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Isaiah 14:6 King James Version with Strong's Concordance (STRONG)

6 He who smote H5221 the people H5971 in wrath H5678 with a continual H1115 H5627 stroke, H4347 he that ruled H7287 the nations H1471 in anger, H639 is persecuted, H4783 and none H1097 hindereth. H2820

Cross Reference

Isaiah 47:1-15 STRONG

Come down, H3381 and sit H3427 in the dust, H6083 O virgin H1330 daughter H1323 of Babylon, H894 sit H3427 on the ground: H776 there is no throne, H3678 O daughter H1323 of the Chaldeans: H3778 for thou shalt no more H3254 be called H7121 tender H7390 and delicate. H6028 Take H3947 the millstones, H7347 and grind H2912 meal: H7058 uncover H1540 thy locks, H6777 make bare H2834 the leg, H7640 uncover H1540 the thigh, H7785 pass over H5674 the rivers. H5104 Thy nakedness H6172 shall be uncovered, H1540 yea, thy shame H2781 shall be seen: H7200 I will take H3947 vengeance, H5359 and I will not meet H6293 thee as a man. H120 As for our redeemer, H1350 the LORD H3068 of hosts H6635 is his name, H8034 the Holy One H6918 of Israel. H3478 Sit H3427 thou silent, H1748 and get H935 thee into darkness, H2822 O daughter H1323 of the Chaldeans: H3778 for thou shalt no more H3254 be called, H7121 The lady H1404 of kingdoms. H4467 I was wroth H7107 with my people, H5971 I have polluted H2490 mine inheritance, H5159 and given H5414 them into thine hand: H3027 thou didst shew H7760 them no mercy; H7356 upon the ancient H2205 hast thou very H3966 heavily H3513 laid thy yoke. H5923 And thou saidst, H559 I shall be a lady H1404 for ever: H5769 so that thou didst not lay H7760 these things to thy heart, H3820 neither didst remember H2142 the latter end H319 of it. Therefore hear H8085 now this, thou that art given to pleasures, H5719 that dwellest H3427 carelessly, H983 that sayest H559 in thine heart, H3824 I am, and none else H657 beside me; I shall not sit H3427 as a widow, H490 neither shall I know H3045 the loss of children: H7908 But these two H8147 things shall come H935 to thee in a moment H7281 in one H259 day, H3117 the loss of children, H7908 and widowhood: H489 they shall come H935 upon thee in their perfection H8537 for the multitude H7230 of thy sorceries, H3785 and for the great H3966 abundance H6109 of thine enchantments. H2267 For thou hast trusted H982 in thy wickedness: H7451 thou hast said, H559 None seeth H7200 me. Thy wisdom H2451 and thy knowledge, H1847 it hath perverted H7725 thee; and thou hast said H559 in thine heart, H3820 I am, and none else H657 beside me. Therefore shall evil H7451 come H935 upon thee; thou shalt not know H3045 from whence it riseth: H7837 and mischief H1943 shall fall H5307 upon thee; thou shalt not be able H3201 to put it off: H3722 and desolation H7722 shall come H935 upon thee suddenly, H6597 which thou shalt not know. H3045 Stand H5975 now with thine enchantments, H2267 and with the multitude H7230 of thy sorceries, H3785 wherein H834 thou hast laboured H3021 from thy youth; H5271 if so be thou shalt be able H3201 to profit, H3276 if so be thou mayest prevail. H6206 Thou art wearied H3811 in the multitude H7230 of thy counsels. H6098 Let now the astrologers, H1895 H8064 the stargazers, H2374 H3556 the monthly H2320 prognosticators, H3045 stand up, H5975 and save H3467 thee from these things that shall come H935 upon thee. Behold, they shall be as stubble; H7179 the fire H784 shall burn H8313 them; they shall not deliver H5337 themselves H5315 from the power H3027 of the flame: H3852 there shall not be a coal H1513 to warm H2552 at, nor fire H217 to sit H3427 before it. Thus shall they be unto thee with whom thou hast laboured, H3021 even thy merchants, H5503 from thy youth: H5271 they shall wander H8582 every one H376 to his quarter; H5676 none shall save H3467 thee.

Revelation 18:8-10 STRONG

Therefore G5124 G1223 shall G2240 her G846 plagues G4127 come G2240 in G1722 one G3391 day, G2250 death, G2288 and G2532 mourning, G3997 and G2532 famine; G3042 and G2532 she shall be utterly burned G2618 with G1722 fire: G4442 for G3754 strong G2478 is the Lord G2962 God G2316 who G3588 judgeth G2919 her. G846 And G2532 the kings G935 of the earth, G1093 who G3588 have committed fornication G4203 and G2532 lived deliciously G4763 with G3326 her, G846 shall bewail G2799 her, G846 and G2532 lament G2875 for G1909 her, G846 when G3752 they shall see G991 the smoke G2586 of her G846 burning, G4451 Standing G2476 afar G3113 off G575 for G1223 the fear G5401 of her G846 torment, G929 saying, G3004 Alas, G3759 alas, G3759 that great G3173 city G4172 Babylon, G897 that mighty G2478 city! G4172 for G3754 in G1722 one G3391 hour G5610 is G2064 thy G4675 judgment G2920 come. G2064

Revelation 17:16-17 STRONG

And G2532 the ten G1176 horns G2768 which G3739 thou sawest G1492 upon G1909 the beast, G2342 these G3778 shall hate G3404 the whore, G4204 and G2532 shall make G4160 her G846 desolate G2049 and G2532 naked, G1131 and G2532 shall eat G5315 her G846 flesh, G4561 and G2532 burn G2618 her G846 with G1722 fire. G4442 For G1063 God G2316 hath put G1325 in G1519 their G846 hearts G2588 to fulfil G4160 his G846 will, G1106 and G2532 to agree, G4160 G3391 G1106 and G2532 give G1325 their G846 kingdom G932 unto the beast, G2342 until G891 the words G4487 of God G2316 shall be fulfilled. G5055

