Isaiah 14:2 - Exposition

And the people shall take them ; rather, peoples shall take them . The heathen nations among whom they have dwelt shall rejoice at the restoration of Israel to their own land, and even escort them in a friendly spirit to their borders (comp. Ezra 1:4 , Ezra 1:6 ; Nehemiah 2:7-9 ). Some shall go so far as voluntarily to become their bondservants in Palestine. They shall take them captive, whose captives they were . This can scarcely have been intended literally. The Jews were at no time a conquering people, nor one that set itself to "take captives." The true meaning is that Jewish ideas shall penetrate and subdue the nations generally, and among them those with whom Israel had dwelt as captives. The Jews did become very powerful and numerous both in Assyria and Babylonia about the first century after Christ, and Christian Churches were early formed in Mesopotamia, Adiabene, and even Babylon.