Isaiah 14:1-32

1. Strangers] The thought of the voluntary adhesion of strangers is prominent in the later chapters of the book (Isaiah 44:5; Isaiah 55:5; Isaiah 60:5).

2. People] RV ’peoples.’ Similar anticipations are found in Isaiah 49:22; Isaiah 60:10; Isaiah 61:5: these were in some measure fulfilled in the time of Ezra: Ezra 1:1-4; Ezra 6:7, Ezra 6:8.

4. Proverb] RV ’parable’ (Habakkuk 2:6), or ’taunting-song.’ The King] Nabonidus was king of Babylon from 555 till its fall 549 b.c. Golden city] rather, RM, ’exactress,’ or ’raging one.’

7. The nations rejoice in the peace which follows the fall of their oppressor.

9. The spirit of the dead king of Babylon is greeted by the shades in Hades. The dead] lit. ’feeble ones’; the word is used in Heb. for disembodied spirits (Psalms 88:10). It hath raised, etc.] In Hades the dead monarchs are conceived as retaining some shadow of their former greatness: cp. Ezekiel 32:21. n. The grave] RV ’hell,’ as in Ezekiel 32:9 i.e. Hades.

12. The fall of the mighty king is compared, first, to the fall of the bright star of dawn from the sky, then, by a sudden change of figure, to the felling of a great tree. Lucifer] RV ’day-star.’ Weaken] RV ’lay low.’

13. The arrogant self-deification here put into the mouth of the Babylonian king finds a parallel in some of the Assyrian inscriptions.

Mount, etc.] not Zion, as many ancient commentators explain, comparing Psalms 48:2, but the mount in the far N. where the gods are imagined to reside—the Babylonian Olympus: cp. Ezekiel 28:12-14. Sides] RV ’uttermost parts,’ and so in Isaiah 14:15.

16. The scene now shifts to the battle-field, where men gaze upon the dishonoured corpse of the dead king.

18. Lie] RV ’sleep.’ In his own house] i.e. in a tomb of his own.

19. An abominable branch] i.e. a blighted branch cut off from a tree and left to rot upon the ground. And as the raiment.. slain] RV ’clothed with the slain.’ The king’s corpse lies under heaps of the slain on the field of defeat. The stones of the pit] referring to stones flung together in a hastily-made grave on the battle-field.

20. Shalt not be joined, etc.] To be excluded from burial was the extremest disgrace for a king: Jeremiah 22:19; 2 Chronicles 21:20; 2 Chronicles 24:25. with them] i.e. the honourably buried kings (Isaiah 14:18).

Shall.. renowined] RV ’shall not be named for ever’; a similar curse is pronounced on Jehoiachin (Jeremiah 22:30). The taunt-song ends with this verse, and in Isaiah 14:21-23 the prophet speaks in his own person.

21. With cities] as emblems of their dominion.

22. Nephew] RV ’son’s son.’

23. Pools of water] The works of irrigation connected with the Euphrates being destroyed the land would become a morass. This, in fact, happened after the conquest of Babylon by Cyrus.