Isaiah 14:4

Isaiah 14:4 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)That thou shalt take up this proverb against the king of Babylon, and say, How hath the oppressor ceased! the golden city ceased!
• New International Version (NIV)you will take up this taunt against the king of Babylon: How the oppressor has come to an end! How his fury has ended!
• English Standard Version (ESV)you will take up this taunt against the king of Babylon: "How the oppressor has ceased, the insolent fury ceased!
• New King James Version (NKJV)that you will take up this proverb against the king of Babylon, and say: “How the oppressor has ceased, The golden city ceased!

Context of Isaiah 14:4

2The peoples will take them along and bring them to their own place (Judea), and the house of Israel will possess them as an inheritance in the land of the Lord as male and female servants; and they will take captive those whose captives they have been, and they will rule over their [former] oppressors. 3And it will be in the day when the Lord gives you rest from your pain and turmoil and from the harsh service in which you have been enslaved, that you will take up this taunt against the king of Babylon, and say, “How the oppressor has ceased [his insolence], And how the fury has ceased! 5The Lord has broken the staff of the wicked, The scepter of the [tyrant] rulers 6Which used to strike the peoples in anger with incessant blows, Which subdued and ruled the nations in wrath with unrelenting persecution.

Isaiah 14:4 word by word

וְנָשָׂ֜אתָ הַמָּשָׁ֥ל הַזֶּ֛ה עַל־מֶ֥לֶךְ בָּבֶ֖ל וְאָמָ֑רְתָּ אֵ֚יךְ שָׁבַ֣ת נֹגֵ֔שׂ שָׁבְתָ֖ה מַדְהֵבָֽה׃Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• That thou shalt take upנָשָׂאnâώâ' nâsâh · to lift: loudH5375
• this proverbמָשָׁלmâshâl · proverbH4912
• against the kingמֶ֫לֶךְmelek · kingH4428
• of Babylonבָּבֶ֫ל, בָּבֶלbâbel · BabylonH894
• and sayאָמַר'âmar · to sayH559
• How hath the oppressorנָגַשׂnâgaώ · to oppressH5065
• ceasedשָׁבַתshâbath · to ceaseH7673
• the golden cityמַדְהֵבָהmadhêbâh · insolenceH4062

Cross-references for Isaiah 14:4

• Jeremiah 24:9I will make them a focus of ridicule and disappointment [tossed back and forth] among all the kingdoms of the earth, a [notorious] disgrace, a byword, a taunt and a curse in all places where I will scatter them.
• Ezekiel 5:15So it will be a disgrace, a taunt, a warning and an object of horror to the [pagan] nations who surround you when I execute judgments against you in anger and in wrath and in raging reprimands—I, the Lord, have spoken.
• Habakkuk 2:6“Will all these [victims of his greed] not take up a taunting song against him, And in mocking derision against him Say, ‘Woe (judgment is coming) to him who increases that which is not his— How long [will he possess it]? And [woe to him who] makes himself wealthy with loans.’
• Isaiah 14:6Which used to strike the peoples in anger with incessant blows, Which subdued and ruled the nations in wrath with unrelenting persecution.
• Isaiah 47:5“Sit in silence, and go into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans; For you will no longer be called The queen of kingdoms.
• Isaiah 49:26I will make those who oppress you consume their own flesh [in mutually destructive wars] And they will become drunk with their own blood as with sweet wine; And all mankind will know [with a knowledge grounded in personal experience] that I, the Lord, am your Savior And your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.”
• Isaiah 51:23I will put it into the hands of your tormentors, Who have said to you, ‘Lie down so that we may walk over you.’ You have even made your back like the ground And like the street for those who walk over it.”
• Jeremiah 25:9behold (hear this), I will send for all the families of the north,’ says the Lord, ‘and I will send for Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, My servant [to enact My plan], and I will bring them against this land and against its inhabitants and against all these surrounding nations; and I will utterly destroy them and make them a horror and a hissing [that is, an object of warning and ridicule] and an everlasting desolation.
• Jeremiah 27:6Now I have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, My servant and instrument, and I have also given the wild animals of the field to serve him.
• Jeremiah 50:22“The noise of battle is in the land, And [the noise of] great destruction.
• Jeremiah 51:20“You [Cyrus of Persia, soon to conquer Babylon] are My battle-axe and weapon of war— For with you I shatter nations, With you I destroy kingdoms.
• Daniel 7:19“Then I wished to know the exact meaning of the fourth beast, which was different from all the others, extremely dreadful, with teeth of iron and claws of bronze, which devoured, crushed and trampled down what was left with its feet,
• Habakkuk 1:2O Lord, how long will I call for help And You will not hear? I cry out to You, “Violence!” Yet You do not save.
• Revelation 13:15And he is given power to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast will even [appear to] speak, and cause those who do not bow down and worship the image of the beast to be put to death.
• Revelation 16:5And I heard the angel of the waters saying, “Righteous and just are You, Who are and Who were, O Holy One, because You judged these things;
• Revelation 17:6I saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of the saints (God’s people), and with the blood of the witnesses of Jesus [who were martyred]. When I saw her, I wondered in amazement.

Commentaries on Isaiah 14:4

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 4This proverb "This parable" - משל mashal, I take this to be the general name for poetic style among the Hebrews, including every sort of it, as ranging under one or other, or all of the characters, of sententious, figurative, and sublime; which are all contained in the original notion, or in the use and application of the word mashal . Parables or proverbs, such as those of Solomon, are always expressed in short pointed sentences; frequently figurative…Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 4That thou shalt take up - Thou shalt utter, declare, or commence. The word take up,‘ is used in the sense of utter, speak, or declare, in Exodus 20:7; Exodus 23:1; Psalm 15:2. This proverb - (המשׁל hamâshâl ). Vulgate, Parable.‘ Septuagint ̀ ͂ ton thrēnon - Lamentation.‘ The Hebrew word משׁל mâshâl usually rendered “proverb,” is also rendered “a parable,” or “a by-word.” It properly denotes “a metaphor, a comparison, a similitude;” and is applied…Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 4A song of contempt is a mocking song. It makes fun of someone by comparing that person to something else. In this case, the king of Babylon is compared to a dead man going down to the place of the dead. The song imagines him entering that realm in defeat.Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 44. proverb--The Orientals, having few books, embodied their thoughts in weighty, figurative, briefly expressed gnomes. Here a taunting song of triumph (Mi 2:4; Ha 2:6). the king--the ideal representative of Babylon; perhaps Belshazzar (Da 5:1-31). The mystical Babylon is ultimately meant. golden city--rather, "the exactress of gold" [Maurer]. But the old translators read differently in the Hebrew, "oppression," which the parallelism favors (compare Is…Read the comment

Topics related to Isaiah 14:4

• Babylon
• Isaiah
• Nation
• Rulers

In the dictionaries

• Babylon
• Babylon, Babylonia, Babylonian
• Golden City
• Besom
• Fall
• Fashion
• Feller
• Hard
• Lie
• Proverb

Commentaries on Isaiah 14

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
• Tyndale Open Study Notes
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
• Rashi on Tanakh
• Calvin’s Commentaries
• Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
• John Wesley’s Notes
• Darby Translation Notes
• Geneva Bible Translation Notes
• Kingcomments
• Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
• Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
• Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
• EGW Writings