psalms 102:6, pelican. The best authorities think the pelican is meant here also. Its etymology, from a root, 'to vomit,' refers to the pelican's habit of pressing its under mandible against its breast, in order to disgorge its pouch for its young. Hence, arose the fable of its feeding its young with its blood, the red nail on the upper mandible completing the delusion. The pelican is a water-bird, and after having filled its pouch with fish and mollusks, retires miles inland away from water to some spot where it consumes the contents of its pouch.
Bittern - the hedgehog or porcupine (Gesenius). But see in favour of the English version, note, Isaiah 14:23.
Owl - from its being enumerated among water-birds in Leviticus 11:17; Deuteronomy 14:16. Maurer thinks rather the heron or crane is meant; yanshowp (H3244), from a Hebrew root, nashap (H5398), to blow, as it utters a sound like the blowing of a horn (Revelation 18:2). The Chaldaic and Arabic translate, as the English version, 'the screech owl.' So Bochart, deriving it from a Hebrew root, 'twilight,' neshepth. The Septuagint and Vulgate translate, 'the ibis, the sacred bird of Egypt.'
Confusion - devastation.
Line ... stones - metaphor from an architect with line and plummet-stone (note, Isaiah 18:2; Isaiah 28:17; God will render to it the exact measure of justice without mercy, James 2:13; 2 Kings 21:13; Lamentations 2:8; Amos 7:7-8).
Of emptiness - desolation. Edom is now a waste of "stones."