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The Prophets · Old Testament

Isaiah 14

Isaiah 14: the taunt over the king of Babylon and burdens on Assyria and Palestina

General context

The Lord will have mercy on Jacob, set Israel in their own land and make their captors their captives. In the day of rest Israel will take up a proverb against the king of Babylon: How hath the oppressor ceased! The earth is at rest and the cedars of Lebanon rejoice that no feller comes. Hell below stirs the dead kings from their thrones to greet him: Art thou also become weak as we? His pomp is brought down to the grave and worms cover him. How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! He had said in his heart that he would ascend above the stars and be like the most High, yet he is brought down to the pit. Onlookers ask whether this is the man who made the earth tremble. Other kings lie in their own tombs, but he is cast out of his grave like a trodden carcase because he destroyed his land and slew his people, and slaughter is prepared for his children. The Lord of hosts will cut off from Babylon name, remnant, son and nephew and sweep it with the besom of destruction. The Lord has sworn to break the Assyrian in his land and lift his yoke, a purpose stretched over all nations that none can turn back. In the year that king Ahaz died a burden tells whole Palestina not to rejoice that the rod that smote it is broken, for worse serpents come from the serpent's root and smoke from the north. The answer to the nation's messengers is that the Lord has founded Zion and the poor of his people trust in it.

Cited passages: Isaiah 14:1, Isaiah 14:2, Isaiah 14:3, Isaiah 14:4, Isaiah 14:5, Isaiah 14:7, Isaiah 14:8, Isaiah 14:9, Isaiah 14:10, Isaiah 14:11, Isaiah 14:12, Isaiah 14:13, Isaiah 14:14, Isaiah 14:15, Isaiah 14:16, Isaiah 14:17, Isaiah 14:18, Isaiah 14:19, Isaiah 14:20, Isaiah 14:21, Isaiah 14:22, Isaiah 14:23, Isaiah 14:25, Isaiah 14:27, Isaiah 14:28, Isaiah 14:29, Isaiah 14:30, Isaiah 14:31, Isaiah 14:32

Isaiah 14 (KJV)

1For the Lord will have mercy on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel, and set them in their own land: and the strangers shall be joined with them, and they shall cleave to the house of Jacob.

2And the people shall take them, and bring them to their place: and the house of Israel shall possess them in the land of the Lord for servants and handmaids: and they shall take them captives, whose captives they were; and they shall rule over their oppressors.

3And it shall come to pass in the day that the Lord shall give thee rest from thy sorrow, and from thy fear, and from the hard bondage wherein thou wast made to serve,

4That thou shalt take up this proverb against the king of Babylon, and say, How hath the oppressor ceased! the golden city ceased!

5The Lord hath broken the staff of the wicked, and the sceptre of the rulers.

6He who smote the people in wrath with a continual stroke, he that ruled the nations in anger, is persecuted, and none hindereth.

7The whole earth is at rest, and is quiet: they break forth into singing.

8Yea, the fir trees rejoice at thee, and the cedars of Lebanon, saying, Since thou art laid down, no feller is come up against us.

9Hell from beneath is moved for thee to meet thee at thy coming: it stirreth up the dead for thee, even all the chief ones of the earth; it hath raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations.

10All they shall speak and say unto thee, Art thou also become weak as we? art thou become like unto us?

11Thy pomp is brought down to the grave, and the noise of thy viols: the worm is spread under thee, and the worms cover thee.

12How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!

13For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:

14I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.

15Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.

16They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms;

17That made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof; that opened not the house of his prisoners?

18All the kings of the nations, even all of them, lie in glory, every one in his own house.

19But thou art cast out of thy grave like an abominable branch, and as the raiment of those that are slain, thrust through with a sword, that go down to the stones of the pit; as a carcase trodden under feet.

20Thou shalt not be joined with them in burial, because thou hast destroyed thy land, and slain thy people: the seed of evildoers shall never be renowned.

21Prepare slaughter for his children for the iniquity of their fathers; that they do not rise, nor possess the land, nor fill the face of the world with cities.

22For I will rise up against them, saith the Lord of hosts, and cut off from Babylon the name, and remnant, and son, and nephew, saith the Lord.

23I will also make it a possession for the bittern, and pools of water: and I will sweep it with the besom of destruction, saith the Lord of hosts.

24The Lord of hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass; and as I have purposed, so shall it stand:

25That I will break the Assyrian in my land, and upon my mountains tread him under foot: then shall his yoke depart from off them, and his burden depart from off their shoulders.