James 2:13 STRONG

For G1063 he shall have judgment G2920 without mercy, G448 that hath shewed G4160 no G3361 mercy; G1656 and G2532 mercy G1656 rejoiceth against G2620 judgment. G2920

Daniel 7:19-21 STRONG

Then H116 I would H6634 know the truth H3321 of H5922 the fourth H7244 beast, H2423 which was H1934 diverse H8133 from H4481 all H3606 the others, exceeding H3493 dreadful, H1763 whose teeth H8128 were of iron, H6523 and his nails H2953 of brass; H5174 which devoured, H399 brake in pieces, H1855 and stamped H7512 the residue H7606 with his feet; H7271 And of H5922 the ten H6236 horns H7162 that were in his head, H7217 and of the other H317 which came up, H5559 and before H4481 H6925 whom three H8532 fell; H5308 even of that horn H7162 that H1797 had eyes, H5870 and a mouth H6433 that spake H4449 very great things, H7260 whose look H2376 was more H4481 stout H7229 than H4481 his fellows. H2273 I beheld, H1934 H2370 and the same H1797 horn H7162 made H5648 war H7129 with H5974 the saints, H6922 and prevailed H3202 against them;

Daniel 4:35 STRONG

And all H3606 the inhabitants H1753 of the earth H772 are reputed H2804 as nothing: H3809 and he doeth H5648 according to his will H6634 in the army H2429 of heaven, H8065 and among the inhabitants H1753 of the earth: H772 and none H3809 can H383 stay H4223 his hand, H3028 or say H560 unto him, What H4101 doest H5648 thou?

Jeremiah 50:31 STRONG

Behold, I am against thee, O thou most proud, H2087 saith H5002 the Lord H136 GOD H3069 of hosts: H6635 for thy day H3117 is come, H935 the time H6256 that I will visit H6485 thee.

Jeremiah 25:26 STRONG

And all the kings H4428 of the north, H6828 far H7350 and near, H7138 one H376 with another, H251 and all the kingdoms H4467 of the world, H776 which are upon the face H6440 of the earth: H127 and the king H4428 of Sheshach H8347 shall drink H8354 after H310 them.

Jeremiah 25:9 STRONG

Behold, I will send H7971 and take H3947 all the families H4940 of the north, H6828 saith H5002 the LORD, H3068 and Nebuchadrezzar H5019 the king H4428 of Babylon, H894 my servant, H5650 and will bring H935 them against this land, H776 and against the inhabitants H3427 thereof, and against all these nations H1471 round about, H5439 and will utterly destroy H2763 them, and make H7760 them an astonishment, H8047 and an hissing, H8322 and perpetual H5769 desolations. H2723

2 Chronicles 36:17 STRONG

Therefore he brought H5927 upon them the king H4428 of the Chaldees, H3778 who slew H2026 their young men H970 with the sword H2719 in the house H1004 of their sanctuary, H4720 and had no compassion H2550 upon young man H970 or maiden, H1330 old man, H2205 or him that stooped for age: H3486 he gave H5414 them all into his hand. H3027

Isaiah 46:10-11 STRONG

Declaring H5046 the end H319 from the beginning, H7225 and from ancient times H6924 the things that are not yet done, H6213 saying, H559 My counsel H6098 shall stand, H6965 and I will do H6213 all my pleasure: H2656 Calling H7121 a ravenous bird H5861 from the east, H4217 the man H376 that executeth my counsel H6098 from a far H4801 country: H776 yea, I have spoken H1696 it, I will also bring H935 it to pass; I have purposed H3335 it, I will also do H6213 it.

Isaiah 33:1 STRONG

Woe H1945 to thee that spoilest, H7703 and thou wast not spoiled; H7703 and dealest treacherously, H898 and they dealt not treacherously H898 with thee! when thou shalt cease H8552 to spoil, H7703 thou shalt be spoiled; H7703 and when thou shalt make an end H5239 to deal treacherously, H898 they shall deal treacherously H898 with thee.

Isaiah 21:1-10 STRONG

The burden H4853 of the desert H4057 of the sea. H3220 As whirlwinds H5492 in the south H5045 pass H2498 through; so it cometh H935 from the desert, H4057 from a terrible H3372 land. H776 A grievous H7186 vision H2380 is declared H5046 unto me; the treacherous dealer H898 dealeth treacherously, H898 and the spoiler H7703 spoileth. H7703 Go up, H5927 O Elam: H5867 besiege, H6696 O Media; H4074 all the sighing H585 thereof have I made to cease. H7673 Therefore are my loins H4975 filled H4390 with pain: H2479 pangs H6735 have taken hold H270 upon me, as the pangs H6735 of a woman that travaileth: H3205 I was bowed down H5753 at the hearing H8085 of it; I was dismayed H926 at the seeing H7200 of it. My heart H3824 panted, H8582 fearfulness H6427 affrighted H1204 me: the night H5399 of my pleasure H2837 hath he turned H7760 into fear H2731 unto me. Prepare H6186 the table, H7979 watch H6822 in the watchtower, H6844 eat, H398 drink: H8354 arise, H6965 ye princes, H8269 and anoint H4886 the shield. H4043 For thus hath the Lord H136 said H559 unto me, Go, H3212 set H5975 a watchman, H6822 let him declare H5046 what he seeth. H7200 And he saw H7200 a chariot H7393 with a couple H6776 of horsemen, H6571 a chariot H7393 of asses, H2543 and a chariot H7393 of camels; H1581 and he hearkened H7181 diligently H7182 with much H7227 heed: H7182 And he cried, H7121 A lion: H738 My lord, H136 I stand H5975 continually H8548 upon the watchtower H4707 in the daytime, H3119 and I am set H5324 in my ward H4931 whole nights: H3915 And, behold, here cometh H935 a chariot H7393 of men, H376 with a couple H6776 of horsemen. H6571 And he answered H6030 and said, H559 Babylon H894 is fallen, H5307 is fallen; H5307 and all the graven images H6456 of her gods H430 he hath broken H7665 unto the ground. H776 O my threshing, H4098 and the corn H1121 of my floor: H1637 that which I have heard H8085 of the LORD H3068 of hosts, H6635 the God H430 of Israel, H3478 have I declared H5046 unto you.

