Therefore hell hath enlarged herself
That is, the grave, to receive the dead which die with famine and thirst; signifying that the number of the dead would be so great, that the common burying places would not be sufficient to hold them; but additions must be made to them; or some vast prodigious pit must be dug, capable of receiving them; like Tophet, deep and large: or "hath enlarged her soul" F4; her desire after the dead, see ( Habakkuk 2:5 ) being insatiable, and one of those things which are never satisfied, or have enough, ( Proverbs 30:15 Proverbs 30:16 ) wherefore it follows: and opened her mouth without measure;
immensely wide; there being no boundary to its desires, nor any end of its cravings, or of filling it. And so the Targum renders it, "without end". Moreover, by "hell" may be meant the miserable estate and condition of the Jews upon the destruction of Jerusalem, when they were in the utmost distress and misery, (See Gill on Luke 16:23). And their glory;
their glorious ones, their nobles, as the Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic versions; and the Targum, their princes, rulers, civil and ecclesiastical; which were the glory of the nation: and their multitude;
meaning the common people; or rather their great and honourable ones, as the Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic versions render the word; and in which sense it may be used in the preceding verse ( Isaiah 5:13 ) ; since not of the poor, but of the rich, the context speaks; even of such who indulged themselves in luxury and pleasure: and their pomp;
the Septuagint version, "their rich ones"; such who live in pomp and splendour: but the word F5 signifies noise and tumult; and so the Targum renders it; and it designs noisy and tumultuous ones, who sing and roar, halloo and make a noise at feasts; and who may be called (Nwav ynb) , "sons of tumult", or "tumultuous ones"; ( Jeremiah 48:45 ) ( Isaiah 24:6-9 ) wherefore it follows: and he that rejoiceth,
that is, at their feasts, shall descend into it;
into hell, or the grave: or, "he that rejoiceth in it", that is, in the land or city; so the Targum,
``he that is strong among them;''so Jarchi and Kimchi interpret it.