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"The hebrew word translated here as 'screech owl' is 'lilith'
and that is the name given to a monster of the night. It is
derived from 'lilitu', the name given it in Babylonian mythology
and that is itself derived from the Semitic word for 'night'.
The Revised Standard Version strengthens the verse by making it
read: 'there shall the night hag alight'.
"(The darkness has always been filled with fearsome things, both in reality, when mankind had to face nocturnal predators, and in imagination, when thins half-seen in dim moonlight took on menacing shapes, and sounds from objects unseen rent the soul with fright. We who now live in a world where artificial lighting has abolished the dark tend to forget how frightening the night can be and how easy it is to people the night with monsters.) "The later rabbis personified the night had and made her into Lilith, a beautiful woman who was Adam's wife before Eve was created. He could not endure her because she was so shrewish (or perhaps she could not endure him because he as so sober and grave) and they parted. She became a demon of the night who, according to some stories, joined with the serpent to bring about the fall of Adam and eve, and who is of special danger to children ever since, perhaps because of her rage at her own childlessness." |
| Asimov's Guide to the Bible, page 546 |
| And the desert creatures shall meet with the wolves, The hairy goat also shall cry to its kind; Yes, the night monster shall settle there And shall find herself a resting place. -- ISA 34:14 |
| New American Standard |
|
Isai 34:14 (av) The wild beasts of the desert <6728> shall
also meet <6298> <8804> with the wild beasts of the
island <338>, and the satyr <8163> shall cry
<7121> <8799> to his fellow <7453>; the
screech owl <3917> also shall rest <7280>
<8689> there, and find <4672> <8804> for
herself a place of rest <4494>.
Lexicon Hebrew 3917 1) "Lilith", name of a female goddess known as a night demon who haunts the desolate places of Edom 1a) might be a nocturnal animal that inhabits desolate places |
| Lexiconography of Isaiah 34:14 --- Larry Sites |