Isaiah 13:14-18 STRONG

And it shall be as the chased H5080 roe, H6643 and as a sheep H6629 that no man taketh up: H6908 they shall every man H376 turn H6437 to his own people, H5971 and flee H5127 every one H376 into his own land. H776 Every one that is found H4672 shall be thrust through; H1856 and every one that is joined H5595 unto them shall fall H5307 by the sword. H2719 Their children H5768 also shall be dashed to pieces H7376 before their eyes; H5869 their houses H1004 shall be spoiled, H8155 and their wives H802 ravished. H7901 H7693 Behold, I will stir up H5782 the Medes H4074 against them, which shall not regard H2803 silver; H3701 and as for gold, H2091 they shall not delight H2654 in it. Their bows H7198 also shall dash H7376 the young men H5288 to pieces; H7376 and they shall have no pity H7355 on the fruit H6529 of the womb; H990 their eye H5869 shall not spare H2347 children. H1121

Isaiah 10:14 STRONG

And my hand H3027 hath found H4672 as a nest H7064 the riches H2428 of the people: H5971 and as one gathereth H622 eggs H1000 that are left, H5800 have I gathered H622 all the earth; H776 and there was none that moved H5074 the wing, H3671 or opened H6475 the mouth, H6310 or peeped. H6850

Proverbs 21:30 STRONG

There is no wisdom H2451 nor understanding H8394 nor counsel H6098 against the LORD. H3068

Job 9:13 STRONG

If God H433 will not withdraw H7725 his anger, H639 the proud H7293 helpers H5826 do stoop H7817 under him.

Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Keil & Delitzsch Commentary » Commentary on Isaiah 14

Commentary on Isaiah 14 Keil & Delitzsch Commentary


Verse 1-2

But it is love to His own people which impels the God of Israel to suspend such a judgment of eternal destruction over Babylon. “For Jehovah will have mercy on Jacob, and will once more choose Israel, and will settle them in their own land: and the foreigner will associate with them, and they will cleave to the house of Jacob. And nations take them, and accompany them to their place; and the house of Israel takes them to itself in the land of Jehovah for servants and maid-servants: and they hold in captivity those who led them away captive; and become lords over their oppressors.” We have here in nuce the comforting substance of chapters 46-66. Babylon falls that Israel may rise. This is effected by the compassion of God. He chooses Israel once more ( iterum , as in Job 14:7 for example), and therefore makes a new covenant with it. Then follows their return to Canaan, their own land, Jehovah's land (as in Hosea 9:3). Proselytes from among the heathen, who have acknowledged the God of the exiles, go along with them, as Ruth did with Naomi. Heathen accompany the exiles to their own place. And now their relative positions are reversed. Those who accompany Israel are now taken possession of by the latter ( hithnachēl , κληρονομεῖν ἑαυτῷ , like hithpattēach , Isaiah 52:2, λύεσθαι ; cf., p. 62, note, and Ewald, §124, b ), as servants and maid-servants; and they (the Israelites) become leaders into captivity of those who led them into captivity ( Lamed with the participle, as in Isaiah 11:9), and they will oppress ( râdâh b' , as in Psalms 49:15) their oppressors. This retribution of life for like is to all appearance quite out of harmony with the New Testament love. But in reality it is no retribution of like for like. For, according to the prophet's meaning, to be ruled by the people of God is the true happiness of the nations, and to allow themselves to be so ruled is their true liberty. At the same time, the form in which the promise is expressed is certainly not that of the New Testament; and it would not possibly have been so, for the simple reason that in Old Testament times, and from an Old Testament point of view, there was no other visible manifestation of the church ( ecclesia ) than in the form of a nation. This national form of the church has been broken up under the New Testament, and will never be restored. Israel, indeed, will be restored as a nation; but the true essence of the church, which is raised above all national distinctions, will never return to those worldly limits which it has broken through. And the fact that the prophecy moves within those limits here may be easily explained, on the ground that it is primarily the deliverance from the Babylonian captivity to which the promise refers. And the prophet himself was unconscious that this captivity would be followed by another.


