Isaiah 14:17

17 who turned the world into a desert and destroyed its cities, who refused to let the captives return to their homes?”

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 be brought down to Sheol, to the lowest depths of the Pit.

16 Those who see you will stare; they will ponder your fate: “Is this the man who shook the earth and made the kingdoms tremble,

17 who turned the world into a desert and destroyed its cities, who refused to let the captives return to their homes?”

18 All the kings of the nations lie in state, each in his own tomb.

19 But you are cast out of your grave like a rejected branch, covered by those slain with the sword, and dumped into a rocky pit like a carcass trampled underfoot.