Isaiah 14:17

17 Who made the world a waste, overturning its towns; who did not let his prisoners loose from the prison-house.

Isaiah 14:17 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 14:17

[That] made the world as a wilderness
Both by destroying the inhabitants of it, and by laying waste cities, towns, villages, fields, vineyards, gardens, and all places improved and cultivated, wherever he came, as it follows: and destroyed the cities thereof;
as the Assyrian kings had done, some of which are mentioned in ( Isaiah 10:9 ) ( Isaiah 37:11-13 Isaiah 37:18 ) : [that] opened not the house of his prisoners;
the prison house, in, which they were held; or,

``the gate to his prisoners,''

as the Targum; or rather the words may be rendered, "that opened not to his prisoners", that they might go "home"; or as De Dieu, in short, yet fully, expresses it, "that did not dismiss his prisoners home"; he not only cruelly and inhumanly put many to the sword, but such as surrendered, and were taken captives, he detained them in prison, and would not loose their bonds, but let them die there; which was an instance of great cruelty and inhumanity.

Isaiah 14:17 In-Context

15 But you will come down to the underworld, even to its inmost parts.

16 Those who see you will be looking on you with care, they will be in deep thought, saying, Is this the troubler of the earth, the shaker of kingdoms?

17 Who made the world a waste, overturning its towns; who did not let his prisoners loose from the prison-house.

18 All the kings of the earth are at rest in glory, every man in his house,

19 But you, like a birth before its time, are stretched out with no resting-place in the earth; clothed with the bodies of the dead who have been put to the sword, who go down to the lowest parts of the underworld; a dead body, crushed under foot.