Verses 3-6

The song of the redeemed is a song concerning the fall of the king of Babel. Isaiah 14:3, Isaiah 14:4 . Instead of the hiphil hinniach (to let down) of Isaiah 14:1, we have here, as in the original passage, Deuteronomy 25:19, the form hēniach , which is commonly used in the sense of quieting, or procuring rest. עצב is trouble which plagues (as עמל is trouble which oppresses), and rōgez restlessness which wears out with anxious care (Job 3:26, cf., Ezekiel 12:18). The assimilated min before the two words is pronounced mĭ , with a weak reduplication, instead of mē , as elsewhere, before ח , ה , and even before ר (1 Samuel 23:28; 2 Samuel 18:16). In the relative clause עבּד־ב ך אשר , אשר is not the Hebrew casus adverb . answering to the Latin ablative quâ servo te usi sunt ; not do ב ך ... אשר belong to one another in the sense of quo , as in Deuteronomy 21:3, quâ ( vitulâ ); but it is regarded as an acc. obj . according to Exodus 1:14 and Leviticus 25:39, qu'on t'a fait servir , as in Numbers 32:5, qu'on donne la terre (Luzzatto). When delivered from such a yoke of bondage, Israel would raise a m âshâl . According to its primary and general meaning, m âshâl signifies figurative language, and hence poetry generally, more especially that kind of proverbial poetry which loves the emblematical, and, in fact, any artistic composition that is piquant in its character; so that the idea of what is satirical or defiant may easily be associated with it, as in the passage before us.

The words are addressed to the Israel of the future in the Israel of the present, as in Isaiah 12:1. The former would then sing, and say as follows. “How hath the oppressor ceased! The place of torture ceased! Jehovah hath broken the rod of the wicked, the ruler's staff, which cmote nations in wrath with strokes without ceasing subjugated nations wrathfully with hunting than nevers stays.” Not one of the early translators ever thought of deriving the hap. leg. m adhebâh from the Aramaean dehab (gold), as Vitringa, Aurivillius, and Rosenmüller have done. The former have all translated the word as if it were m arhēbâh (haughty, violent treatment), as corrected by J. D. Michaelis, Doederlein, Knobel, and others. But we may arrive at the same result without altering a single letter, if we take דּאב as equivalent to דּהב , דּוּב , to melt or pine away, whether we go back to the kal or to the hiphil of the verb, and regard the Mem as used in a material or local sense. We understand it, according to madmenah (dunghill) in Isaiah 25:10, as denoting the place where they were reduced to pining away, i.e., as applied to Babylon as the house of servitude where Israel had been wearied to death. The tyrant's sceptre, mentioned in Isaiah 14:5, is the Chaldean world-power regarded as concentrated in the king of Babel (cf., shēbet in Numbers 24:17). This tyrant's sceptre smote nations with incessant blows and hunting: maccath is construed with macceh , the derivative of the same verb; and m urdâph , a hophal noun (as in Isaiah 9:1; Isaiah 29:3), with rodeh , which is kindred in meaning. Doederlein's conjecture ( mirdath ), which has been adopted by most modern commentators, is quite unnecessary. Unceasing continuance is expressed first of all with bilti , which is used as a preposition, and followed by sârâh , a participial noun like c âlâh , and then with b'li , which is construed with the finite verb as in Genesis 31:20; Job 41:18; for b'li châsâk is an attributive clause: with a hunting which did not restrain itself, did not stop, and therefore did not spare. Nor is it only Israel and other subjugated nations that now breathe again.


Verse 7-8

“The whole earth rests, is quiet: they break forth into singing. Even the cypresses rejoice at thee, the cedars of Lebanon: 'Since thou hast gone to sleep, no one will come up to lay the axe upon us.'” The preterites indicate inchoatively the circumstances into which the whole earth has now entered. The omission of the subject in the case of pâtz'chu (they break forth) gives the greatest generality to the jubilant utterances: pâtzach rinnâh ( erumpere gaudio ) is an expression that is characteristic of Isaiah alone (e.g., Isaiah 44:23; Isaiah 49:13); and it is a distinctive peculiarity of the prophet to bring in the trees of the forest, as living and speaking beings, to share in the universal joy (cf., Isaiah 55:12). Jerome supposes the trees to be figuratively employed here for the “chiefs of the nations” ( principes gentium ). But this disposition to allegorize not only destroys the reality of the contents, but the spirit of the poetry also. Cypresses and cedars rejoice because of the treatment which they received from the Chaldean, who made use of the almost imperishable wood of both of them for ornamental buildings, for his siege apparatus, and for his fleets, and even for ordinary ships - as Alexander, for example, built himself a fleet of cypress-wood, and the Syrian vessels had masts of cedar. Of the old cedars of Lebanon, there are hardly thirty left in the principle spot where they formerly grew. Gardner Wilkinson (1843) and Hooker the botanist (1860) estimated the whole number at about four hundred; and according to the conclusion which the latter drew from the number of concentric rings and other signs, not one of them is more than about five hundred years old.

(Note: See Wilkinson's paper in the Athenaeum (London, Noverse 1862).)


Verse 9

But whilst it has become so quiet on earth, there is the most violent agitation in the regions below. “The kingdom of the dead below is all in uproar on account of thee, to meet thy coming; it stirreth up the shades for thee, all the he-goats of the earth; it raiseth up from their throne-seats all the kings of the nations.” The notion of Hades, notwithstanding the mythological character which it had assumed, was based upon the double truth, that what a man has been, and the manner in which he has lived on this side the grave, are not obliterated on the other side, but are then really brought to light, and that there is an immaterial self-formation of the soul, in which all that a man has become under certain divinely appointed circumstances, by his own self-determination, is, as it were, reflected in a mirror, and that in a permanent form. This psychical image, to which the dead body bears the same relation as the shattered mould to a cast, is the shade-like corporeality of the inhabitants of Hades, in which they appear essentially though spiritually just as they were on this side the grave. This is the deep root of what the prophet has here expressed in a poetical form; for it is really a m âshâl that he has interwoven with his prophecy here. All Hades is overwhelmed with excitement and wonder, now that the king of Babel, that invincible ruler of the world, who, if not unexpected altogether, was not expected so soon, as actually approaching. From עורר onwards, Sheol , although a feminine, might be the subject; in which case the verb would simply have reverted from the feminine to the radical masculine form. But it is better to regard the subject as neuter; a nescio quid , a nameless power. The shades are suddenly seized with astonishment, more especially the former leaders (leading goats or bell-wethers) of the herds of nations, so that, from sheer amazement, they spring up from their seats.


