The wilderness and the cities thereof. The desert had its cities, built on some more or less fertile oases, where at any rate water was procurable. Instances of such cities are Tudmor, Petra, Kadesh (Numbers 20:1).
Its villages were probably collections of tents, which were moved from time to time, since the Beni-Kedar were nomads (Isaiah 21:16; Psalms 120:5). The call is upon both the stationary and the wandering inhabitants of the Syro-Arabian desert to join in the song of praise.
The inhabitants of the rock; rather, the inhabitants of Sela, or Ðåôñá, the rock-city, which was the capital of Idumaea, or Edom (see the comment on Isaiah 16:1-14. l). It is assumed that the return of the Israelites to their land ought to be a subject of rejoicing to all their neighbours.