English Standard Version
Isaiah 14:4
4you will take up this taunt against the king of Babylon: "How the oppressor has ceased, the insolent fury ceased!
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!
- 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!
- New Living Translation (NLT)you will taunt the king of Babylon. You will say, “The mighty man has been destroyed. Yes, your insolence is ended.
Context of Isaiah 14:4
2And the peoples will take them and bring them to their place, and the house of Israel will possess them in the Lord's land as male and female slaves. They will take captive those who were their captors, and rule over those who oppressed them. 3When the Lord has given you rest from your pain and turmoil and the hard service with which you were made to serve, you will take up this taunt against the king of Babylon: "How the oppressor has ceased, the insolent fury ceased! 5The Lord has broken the staff of the wicked, the scepter of rulers, 6that struck the peoples in wrath with unceasing blows, that ruled the nations in anger with unrelenting persecution.
Read all of Isaiah 14Isaiah 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 horror to all the kingdoms of the earth, to be a reproach, a byword, a taunt, and a curse in all the places where I shall drive them.
- Ezekiel 5:15You shall be a reproach and a taunt, a warning and a horror, to the nations all around you, when I execute judgments on you in anger and fury, and with furious rebukes—I am the Lord; I have spoken—
- Habakkuk 2:6Shall not all these take up their taunt against him, with scoffing and riddles for him, and say, "Woe to him who heaps up what is not his own— for how long?— and loads himself with pledges!"
- Isaiah 14:6that struck the peoples in wrath with unceasing blows, that ruled the nations in anger with unrelenting persecution.
- Isaiah 47:5Sit in silence, and go into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans; for you shall no more be called the mistress of kingdoms.
- Isaiah 49:26I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh, and they shall be drunk with their own blood as with wine. Then all flesh shall know that I am the Lord your Savior, and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob."
- Isaiah 51:23and I will put it into the hand of your tormentors, who have said to you, 'Bow down, that we may pass over'; and you have made your back like the ground and like the street for them to pass over."
- Jeremiah 25:9behold, I will send for all the tribes of the north, declares the Lord, and for Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants, and against all these surrounding nations. I will devote them to destruction, and make them a horror, a hissing, and an everlasting desolation.
- Jeremiah 27:6Now I have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, my servant, and I have given him also the beasts of the field to serve him.
- Jeremiah 50:22The noise of battle is in the land, and great destruction!
- Jeremiah 51:20"You are my hammer and weapon of war: with you I break nations in pieces; with you I destroy kingdoms;
- Daniel 7:19"Then I desired to know the truth about the fourth beast, which was different from all the rest, exceedingly terrifying, with its teeth of iron and claws of bronze, and which devoured and broke in pieces and stamped what was left with its feet,
- Habakkuk 1:2O Lord, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not hear? Or cry to you "Violence!" and you will not save?
- Revelation 13:15And it was allowed to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast might even speak and might cause those who would not worship the image of the beast to be slain.
- Revelation 16:5And I heard the angel in charge of the waters say, "Just are you, O Holy One, who is and who was, for you brought these judgments.
- Revelation 17:6And I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. When I saw her, I marveled greatly.
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
In the dictionaries
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
English Standard Version — © 2001 Crossway Bibles
Commentaries