Verse 10

And how do they greet this lofty new-comer? “They all rise up and say to thee, Art thou also made weak like us? art thou become like us?” This is all that the shades say; what follows does not belong to them. The pual c hullâh (only used here), “to be made sickly, or powerless,” signifies to be transposed into the condition of the latter, viz., the Repahim (a word which also occurs in the Phoenician inscriptions, from רפא = רפה , to be relaxed or weary), since the life of the shades is only a shadow of life (cf., εἴδωλα ἄκικυς , and possibly also καμόντες in Homer, when used in the sense of those who are dying, exhausted and prostrate with weakness). And in Hades we could not expect anything more than this expression of extreme amazement. For why should they receive their new comrade with contempt or scorn? From Isaiah 14:11 onwards, the singers of the mashal take up the song again.


Verse 11

“Thy pomp is cast down to the region of the dead, the noise of thy harps: maggots are spread under thee, and they that cover thee are worms.” From the book of Daniel we learn the character of the Babylonian music; it abounded in instruments, some of which were foreign. Maggots and worms (a bitter sarcasm) now take the place of the costly artistic Babylonian rugs, which once formed the pillow and counterpane of the distinguished corpse. יצּע might be a third pers. hophal (Ges. §71); but here, between perfects, it is a third pers. pual , like yullad in Isaiah 9:5. Rimmâh , which is preceded by the verb in a masculine and to a certain extent an indifferent form (Ges. §147, a ), is a collective name for small worms, in any mass of which the individual is lost in the swarm. The passage is continued with אי ך (on which, as a catchword of the mashal , see at Isaiah 1:21).


Verse 12

“How art thou fallen from the sky, thou star of light, sun of the dawn, hurled down to the earth, thou that didst throw down nations from above?” הילל is here the morning star (from hâlal , to shine, resolved from hillel , after the form מאן , Jeremiah 13:10, סעף , Psalms 119:113, or rather attaching itself as a third class to the forms היכל , עירם : compare the Arabic sairaf , exchanger; saikal , sword-cleaner). It derives its name in other ancient languages also from its striking brilliancy, and is here called ben - shachar (sun of the dawn), just as in the classical mythology it is called son of Eos, from the fact that it rises before the sun, and swims in the morning light as if that were the source of its birth.

(Note: It is singular, however, that among the Semitic nations the morning star is not personified as a male ( Heōsphoros or Phōsphoros ), but as a female (Astarte, see at Isaiah 17:8), and that it is called Nâghâh , Ashtoreth , Zuhara , but never by a name derived from hâlal ; whilst the moon is regarded as a male deity ( Sin ), and in Arabic hilâl signifies the new moon, which might be called ben- shacar (son of the dawn), from the fact that, from the time when it passes out of the invisibility of its first phase, it is seen at sunrise, and is as it were born out of the dawn.)

Lucifer, as a name given to the devil, was derived from this passage, which the fathers (and lately Stier) interpreted, without any warrant whatever, as relating to the apostasy and punishment of the angelic leaders. The appellation is a perfectly appropriate one for the king of Babel, on account of the early date of the Babylonian culture, which reached back as far as the grey twilight of primeval times, and also because of its predominant astrological character. The additional epithet chōlēsh ‛al - gōyim is founded upon the idea of the influxus siderum :

(Note: In a similar manner, the sun-god ( San ) is called the “conqueror of the king's enemies,” “breaker of opposition,” etc., on the early Babylonian monuments (see G. Rawlinson, The Five Great Monarchies , i. 160).)

cholesh signifies “overthrowing” or laying down (Exodus 17:13), and with ‛al , “bringing defeat upon;” whilst the Talmud (b. Sabbath 149 b ) uses it in the sense of projiciens sortem , and thus throws light upon the cholesh (= purah , lot) of the Mishnah. A retrospective glance is now cast at the self-deification of the king of Babylon, in which he was the antitype of the devil and the type of antichrist (Daniel 11:36; 2 Thessalonians 2:4), and which had met with its reward.


Verses 13-15

“And thou, thou hast said in thy heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God, and sit down on the mount of the assembly of gods in the corner of the north. I will ascend to the heights of the clouds, I will make myself like the Most High. Nevertheless, thou wilt be cast down into the region of the dead, into the corner of the pit.” An antithetical circumstantial clause commences with v e attah , just as in Isaiah 14:19, “whilst thou,” or “whereas thou.” The har hammōēd (mount of assembly) cannot be Zion, as is assumed by Schegg and others, who are led astray by the parallel in Psalms 48:3, which has been entirely misunderstood, and has no bearing upon this passage at all. Zion was neither a northern point of the earth, nor was it situated on the north of Jerusalem. The prophet makes the king of Babylon speak according to the general notion of his people, who had not the seat of the Deity in the midst of them, as the Israelites had, but who placed it on the summit of the northern mountains, which were lost in the clouds, just as the Hindus place it on the fabulous mountains of Kailâsa , which lie towards the north beyond the Himalayas (Lassen, i. 34ff.). ירכתי ם (with an aspirated כ in a loosely closed syllable) are the two sides into which a thing parts, the two legs of an angle, and then the apex at which the legs separate. And so here, צפון ירכּתי (with an unaspirated Caph in a triply closed syllable) is the uttermost extremity of the north, from which the northern mountains stretch fork-like into the land, and yarcethe - bor the interior of the pit into which its two walls slope, and from which it unfolds or widens. All the foolhardy purposes of the Chaldean are finally comprehended in this, “ I will make myself like the Most High; ” just as the Assyrians, according to Ctesias, and the Persians, according to the Persae of Aeschylus, really called their king God, and the Sassanidae call themselves bag , Theos , upon coins and inscriptions ( 'eddammeh is hithpael , equivalent to 'ethdammeh , which the usual assimilation of the preformative Tav : Ges. §34, 2, b ). By the אך in Psalms 48:14, the high-flying pride of the Chaldean is contrasted with his punishment, which hurls him down into the lowest depths. אך , which was originally affirmative, and then restrictive (as rak was originally restrictive and then affirmative), passes over here into an adversative, just as in Psalms 49:16; Job 13:15 (a change seen still more frequently in אכן ); nevertheless thou wilt be hurled down; nothing but that will occur, and not what you propose. The prophetic tūrad is language that neither befits the inhabitants of Hades, who greet his advent, nor the Israel singing the mashal ; but the words of Israel have imperceptibly passed into words of the prophet, who still sees in the distance, and as something future, what the mashal commemorates as already past.


