Isaiah 14:14-24

14 I will go up above the tops of the clouds. I will be like God Most High."

15 But you were brought down to the grave, to the deep places where the dead are.

16 Those who see you stare at you. They think about what has happened to you and say, "Is this the same man who caused great fear on earth, who shook the kingdoms,

17 who turned the world into a desert, who destroyed its cities, who captured people in war and would not let them go home?"

18 Every king of the earth has been buried with honor, each in his own grave.

19 But you are thrown out of your grave, like an unwanted branch. You are covered by bodies that died in battle, by bodies to be buried in a rocky pit. You are like a dead body other soldiers walk on.

20 You will not be buried with those bodies, because you ruined your own country and killed your own people. The children of evil people will never be mentioned again.

21 Prepare to kill his children, because their father is guilty. They will never again take control of the earth; they will never again fill the world with their cities.

22 The Lord All-Powerful says this: "I will fight against those people; I will destroy Babylon and its people, its children and their descendants," says the Lord.

23 "I will make Babylon fit only for owls and for swamps. destruction," says the Lord All-Powerful.

24 The Lord All-Powerful has made this promise: "These things will happen exactly as I planned them; they will happen exactly as I set them up.

Isaiah 14:14-24 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.