Isaiah 14:4-23

4 you will sing this song of contempt against the king of Babylon: How the oppressor has ceased, and how his fury ^[a] has ended!

5 The LORD has broken the staff of the wicked, the scepter of the rulers.

6 It struck the peoples in anger with unceasing blows; it subdued the nations in rage with relentless persecution.

7 All the earth is at peace and at rest; they break out in song.

8 Even the cypresses ^[b] and cedars of Lebanon exult over you: “Since you have been laid low, no woodcutter comes against us.”

9 Sheol beneath is eager to meet you upon your arrival. It stirs the spirits of the dead to greet you— all the rulers of the earth. It makes all the kings of the nations rise from their thrones.

10 They will all respond to you, saying, “You too have become weak, as we are; you have become like us!”

11 Your pomp has been brought down to Sheol, along with the music of your harps. Maggots are your bed and worms your blanket.

12 How you have fallen from heaven, O day star, ^[c] son of the dawn! You have been cut down to the ground, O destroyer of nations.

13 You said in your heart: “I will ascend to the heavens; I will raise my throne above the stars of God. I will sit on the mount of assembly, in the far reaches of the north. ^[d]

14 I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.”

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. ^[e]

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.

20 You will not join them in burial, since you have destroyed your land and slaughtered your own people. The offspring of the wicked will never again be mentioned.

21 Prepare a place to slaughter his sons for the iniquities of their forefathers. They will never rise up to possess a land or cover the earth with their cities.

22 “I will rise up against them,” declares the LORD of Hosts. “I will cut off from Babylon her name and her remnant, her offspring and her posterity,” declares the LORD.

23 “I will make her a place for owls and for swamplands; I will sweep her away with the broom of destruction,” declares the LORD of Hosts.

Isaiah 14:4-23 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO ISAIAH 14

This chapter contains prophecies of the restoration of the Jews, of the fall of the king of Babylon, and the destruction of the Assyrian empire, and of the ruin of Palestine. The moving cause of the restoration of the Jews, and their settlement in their own land, is the distinguishing mercy of God towards them; the accomplishment of it, proselytes joined unto them; the means, people of other nations, who should bring them into it, and whom they should possess and rule over; and the consequence of it, rest from sorrow, fear, and hard bondage, Isa 14:1-3 upon which they are introduced as taking up a proverb, or a triumphant song, concerning the king of Babylon, wondering at his fall, and ascribing it to the Lord, Isa 14:4,5 representing the inhabitants of the earth, and great men of it, as at peace, and rest, and rejoicing, who before were continually disturbed, and smitten by him, Isa 14:6-8 introducing the dead, and those in hell, meeting him, and welcoming him into their regions, with taunts and jeers; upbraiding him with his weakness, shame, and disgrace he was come into; putting him in mind of his former pomp and splendour, pride, arrogance, and haughtiness, Isa 14:9-15 spectators are brought in, as amazed at the low, mean, and despicable condition he was brought into, considering what he had done in the world, in kingdoms and cities, but was now denied a burial, when other kings lay in their pompous sepulchres, Isa 14:16-20 and then it is foretold that that whole royal family should be cut off, and Babylon, the metropolis of his kingdom, should be utterly destroyed, Isa 14:21-23 all which was settled and fixed by the purpose of God, which could not be made void, Isa 14:24-27 and next follows a prophecy of the destruction of Palestine; the date of the prophecy is given Isa 14:28 the inhabitants of Palestine are bid not to rejoice at the death of one of the kings of Judah, since another should arise, who would be fatal to them, Isa 14:29 and while the Jews would be in safety, they would be destroyed by famine and war, Isa 14:30,31 from all which it would appear, and it might be told the messengers of the nations, or any inquiring persons, that Zion is of the Lord's founding, and under his care and protection, and that his people have great reason and encouragement to trust in him, Isa 14:32.

Footnotes

• [a]. DSS, LXX, and Syriac; MT the golden city
• [b]. Or pines or junipers or firs
• [c]. Or morning star or shining one or Lucifer
• [d]. Or in the remote parts of Zaphon or on the heights of Zaphon
• [e]. Hebrew house