Ecclesiasticus 14:19

Nova Vulgata

tu autem proiectus es de sepulcro tuo quasi stirps abominabilis, obvolutus cum his, qui interfecti sunt gladio et descenderunt ad lapides sepulcri, quasi cadaver conculcatum.

Parallel Translations

Clementine Latin Vulgate (1592)
tu autem projectus es de sepulchro tuo, quasi stirps inutilis pollutus, et obvolutus cum his qui interfecti sunt gladio, et descenderunt ad fundamenta laci, quasi cadaver putridum.

Jerome's Latin Vulgate (405)
tu autem projectus es de sepulchro tuo,
quasi stirps inutilis pollutus,
et obvolutus cum his qui interfecti sunt gladio,
et descenderunt ad fundamenta laci,
quasi cadaver putridum.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

thou: The prophet having briefly set forth, in the beginning of this chapter, the deliverance of Judah from captivity, in consequence of the destruction of Babylon, then introduces this triumphant song, the beauties of which are excellently illustrated by Bp. Lowth. 1 Kings 21:19, 1 Kings 21:24, 2 Kings 9:25, 2 Kings 9:34-36, Jeremiah 8:1, Jeremiah 8:2, Jeremiah 16:6, Jeremiah 22:19

go: Jeremiah 41:7, Jeremiah 41:9, Ezekiel 32:23

Reciprocal: 1 Kings 14:10 - as a man taketh Psalms 63:9 - go Ecclesiastes 6:3 - and also Isaiah 13:15 - General Isaiah 18:6 - General Isaiah 25:5 - branch Isaiah 25:10 - even Isaiah 26:14 - and made Isaiah 34:3 - slain Jeremiah 37:10 - wounded men Jeremiah 51:4 - thrust Ezekiel 16:6 - polluted Ezekiel 32:4 - General Ezekiel 32:27 - shall not John 15:6 - he Hebrews 10:29 - trodden

Gill's Notes on the Bible

But thou art cast out of thy grave,.... Or rather "from" it d; that is, he was not suffered to be put into it, or to have a burial, as the following words show, at least not to be laid in the grave designed for him; though the Jews e, who apply this to Nebuchadnezzar, have a fabulous story that he was taken out of his grave by his son, to confirm this prophecy; and which their commentators, Aben Ezra, Jarchi, Kimchi, and Abendana, tell in this manner: that when Nebuchadnezzar was driven from men, and was with the beasts of the field for seven years, the people made his son Evilmerodach king; but when Nebuchadnezzar came to his right mind, and returned to his palace at Babylon, and found his son upon the throne, he put him in prison, where he lay till Nebuchadnezzar died, when the people took him out to make him king; but he refused to be king, saying, he did not believe his father was dead; and that if he should come again, as before, and find him, he would kill him; upon which they took him out of his grave, to show him that he was dead: but the sense here is not that the king of Babylon should be taken out of his grave, after he was laid in it, but that he should be hindered from being put into it; which very likely was the case of Belshazzar.

Like an abominable branch; cut off from a tree as useless and hurtful, and cast upon the ground, where it lies and rots, and is good for nothing, neither for fuel, nor anything else, but is neglected and despised of all:

[and as] the raiment of those that are slain; in battle, which being rolled in blood, nobody cares to take up and wear, nor even touch; for such persons were accounted unclean by the ceremonial law, and by the touch of them uncleanness was contracted; and perhaps with a view to this the simile is used, to express the very mean and abject condition this monarch should be in:

thrust through with a sword; which was added for explanation sake, to show in which way the persons were slain whose raiment is referred to; the clothes of such being stained with blood, when those that died by other means might not have their raiment so defiled. The word f rendered "thrust through", is only used in this place, and in

Genesis 45:17 where it is rendered "lade", or put on a burden; but, as the several Jewish commentators before mentioned observe g, in the Arabic language it signifies to pierce or thrust through with sword or spear, and so it is used in the Arabic version of John 19:34:

that go down to the stones of the pit; into which dead bodies after a battle are usually cast, and which have often stones at the bottom; and into which being cast, stones are also thrown over them:

as a carcass trodden underfoot; which is frequently the case of those that fall in battle; and very probably was the case of Belshazzar, when slain by the Chaldeans, whose body in a tumult might be neglected and trodden upon, and afterwards have no other burial than that of a common soldier in a pit; and instead of having a sepulchral monument erected over him, as kings used to have, had nothing but a heap of stones thrown upon him.

d מקברך "a sepulchro tuo", Gataker. e Seder Olam Rabba c. 28. fol. 81. f Strong's Concondance assigns two numbers to this word, 02943 and 02944. The word is the same in the Hebrew, differing only in the tense. This case is a Pual and the one in Genesis is a Qal. Wigrim's Englishman's Hebrew Concondance also has them in separate categories. There appears to be no good reason for this. Editor. g "confodit cum instrumentis, hasta, gladiis", Castel. col. 1546. So it is used in the Arabic version of Lam. iv. 9. and in the Chaldee language it signifies to pierce through and wound; as in the Targum on Jer. li. 4.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

But thou art cast out of thy grave - Thou art not buried like other kings in a magnificent sepulchre, but art cast out like the common dead. This was a mark of the highest infamy (see Isaiah 34:3; Ezekiel 29:5; Jeremiah 22:19). Nothing was considered more disgraceful than to be denied the privileges of an honorable burial (see the note at Isaiah 53:9). On the fulfillment of this prophecy, see the note at Isaiah 14:20.

