Isaiah 14:17

17 who made the world like a desert and tore down its cities, who didn't let his prisoners go home?"

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've been brought down to Sheol, to the deepest part of the pit.

16 Those who see you stare at you; they look at you closely and say, "Is this the man who made the earth tremble, who shook the kingdoms,

17 who made the world like a desert and tore down its cities, who didn't let his prisoners go home?"

18 All the kings of the nations, all of them, have been buried with honor, each in his own tomb.

19 But you are thrown out of your tomb like a rejected branch. You are covered with those who were killed in battle. You go down to the stones of the pit like a trampled corpse.