Verse 16-17

The prophet then continues in the language of prediction. “They that see thee look, considering thee, look at thee thoughtfully: Is this the man that set the earth trembling, and kingdoms shaking? that made the world a wilderness, and destroyed its cities, and did not release its prisoners ( to their ) home?” The scene is no longer in Hades (Knobel, Umbreit). Those who are speaking thus have no longer the Chaldean before them as a mere shade, but as an unburied corpse that has fallen into corruption. As tēbēl is feminine, the suffixes in Isaiah 14:17 must refer, according to a constructio ad sensum , to the world as changed into a wilderness ( m idbâr ). Pâthach , to open, namely locks and fetters; here, with baithâh , it is equivalent to releasing or letting go (syn. shillēach , Jeremiah 50:33). By the “prisoners” the Jewish exiles are principally intended; and it was their release that had never entered the mind of the king of Babylon.


Verse 18-19

The prophet, whose own words now follow the words of the spectators, proceeds to describe the state in which the tyrant lies, and which calls for such serious reflections. “All the kings of the nations, they are all interred in honour, every one in his house: but thou art cast away far from thy sepulchre like a shoot hurled away, clothed with slain, with those pierced through with the sword, those that go down to the stones of the pit; like a carcase trodden under feet.” Every other king was laid out after his death “in his house” ( b'bēthō ), i.e. within the limits of his own palace; but the Chaldean lay far away from the sepulchre that was apparently intended for him. The מן in מקברך signifies procul ab , as in Numbers 15:24; Proverbs 20:3. He lies there like nētzer nith‛âb , i.e., like a branch torn off from the tree, that has withered and become offensive, or rather (as neetzer does not mean a branch, but a shoot) like a side-shoot that has been cut off the tree and thrown away with disgust as ugly, useless, and only a hindrance to the regular growth of the tree (possibly also an excrescence); nith‛âb (cast away) is a pregnant expression, signifying “cast away with disgust.” The place where he lies is the field of battle. A vaticinium post eventum would be expressed differently from this, as Luzzatto has correctly observed. For what Seder 'Olam says - namely, that Nebuchadnezzar's corpse was taken out of the grave by Evilmerodach, or as Abravanel relates it, by the Medo-Persian conquerors - is merely a conclusion drawn from the passage before us, and would lead us to expect הוצת rather than השלכת . It is a matter of indifference, so far as the truth of the prophecy is concerned, whether it was fulfilled in the person of Nebuchadnezzar I, or of that second Nebuchadnezzar who gave himself out as a son of Nabonet, and tried to restore the freedom of Babylon. The scene which passes before the mind of the prophet is the field of battle. To clear this they made a hole and throw stones ( abnē - bor , stones of the pit) on the top, without taking the trouble to shovel in the earth; but the king of Babylon is left lying there, like a carcase that is trampled under foot, and deserves nothing better than to be trampled under foot ( m ūbâs , part. hoph . of būs , conculcare ). They do not even think him worth throwing into a hole along with the rest of the corpses.


Verse 20

“Thou art not united with them in burial, for thou hast destroyed thy land, murdered thy people: the seed of evil-doers will not be named for ever.” In this way is vengeance taken for the tyrannical manner in which he has oppressed and exhausted his land, making his people the involuntary instruments of his thirst for conquest, and sacrificing them as victims to that thirst. For this reason he does not meet with the same compassion as those who have been compelled to sacrifice their lives in his service. And it is not only all over for ever with him, but it is so with his dynasty also. The prophet, the messenger of the penal justice of God, and the mouthpiece of that Omnipotence which regulates the course of history, commands this.


Verse 21

“Prepare a slaughter-house for his sons, because of the iniquity of their fathers! They shall not rise and conquer lands, and fill the face of the earth with cities.” They exhortation is addressed to the Medes, if the prophet had any particular persons in his mind at all. After the nocturnal storming of Babylon by the Medes, the new Babylonian kingdom and royal house which had been established by Nabopolassar vanished entirely from history. The last shoot of the royal family of Nabopolassar was slain as a child of conspirators. The second Nebuchadnezzar deceived the people (as Darius says in the great inscription of Behistan), declaring, “I am Nabukudrac ara the son of Nabunita.” בּל (used poetically for אל , like בּלי in Isaiah 14:6 for לא ) expresses a negative wish (as pen does a negative intention): Let no Babylonian kingdom ever arise again! Hitzig corrects ערים into עיּים (heaps of ruins), Ewald into עריצים (tyrants), Knobel into רעים , and Meier into עדים , which are said to signify conflicts, whilst Maurer will not take ערים in the sense of cities, but of enemies. But there is no necessity for this at all. Nimrod, the first founder of a Babylonio-Assyrian kingdom, built cities to strengthen his monarchy. The king of Asshur built cities for the Medes, for the purpose of keeping them better in check. And it is to this building of cities, as a support to despotism, that the prophet here refers.


