12 There will be no king to rule the country, and the leaders will all be gone.
13 Thorns and thistles will grow up in all the palaces and walled towns, and jackals and owls will live in them.
14 Wild animals will roam there, and demons will call to each other. The night monster will come there looking for a place to rest.
15 Owls will build their nests, lay eggs, hatch their young, and care for them there. Vultures will gather there, one after another.
16 Search in the Lord's book of living creatures and read what it says. Not one of these creatures will be missing, and not one will be without its mate. The Lord has commanded it to be so; he himself will bring them together.
17 It is the Lord who will divide the land among them and give each of them a share. They will live in the land age after age, and it will belong to them for ever.