Isaias 13:22
And owls shall answer one another there, in the houses thereof, and sirens in the temples of pleasure.
Open Isaias 13:22 in the Motif Searcher, word by word across all five texts →Show on the spiral →The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- et respondebunt ibi ululæ in ædibus ejus, et sirenes in delubris voluptatis.
- Septuagint (Swete)
- καὶ ὀνοκένταυροι ἐκεῖ κατοικήσουσιν, καὶ νοσσοποιήσουσιν ἐχῖνοι ἐν τοῖς οἴκοις αὐτῶν. ταχὺ ἔρχεται καὶ οὐ χρονιεῖ.
- Hebrew (WLC)
- וְעָנָ֤ה אִיִּים֙ בְּאַלְמנוֹתָ֔יו וְתַנִּ֖ים בְּהֵ֣יכְלֵי עֹ֑נֶג וְקָר֤וֹב לָבוֹא֙ עִתָּ֔הּ וְיָמֶ֖יהָ לֹ֥א יִמָּשֵֽׁכוּ
Haydock's commentary
Owls. Or jackals, which resemble foxes, and going in packs, will devour the largest creatures. (Bochart) (Parkhurst in aje.) (Haydock)
But St. Jerome explains it of birds, Job xxviii. 7., and Leviticus xiv.
Sirens, fabulously supposed to be sweet singing women with wings.
Thannim denotes some great sea monsters, such as whales or sea calves. (Calmet)
From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.
The Fathers on this verse
St Jerome Against Vigilantius
1. The world has given birth to many monsters; inIsaiah we read of centaurs and sirens, screech-owls and pelicans. Job, in mystic language, describes Leviathan and Behemoth; Cerberus and the birds of Stymphalus, the Erymanthian boar and the Nemean lion, the Chimæra and the many-headed Hydra, are told of in poetic fables. Virgil describes Cacus. Spain has produced Geryon, with his three bodies. Gaul alone has had no monsters, but has ever been rich in men of courage and great eloquence. All at once Vigilantius, or, more correctly, Dormitantius , has arisen, animated by an unclean spirit, to fight against the Spirit of Christ, and to deny that religious reverence is to be paid to the tombs of the martyrs. Vigils, he says, are to be condemned; Alleluia must never be sung except at Easter; continence is a heresy; chastity a hot-bed of lust. …