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

2Nations will take them and bring them back to their own place. Then the family of Jacob will make foreigners their servants as they settle in the Lord’s land. They will make their captors captives and rule over the ones who oppressed them. 3When the Lord gives you relief from your suffering and anxiety, and from the hard labor which you were made to perform, you will taunt the king of Babylon with these words: “Look how the oppressor has met his end! Hostility has ceased! 5The Lord has broken the club of the wicked, the scepter of rulers. 6It furiously struck down nations with unceasing blows. It angrily ruled over nations, oppressing them without restraint.

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 bring such disaster on them that all the kingdoms of the earth will be horrified. I will make them an object of reproach, a proverbial example of disaster. I will make them an object of ridicule, an example to be used in curses. That is how they will be remembered wherever I banish them.
• Ezekiel 5:15You will be an object of scorn and taunting, a prime example of destruction among the nations around you when I execute judgments against you in anger and raging fury. I, the Lord, have spoken!
• Habakkuk 2:6“But all these nations will someday taunt him and ridicule him with proverbial sayings: ‘The one who accumulates what does not belong to him is as good as dead (How long will this go on?) – he who gets rich by extortion!’
• Isaiah 14:6It furiously struck down nations with unceasing blows. It angrily ruled over nations, oppressing them without restraint.
• Isaiah 47:5“Sit silently! Go to a hiding place, O daughter of the Babylonians! Indeed, you will no longer be called ‘Queen of kingdoms.’
• Isaiah 49:26I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh; they will get drunk on their own blood, as if it were wine. Then all humankind will recognize that I am the Lord, your deliverer, your protector, the powerful ruler of Jacob.”
• Isaiah 51:23I will put it into the hand of your tormentors who said to you, ‘Lie down, so we can walk over you.’ You made your back like the ground, and like the street for those who walked over you.”
• Jeremiah 25:9So I, the Lord, affirm that I will send for all the peoples of the north and my servant, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants and all the nations that surround it. I will utterly destroy this land, its inhabitants, and all the nations that surround it and make them everlasting ruins. I will make them objects of horror and hissing scorn.
• Jeremiah 27:6I have at this time placed all these nations of yours under the power of my servant, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. I have even made all the wild animals subject to him.
• Jeremiah 50:22The noise of battle can be heard in the land of Babylonia. There is the sound of great destruction.
• Jeremiah 51:20“Babylon, you are my war club, my weapon for battle. I used you to smash nations. I used you to destroy kingdoms.
• Daniel 7:19“Then I wanted to know the meaning of the fourth beast, which was different from all the others. It was very dreadful, with two rows of iron teeth and bronze claws, and it devoured, crushed, and trampled anything that was left with its feet.
• Habakkuk 1:2How long, Lord, must I cry for help? But you do not listen! I call out to you, “Violence!” But you do not intervene!
• Revelation 13:15The second beast was empowered to give life to the image of the first beast so that it could speak, and could cause all those who did not worship the image of the beast to be killed.
• Revelation 16:5Now I heard the angel of the waters saying: “You are just – the one who is and who was, the Holy One – because you have passed these judgments,
• Revelation 17:6I saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of the saints and the blood of those who testified to Jesus. I was greatly astounded 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

• 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