Verse 22-23

Thus far the prophet has spoken in the name of God. But the prophecy closes with a word of God Himself, spoken through the prophet. “And I will rise up against them, saith Jehovah of hosts, and root out in Babel name and remnant, sprout and shoot, saith Jehovah. And make it the possession of hedgehogs and marshes of water, and sweep it away with the bosom of destruction, saith Jehovah of hosts.” שם ושאר and נין ונכד are two pairs of alliterative proverbial words, and are used to signify “the whole, without exception” (compare the Arabic expression “ Kiesel und Kies ,” “flint and pebble,” in the sense of “altogether:” Nöldecke, Poesie der alten Araber , p. 162). Jehovah rises against the descendants of the king of Babylon, and exterminates Babylon utterly, root and branch. The destructive forces, which Babylon has hitherto been able to control by raising artificial defences, are now let loose; and the Euphrates, left without a dam, lays the whole region under water. Hedgehogs now take the place of men, and marshes the place of palaces. The kippod occurs in Isaiah 34:11 and Zephaniah 2:14, in the company of birds ; but according to the derivation of the word and the dialects, it denotes the hedgehog , which possesses the power of rolling itself up (lxx ἔρημον ὥστε κατοικεῖν ἐχίνους ), and which, although it can neither fly, nor climb with any peculiar facility, on account of its mode of walking, could easily get upon the knob of a pillar that had been thrown down (Zephaniah 2:14). The concluding threat makes the mode of Babel's origin the omen of its end: the city of טיט , i.e., Babylon, which had been built for the most part of clay or brick-earth, would be strangely swept away. The pilpel טאט א (or טאט א , as Kimchi conjugates it in Michlol 150 a b, and in accordance with which some codices and early editions read וטאטאתיה with double zere ) belongs to the cognate root which is mentioned at Psalms 42:5, with an opening ד , ט , ס (cf., Isaiah 27:8), and which signifies to drive or thrust away. מטאטא is that with which anything is driven out or swept away, viz., a broom. Jehovah treats Babylon as rubbish, and sweeps it away, destruction ( hashmēd : an inf. absol. used as a substantive) serving Him as a broom.


Verses 24-27

There now follows, apparently out of all connection, another prophecy against Asshur. It is introduced here quite abruptly, like a fragment; and it is an enigma how it got here, and what it means here, though not an enigma without solution. This short Assyrian passage reads as follows. “Jehovah of hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass; and as I have purposed, that takes place; to break Asshur to pieces in my land, and upon my mountain will I tread him under foot: then his yoke departs from them, and his burden will depart from their neck. This is the purpose that is purposed over the whole earth; and this the hand that is stretched out over all nations. For Jehovah of hosts hath purposed, and who could bring it to nought? And His hand that is stretched out, who can turn it back?” It is evidently a totally different judicial catastrophe which is predicted here, inasmuch as the world-power upon which it falls is not called Babel or Chasdim, but Asshur, which cannot possibly be taken as a name for Babylon (Abravanel, Lowth, etc.). Babylon is destroyed by the Medes, whereas Asshur falls to ruin in the mountain-land of Jehovah, which it is seeking to subjugate - a prediction which was literally fulfilled. And only when this had taken place did a fitting occasion present itself for a prophecy against Babel, the heiress of the ruined Assyrian power. Consequently the two prophecies against Babel and Asshur form a hysteron-proteron as they stand here. The thought which occasioned this arrangement, and which it is intended to set forth, is expressed by Jeremiah in Jeremiah 50:18-19, “Behold, I will punish the king of Babylon and his land, as I have punished the king of Assyria.” The one event was a pledge of the other. At a time when the prophecy against Assyria had actually been fulfilled, the prophet attached it to the still unfulfilled prophecy against Babylon, to give a pledge of the fulfilment of the latter. This was the pedestal upon which the Massâh Bâbel was raised. And it was doubly suited for this, on account of its purely epilogical tone from Isaiah 14:26 onwards.


Verse 28

This is one of the prophecies the date of which is fixed in Isaiah 14:28. “In the year of the death of king Ahaz the following oracle was uttered.” “The year of the death of king Aha”Z was (as in Isaiah 6:1) the year in which the death of Ahaz was to take place. In that year the Philistines still remained in those possessions, their hold of which was so shameful to Judah, and had not yet met with any humiliating retribution. But this year was the turning-point; for Hezekiah, the successor of Ahaz, not only recovered the cities that they had taken, but thoroughly defeated them in their own land (2 Kings 18:8).


