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

2People of other nations will help Israel's people to return to their own country. When they are living again in the land that the Lord gave to them, foreign people will become their servants, both men and women. In that way, the people who made the Israelites prisoners will be prisoners themselves! The Israelites will rule over the people who had been cruel to them. 3At that time, the Lord will let you live safely, without trouble and without pain. You will no longer have to work for cruel people, as their slaves. Then you will laugh at the king of Babylon. You will say to him, ‘Now you cannot be cruel to us any more! Your power to cause trouble has finished! 5The Lord has destroyed the authority of wicked rulers like you. 6You used your power to attack people all the time. In your anger, you ruled over other nations, and you never stopped being cruel to them.

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 send great trouble to punish them. It will make everyone afraid. The people of all the kingdoms on the earth will think that they are disgusting. People will insult them. They will use them as an example in proverbs. They will use their name as a curse. That will happen in all the places where I send my people.
• Ezekiel 5:15They will all laugh at you and insult you. They will see that I was very angry with you and I punished you. Then they will be afraid of my great anger. I, the Lord, say this!
• Habakkuk 2:6But one day, their prisoners will laugh at them. The people will insult that proud nation with songs and proverbs. They will say, “You have stored for yourselves many valuable things that do not belong to you. It will be very bad for you! You have robbed other nations so that you can be rich. This will not continue much longer!”
• Isaiah 14:6You used your power to attack people all the time. In your anger, you ruled over other nations, and you never stopped being cruel to them.
• Isaiah 47:5‘You city of the Babylonians, sit there quietly! Go and hide in a dark place. People will no longer call you the queen of all kingdoms.
• Isaiah 49:26I will cause your cruel enemies to destroy themselves. There will be so much blood that it will seem like wine. They will seem like people who have become drunk. Then people everywhere will recognize that I am the Lord. They will know that I am your Saviour and your Redeemer, and I am the Mighty One of Jacob.’
• Isaiah 51:23Instead, I will give it to your cruel enemies to punish them. They said to you, “Lie down on the ground, so that we can walk over you.” You made your backs become like the ground. You became like a street for your enemies to walk on.’
• Jeremiah 25:9So I, the Lord, tell you that I will call the nations in the north to come. I will call my servant, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, to come. I will bring them to attack this land and the people who live here. They will also attack all the nations that are around you. I will completely destroy this land, its people and all the nations around it. Their houses will become heaps of stones for ever. The land will become a terrible place. People will always see how foolish my people are.
• Jeremiah 27:6Now I choose to give all your countries to my servant Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. He will rule over you and even over the wild animals.
• Jeremiah 50:22There is a noise of war in the land of Babylonia. The enemy is destroying everything!
• Jeremiah 51:20‘You are the weapon that I use to fight my battles. I have used you to punish nations. I have used you to destroy kingdoms.
• Daniel 7:19Then I wanted to know about the fourth animal. It was different from all the other animals. It was a terrible animal that made me very afraid. It had large iron teeth and feet with sharp bronze claws. It ate things and it broke them into pieces. It used its feet to stamp on everything else.
• Habakkuk 1:2Lord, how long must I call out to you for help? You do not listen to me! I shout aloud to you, ‘Violence is everywhere!’ but you do nothing to make us safe.
• Revelation 13:15The second wild animal received power to give life to the image of the first wild animal. As a result, the image could speak. It said, ‘Anyone who refuses to worship me must die!’
• Revelation 16:5Then I heard the voice of the angel who had authority over the waters. He said to God, ‘Holy One, you are alive now and you always have been alive. You are right in everything that you decide. Now you have judged these people.
• Revelation 17:6I saw that the woman was like a drunk. She was like someone who had drunk the blood of God's people. She had killed them because they had told other people about Jesus. When I saw her, I was very surprised.

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