Commentaries:
Barnes' Notes
Though thou hast sore broken us in the place of dragons - Or rather, "That thou hast crushed us in the place of dragons." The connection is continued from the previous verse: "Our heart is not so turned back, nor have our steps so declined from thy path, that thou shouldst crush us in the place of dragons." That is, we have been guilty of no such apostasy and infidelity as to account for the fact that thou hast dealt with us in this manner, or make it necessary and proper that we should thus be crushed and overthrown The word rendered "dragons" - tannı̂yn - means either a great fish; a sea monster; a serpent; a dragon; or a crocodile. See the notes at Isaiah 13:22. It may also mean a jackal, a fox, or a wolf. DeWette renders it here, jackals. The idea in the passage is essentially the same, whichever interpretation of the word is adopted. The "place of dragons" would denote the place where such monsters are found, or where they had their abode; that is to say, in desolate places; wastes; deserts; old ruins; depopulated towns. See the notes, as above, at Isaiah 13:19-22; compare Jeremiah 9:11. The meaning here would be, therefore, that they had been vanquished; that their cities and towns had been reduced to ruins; that their land had been laid waste; that the place where they had been "sore broken" was in fact a fit abode for wild beasts and monsters.
And covered us with the shadow of death - Our land has been covered with a dark and dismal shade, as if Death had cast his image or shadow over it. See Job 3:5, note; and Psalms 23:4, note. There could be no more striking illustration of calamity and ruin.
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