Verse 29

It was therefore in a most eventful and decisive year that Isaiah began to prophesy as follows. “Rejoice not so fully, O Philistia, that the rod which smote thee is broken to pieces; for out of the serpent's root comes forth a basilisk, and its fruit is a flying dragon.” Shēbet maccēk , “the rod which smote thee” (not “of him that smote thee,” which is not so appropriate), is the Davidic sceptre, which had formerly kept the Philistines in subjection under David and Solomon, and again in more recent times since the reign of Uzziah. This sceptre was now broken to pieces, for the Davidic kingdom had been brought down by the Syro-Ephraimitish war, and had not been able to recover itself; and so far as its power over the surrounding nations was concerned, it had completely fallen to pieces. Philistia was thoroughly filled with joy in consequence, but this joy was all over now. The power from which Philistia had escaped was a common snake ( nâchâsh ), which had been either cut to pieces, or had died out down to the very roots. But out of this root, i.e., out of the house of David, which had been reduced to the humble condition of its tribal house, there was coming forth a zepha‛ , a basilisk ( regulus , as Jerome and other early translators render it: see at Isaiah 11:8); and this basilisk, which is dangerous and even fatal in itself, as soon as it had reached maturity, would bring forth a winged dragon as its fruit. The basilisk is Hezekiah, and the flying dragon is the Messiah (this is the explanation given by the Targum); or, what is the same thing, the former is the Davidic government of the immediate future, the latter the Davidic government of the ultimate future. The figure may appear an inappropriate one, because the serpent is a symbol of evil; but it is not a symbol of evil only, but of a curse also, and a curse is the energetic expression of the penal justice of God. And it is as the executor of such a curse in the form of a judgment of God upon Philistia that the Davidic king is here described in a threefold climax as a snake or serpent. The selection of this figure may possibly have also been suggested by Genesis 49:17; for the saying of Jacob concerning Dan was fulfilled in Samson, the sworn foe of the Philistines.


Verse 30

The coming Davidic king is peace for Israel, but for Philistia death. “And the poorest of the poor will feed, and needy ones lie down in peace; and I kill thy root through hunger, and he slays thy remnant.” “The poorest of the poor:” b e cōrē dallim is an intensified expression for b e nē dallim , the latter signifying such as belong to the family of the poor, the former (cf., Job 18:13, mors dirissima ) such as hold the foremost rank in such a family - a description of Israel, which, although at present deeply, very deeply, repressed and threatened on every side, would then enjoy its land in quietness and peace (Zephaniah 3:12-13). In this sense ורעוּ is used absolutely; and there is no necessity for Hupfeld's conjecture ( Ps . ii. 258), that we should read בכרי (in my pastures). Israel rises again, but Philistia perishes even to a root and remnant; and the latter again falls a victim on the one hand to the judgment of God (famine), and on the other to the punishment inflicted by the house of David. The change of persons in Isaiah 14:30 is no synallage; but the subject to yaharōg (slays) is the basilisk, the father of the flying dragon. The first strophe of the massah terminates here. It consists of eight lines, each of the two Masoretic Isaiah 14:29, Isaiah 14:30 containing four clauses.


Verse 31

The massah consists of two strophes. The first threatens judgment from Judah, and the second - of seven lines - threatens judgment from Asshur. “Howl, O gate! cry, O city! O Philistia, thou must melt entirely away; for from the north cometh smoke, and there is no isolated one among his hosts.” שׁער , which is a masculine everywhere else, is construed here as a feminine, possibly in order that the two imperfects may harmonize; for there is nothing to recommend Luzzatto's suggestion, that שׁער should be taken as an accusative. The strong gates of the Philistian cities (Ashdod and Gaza), of world-wide renown, and the cities themselves, shall lift up a cry of anguish; and Philistia, which has hitherto been full of joy, shall melt away in the heat of alarm (Isaiah 13:7, nâmōg , inf. abs. niph .; on the form itself, compare Isaiah 59:13): for from the north there comes a singing and burning fire, which proclaims its coming afar off by the smoke which it produces; in other words, an all-destroying army, out of whose ranks not one falls away from weariness or self-will (cf., Isaiah 5:27), that is to say, an army without a gap, animated throughout with one common desire. ( מועד , after the form מושב , the mass of people assembled at an appointed place, or mō'ed , Joshua 8:14; 1 Samuel 20:35, and for an appointed end.)


Verse 32

To understand Isaiah 14:32, which follows here, nothing more is needed than a few simple parenthetical thoughts, which naturally suggest themselves. This one desire was the thirst for conquest, and such a desire could not possibly have only the small strip of Philistian coast for its object; but the conquest of this was intended as the means of securing possession of other countries on the right hand and on the left. The question arose, therefore, How would Judah fare with the fire which was rolling towards it from the north? For the very fact that the prophet of Judah was threatening Philistia with this fire, presupposed that Judah itself would not be consumed by it.

And this is just what is expressed in Isaiah 14:32 : “And what answer do the messengers of the nations bring? That Jehovah hath founded Zion, and that the afflicted of His people are hidden therein.” “The messengers of the nations” ( mal e acē goi ): goi is to be taken in a distributive sense, and the messengers to be regarded either as individuals who have escaped from the Assyrian army, which was formed of contingents from many nations, or else (as we should expect pelitē in that case, instead of mal'acē ) messengers from the neighbouring nations, who were sent to Jerusalem after the Assyrian army had perished in front of the city, to ascertain how the latter had fared. And they all reply as if with one mouth ( yaaneh ): Zion has stood unshaken, protected by its God; and the people of this God, the poor and despised congregation of Jehovah (cf., Zechariah 11:7), are, and know that they are, concealed in Zion. The prophecy is intentionally oracular. Prophecy does not adopt the same tone to the nations as to Israel. Its language to the former is dictatorially brief, elevated with strong self-consciousness, expressed in lofty poetic strains, and variously coloured, according to the peculiarity of the nation to which the oracle refers. The following prophecy relating to Moab shows us very clearly, that in the prophet's view the judgment executed by Asshur upon Philistia would prepare the way for the subjugation of Philistia by the sceptre of David. By the wreck of the Assyrian world-power upon Jerusalem, the house of David would recover its old supremacy over the nations round about. And this really was the case. But the fulfilment was not exhaustive. Jeremiah therefore took up the prophecy of his predecessor again at the time of the Chaldean judgment upon the nations (Jeremiah 47:1-7), but only the second strophe. The Messianic element of the first was continued by Zechariah (Zech 9).