26This is the purpose that is purposed upon the whole earth: and this is the hand that is stretched out upon all the nations.

27For the Lord of hosts hath purposed, and who shall disannul it? and his hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it back?

28In the year that king Ahaz died was this burden.

29Rejoice not thou, whole Palestina, because the rod of him that smote thee is broken: for out of the serpent’s root shall come forth a cockatrice, and his fruit shall be a fiery flying serpent.

30And the firstborn of the poor shall feed, and the needy shall lie down in safety: and I will kill thy root with famine, and he shall slay thy remnant.

31Howl, O gate; cry, O city; thou, whole Palestina, art dissolved: for there shall come from the north a smoke, and none shall be alone in his appointed times.

32What shall one then answer the messengers of the nation? That the Lord hath founded Zion, and the poor of his people shall trust in it.

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Historical context

Three subjects share the chapter. The proverb of verses four to twenty-three is addressed, by the text's own label, against the king of Babylon, and the onlookers call him the man that made the earth to tremble. The name Lucifer, son of the morning, is the KJV's rendering in the twelfth verse; the passage applies it to that king, and this record does not identify the figure with any later person or being. His boast, I will ascend into heaven, is reported as what he said in his heart, not as an event. Verses twenty-four to twenty-seven turn to the Assyrian, to be broken in the Lord's own land and mountains, which connects to the Assyrian threat of chapter ten. Verse twenty-eight supplies the chapter's only date, the year that king Ahaz died, and attaches it to the burden on Palestina that follows; Ahaz is the king of chapter seven and the third of the four named in the book's heading. The rod that smote Palestina and was broken is not identified. The Medes of chapter thirteen are not mentioned here, and the chapter does not say how or when Babylon falls. The opening verses speak of Jacob and Israel restored with strangers joined to them and former captors serving them, without saying who the captors are. The speech markers saith the Lord of hosts and The Lord of hosts hath sworn mark the Lord's own words in the second half.

Cited passages: Isaiah 14:4, Isaiah 14:16, Isaiah 14:12, Isaiah 14:13, Isaiah 14:25, Isaiah 10:24, Isaiah 14:28, Isaiah 1:1, Isaiah 14:29, Isaiah 14:2, Isaiah 14:22, Isaiah 14:24

Literary context

The taunt is built on height and depth. The king wanted to ascend, exalt his throne above the stars and sit above the clouds, five I will clauses in two verses, and each is answered by descent: fallen from heaven, cut down to the ground, brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit. The earth and the trees rejoice at his stillness, while the underworld wakes; kings rise from thrones only to tell him he is as weak as they. Two questions frame him, Art thou become like unto us? and Is this the man? The burial contrast is exact: every other king lies in his own house, and he alone is cast out like a carcase. The proverb is introduced as words Israel will speak in the day of rest, so the oracle of chapter thirteen becomes a song in the mouths of the freed. Two shorter oracles follow, on the Assyrian and on Palestina, each with its own image, a yoke lifted and a serpent's root sprouting worse serpents, and the phrase his hand is stretched out returns here as unstoppable purpose rather than the refrain of continuing anger. The chapter ends on Zion founded and the poor trusting in it, a small close after the cosmic taunt, and the burden of Moab opens the next chapter.

Cited passages: Isaiah 14:13, Isaiah 14:14, Isaiah 14:12, Isaiah 14:15, Isaiah 14:7, Isaiah 14:9, Isaiah 14:10, Isaiah 14:16, Isaiah 14:18, Isaiah 14:19, Isaiah 14:4, Isaiah 14:25, Isaiah 14:29, Isaiah 14:27, Isaiah 14:32

Key moments

  1. Mercy on Jacob (Isaiah 14:1). The Lord chooses Israel again and settles them in their land.
  2. How hath the oppressor ceased (Isaiah 14:4). Israel takes up a proverb against the king of Babylon.
  3. The cedars rejoice (Isaiah 14:8). Trees say no feller has come since the king lay down.
  4. Hell stirs the dead kings (Isaiah 14:9). The dead rise from their thrones to greet the fallen king.
  5. Fallen from heaven (Isaiah 14:12). The one called Lucifer, son of the morning, is cut down to the ground.
  6. Cast out of his grave (Isaiah 14:19). Unlike other kings he is denied burial like a trodden carcase.
  7. The year Ahaz died (Isaiah 14:28). A dated burden warns Palestina not to rejoice at a broken rod.

For reflection

The dead kings ask the fallen king, Art thou also become weak as we? What does the taunt treat as the real difference between him and them, given that he is denied even their burial?

People in this chapter

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