As an abominable branch - (נתעב כנצר k^enêtser nı̂t^e'āb). The Septuagint renders this, ‘And thou shalt be cast upon the mountains as a dead body that is abominable, with many dead that are slain by the sword, descending to Hades.’ The Chaldee, ‘And thou shalt be cast out of thy sepulchre as a branch that is hid.’ Lowth supposes that by ‘abominable branch’ there is allusion to a tree on which a malefactor was hanged, that was regarded as detestable, and cursed. But there are obvious objections to this interpretation. One is, that the word “branch (netser)” is never applied to a tree. It means “a shoot, a slip, a scion” (note, Isaiah 11:1). Another objection is, that there seems here to be no necessary allusion to such a tree; or to anything that would lead to it. Jerome says, that the word “netser” denotes a shoot or sucker that starts up at the root of a plant or tree, and that is useless to the farmer, and which he therefore cuts off. So, says he, the king of Babylon shall be cast off - as the farmer throws away the useless sucker. This is probably the correct idea. The word “abominable” means, therefore, not only that which is “useless,” but indicates that the shoot or sucker is “troublesome” to the farmer. It is an object that he “hates,” and which he gets clear of as soon as possible. So the king of Babylon would be cast out as useless, hateful, abominable; to be thrown away, as the noxious shoot is, as unfit for use, and unworthy to be preserved.

As the raiment of those that are slain - As a garment that is all defiled with gore, and that is cast away and left to rot. The garments of those slain in battle, covered with blood and dirt, would be cast away as polluted and worthless, and so would be the king of Babylon. Among the Hebrews such garments were regarded with special abhorrence (Rosenmuller); perhaps from the dread which they had of touching a dead body, and of course of anything that was found on a dead body.

Thrust through with a sword - That is, the slain thrust through. The effect of this was to pollute the garment with blood, and to render it useless.

That go down to the stones of the pit - The ‘pit’ here means the grave or sepulchre Isaiah 14:15. The phrase ‘stones of the pit,’ conveys the idea that the grave or sepulchre was usually either excavated from the solid rock, or constructed of stones. The idea is simply, that those who were slain with the sword were buried in the usual manner, though their bloody garments defiled were cast away. But the king of Babylon should not have even the honor of such a burial as was given to those who fell in battle.

As a carcase trodden under foot - Unburied; as the body of a brute that is exposed to the air, and denied the honor of a sepulchre.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Isaiah 14:19. Like an abominable branch - "Like the tree abominated"] That is, as an object of abomination and detestation; such as the tree is on which a malefactor has been hanged. "It is written," saith St. Paul, Galatians 3:13, "Cursed is every man that hangeth on a tree," from Deuteronomy 21:23. The Jews therefore held also as accursed and polluted the tree itself on which a malefactor had been executed, or on which he had been hanged after having been put to death by stoning. "Non suspendunt super arbore, quae radicibus solo adhaereat; sed super ligno eradicato, ut ne sit excisio molesta: nam lignum, super quo fuit aliquis suspensus, cum suspendioso sepelitur; ne maneat illi malum nomen, et dicant homines, Istud est lignum, in quo suspensus est ille, ὁ δεινα. Sic lapis, quo aliquis fuit lapidatus; et gladius, quo fuit occisus is qui est occisus; et sudarium sive mantile, quo fuit aliquis strangulates; omnia haec cum iis, qui perierunt, sepeliuntur." Maimonides, apud Casaub. in Baron. Exercitat. xvi. An. 34, Num. 134. "Cum itaque homo suspensu maximae esset abominationi - Judaei quoque prae caeteris abominabantur lignum quo fuerat suspensus, ita ut illud quoque terra tegerent, tanquam rem abominabilem. Unde interpres Chaldaeus haec verba transtulit כחט טמור kechat temir, sicut virgultum absconditum, sive sepultum." Kalinski, Vaticinta Observationibus Illustrata, p. 342.

"The Jews never hang any malefactor upon a tree that is growing in the earth, but upon a post fixed in the ground, that it might never be said, 'That is the tree on which such a one was hanged;' for custom required that the tree should be buried with the malefactor. In like manner the stone by which a criminal was stoned to death, or the sword by which he was beheaded, or the napkin or handkerchief by which he was strangled, should be buried with him in the same grave." "For as the hanged man was considered the greatest abomination, so the very post or wood on which he was hanged was deemed a most abominable thing, and therefore buried under the earth."

Agreeably to which Theodoret, Hist. Ecclesiast. i. 17, 18, in his account of the finding of the cross by Helena, says, "That the three crosses were buried in the earth near the place of our Lord's sepulchre." And this circumstance seems to confirm the relation of the discovery of the cross of Christ. The crosses were found where the custom required they should be buried.

The raiment of those that are slain - "Clothed with the slain"] Thirty-five MSS., (ten ancient,) and three editions, have the word fully written, לבוש lebush. It is not a noun, but the participle passive; thrown out among the common slain and covered with the dead bodies. So Isaiah 14:11, the earth-worm is said to be his bed-covering. This reading is confirmed by two ancient MSS. in my own collection.