God’s Word Translation
Isaiah 14:4
4Then you will mock the king of Babylon with this saying, “How the tyrant has come to an end! How his attacks have come to an end!”
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 will take them and bring them to their own place. The nation of Israel will possess nations as male and female slaves in the Lord’s land. They will take their captors captive and rule their oppressors. 3When that day comes, the Lord will give you relief from your pain and suffering, from the hard slavery you were forced to do. Then you will mock the king of Babylon with this saying, “How the tyrant has come to an end! How his attacks have come to an end!” 5The Lord has broken the staff of the wicked, the scepter of rulers. 6They struck the people with fury, with blows that didn’t stop. They ruled nations in anger, persecuting them without restraint.
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 horrifying sight to all the kingdoms of the earth. They will be a disgrace and an example. They will become something ridiculed and cursed wherever I scatter them.
- Ezekiel 5:15The nations that are around you will ridicule you and laugh at you. When I punish you because of my anger, fury, and fierce revenge, you will become something ridiculed and something horrible. I, the Lord, have spoken.
- Habakkuk 2:6Won’t all of them ridicule him, directing clever sayings and riddles at him, like: “ ‘How horrible it will be for the one who makes himself rich with what is not his own and makes himself wealthy on loans. How long will this go on?’
- Isaiah 14:6They struck the people with fury, with blows that didn’t stop. They ruled nations in anger, persecuting them without restraint.
- Isaiah 47:5Go into the dark, and sit in silence, princess of the Babylonians! You will no longer be called the queen of kingdoms.
- Isaiah 49:26I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh, and they will become drunk on their own blood as though it were new wine. Then all humanity will know that I am the Lord, who saves you, the Mighty One of Jacob, who reclaims you.
- Isaiah 51:23I will put it in the hands of those who made you suffer. They said to you, “Lie down so that we can walk over you.” So you made your back like the ground and like a street for them to cross.
- Jeremiah 25:9so I’m going to send for all the families from the north. I will also send for my servant King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, declares the Lord. I will bring the families from the north to attack this land, its people, and all these surrounding nations. I’m going to destroy them and turn them into something terrible, something ridiculed, and something permanently ruined.
- Jeremiah 27:6Now I have handed all these countries over to my servant King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. I have even made wild animals serve him.
- Jeremiah 50:22The noise of battle and great destruction fills the land.
- Jeremiah 51:20“You are my war club and my weapon for battle. I will use you to crush nations. I will use you to destroy kingdoms.
- Daniel 7:19Then I wanted to know the truth about the fourth animal, which was so different from all the others. It was very terrifying and had iron teeth and bronze claws. It devoured and crushed its victims, and trampled whatever was left.
- Habakkuk 1:2How long, O Lord, am I to cry for help, but you will not listen? I cry out to you, “There’s violence!” yet you will not come to the rescue.
- Revelation 13:15The second beast was allowed to put breath into the statue of the ⌞first⌟ beast. Then the statue of the ⌞first⌟ beast could talk and put to death whoever would not worship it.
- Revelation 16:5Then I heard the angel of the water say, “You are fair. You are the one who is and the one who was, the holy one, because you have judged these things.
- Revelation 17:6I saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of God’s holy people and of those who testify about Jesus. I was very surprised when I saw her.
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
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