Isaiah 5:14

14 Therefore Death expands its jaws, opening wide its mouth; into it will descend their nobles and masses with all their brawlers and revelers.

Isaiah 5:14 in Other Translations

14 Therefore hell hath enlarged herself, and opened her mouth without measure: and their glory, and their multitude, and their pomp, and he that rejoiceth, shall descend into it.

14 Therefore Sheol has enlarged its appetite and opened its mouth beyond measure, and the nobility of Jerusalem and her multitude will go down, her revelers and he who exults in her.

14 The grave is licking its lips in anticipation, opening its mouth wide. The great and the lowly and all the drunken mob will be swallowed up.

14 Sheol developed a huge appetite, swallowing people nonstop! Big people and little people alike down that gullet, to say nothing of all the drunks.

14 Therefore Sheol enlarges its throat and opens wide its enormous jaws, and down go Zion's dignitaries, her masses, her crowds, and those who carouse in her!

Isaiah 5:14 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 5:14

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.

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FOOTNOTES:

F4 (hvpn hbyxrh) "dilatavit suam animam", V. L. Munster, Montanus, Cocceius.
F5 (hnwavw) "et strepitus ejus", Montanus, Forerius.

Isaiah 5:14 In-Context

12 They have harps and lyres at their banquets, pipes and timbrels and wine, but they have no regard for the deeds of the LORD, no respect for the work of his hands.

13 Therefore my people will go into exile for lack of understanding; those of high rank will die of hunger and the common people will be parched with thirst.

14 Therefore Death expands its jaws, opening wide its mouth; into it will descend their nobles and masses with all their brawlers and revelers.

15 So people will be brought low and everyone humbled, the eyes of the arrogant humbled.

16 But the LORD Almighty will be exalted by his justice, and the holy God will be proved holy by his righteous acts.

Cross References

• 1. S Proverbs 30:16
• 2. S Numbers 16:30
• 3. Isaiah 22:2,13; Isaiah 23:7; Isaiah 24:8