Isaiah 14:20

The Holy Bible, Berean Study Bible

Contextual Overview

⁴you will sing this song of contempt against the king of Babylon: How the oppressor has ceased, and how his fury has ended! ⁵The LORD has broken the staff of the wicked, the scepter of the rulers. ⁶It struck the peoples in anger with unceasing blows; it subdued the nations in rage with relentless persecution. ⁷All the earth is at peace and at rest; they break out in song. ⁸Even the cypresses and cedars of Lebanon exult over you: "Since you have been laid low, no woodcutter comes against us." ⁹Sheol beneath is eager to meet you upon your arrival. It stirs the spirits of the dead to greet you-all the rulers of the earth. It makes all the kings of the nations rise from their thrones. ¹⁰They will all respond and say to you, "You too have become weak as we are; you have become like us!" ¹¹Your pomp has been brought down to Sheol, with the music of your harps. Maggots spread out beneath you, and worms cover you. ¹²How you have fallen from heaven, O morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cut down to the ground, O destroyer of nations. ¹³You said in your heart: "I will ascend to the heavens; I will raise my throne above the stars of God. I will sit on the mount of assembly, in the far reaches of the north.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

the seed: Isaiah 13:15-19, Job 18:16, Job 18:19, Psalms 21:10, Psalms 37:28, Psalms 109:13, Psalms 137:8, Psalms 137:9

Reciprocal: Exodus 10:7 - that Egypt Exodus 20:5 - visiting Job 20:26 - it shall go Ecclesiastes 6:3 - and also Isaiah 34:3 - slain Isaiah 43:17 - they shall Jeremiah 11:23 - no Jeremiah 29:32 - punish Jeremiah 49:10 - his seed Nahum 1:14 - that Habakkuk 2:10 - consulted

Cross-References

Genesis 9:26
He also declared: "Blessed be the LORD, the God of Shem! May Canaan be the servant of Shem.

Genesis 14:3
The latter five came as allies to the Valley of Siddim (that is, the Salt Sea).

Genesis 14:4
For twelve years they had been subject to Chedorlaomer, but in the thirteenth year they rebelled.

Genesis 14:5
In the fourteenth year, Chedorlaomer and the kings allied with him went out and defeated the Rephaites in Ashteroth-karnaim, the Zuzites in Ham, the Emites in Shaveh-kiriathaim,

Genesis 14:6
and the Horites in the hill country of Seir, as far as El-paran, which is near the desert.

Genesis 14:9
against Chedorlaomer king of Elam, Tidal king of Goiim, Amraphel king of Shinar, and Arioch king of Ellasar-four kings against five.

Genesis 14:17
After Abram returned from defeating Chedorlaomer and the kings allied with him, the king of Sodom went out to meet him in the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the King's Valley).

Genesis 14:19
and he blessed Abram and said: "Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth,

Genesis 24:27
saying, "Blessed be the LORD, the God of my master Abraham, who has not withheld His kindness and faithfulness from my master. As for me, the LORD has led me on the journey to the house of my master's kinsmen."

Genesis 28:22
And this stone I have set up as a pillar will be God's house, and of all that You give me I will surely give You a tenth."

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Thou shall not be joined with them in burial,.... The kings before mentioned; not that the sense is that he should not be interred in the same place they were, or lie in the same stately monuments they did, for that was never designed by him or others; but that he should not be buried in like manner, be embalmed as they, or have odours burned for him, or lie in such state and pomp, or have a "pyramid" or "mausoleum", or any rich monument, erected over him; unless this can be understood of his ancestors, the kings that were before him; and the sense be, that he should not have a burial with the kings of Babylon, or be inferred where they were, but, as before said, should be cast out, or be kept from the place of sepulture. The Targum is,

"thou shall not be as one of them in the grave;''

shall not be like them, or equal to them, in the glory and pomp of a funeral, not having the same funeral rites; obsequies, and ornaments they have had. So the whore of Rome shall have no funeral, but the kings of the earth will eat her flesh, and burn her with fire

Revelation 17:16,

because thou hast destroyed thy land; not only other lands and nations, but also his own, and the inhabitants of it, by his tyrannical government, by levies and exactions, by mulcts and fines, on various pretences: or, "hast corrupted, thy land" g; which phrase is used of mystical Babylon, Revelation 19:2 see also Revelation 11:18 whose land or earth is the whole Romish jurisdiction, corrupted by her idolatries, and wasted and destroyed by the various methods used to drain away the substance thereof:

[and] slain thy people; put them to death at pleasure, without any just cause, for trifling matters; which is often done by arbitrary princes. Jarchi and Kimchi apply this to Nebuchadnezzar's slaying the wise men of Babylon, because they could not tell him his dream, and the interpretation of it. It is true of antichrist slaying such, that would not worship his image, and receive his mark, Revelation 13:10.

The seed of evildoers shall never be renowned; or, "not for ever"; though they may have a name, and be very famous for a while, yet not always; in process of time their honour is laid in the dust; or, "shall not be called for ever" h; their name and their memory shall not always last; their name shall be cut off, and their memory shall rot; they shall have none to keep up their name, and they shall not be spoken of with respect; such a seed of evildoers were Belshazzar and his family, who descended from Nebuchadnezzar and Evilmerodach, and were at once extinct, as follows:

g ארצך שחת "terram tuam corrupisti", Montanus, Cocceius, Junius, Tremellius, Piscator. h לא יקרא לעולם "non nominabitur in seculum", Forerius; "vocabitur", Pagninus, Montanus, Munster.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Thou shalt not be joined with them in burial - That is, even with those who are slain with the sword in battle, and to whom is granted the privilege of a decent burial.

Hast destroyed thy land - Hast been a cruel, harsh, and oppressive prince.

The seed of evil-doers - The posterity of the wicked.

Shall never be renowned - Hebrew, ‘Shall never be called,’ or ‘named’ (לא־יקרא lo'-yı̂qārē'); that is, shall never be distinguished, celebrated, or honored. This is a general proposition; but the prophet here possibly designs to apply it to the king of which he is speaking, as having been descended from ancestors that were wicked; or more probably it is a new circumstance, more fully explained in the following verse, that his posterity should be cut off from the honor of succeeding him on the throne, and that they, as well as he, should be loaded with disgrace. The design is to affirm the fact that the Babylonian dynasty would end with him; and that his posterity would be reduced from the honors which they had hoped to have inherited. At the same time, the general proposition is applicable not only to the posterity of the king of Babylon, but to all. It is a great truth pertaining to the divine administration, that the descendants of wicked people shall be dishonored. So it is with the posterity of a traitor, a pirate, a drunkard, a man of profligacy. They are involved in disgrace, poverty, and calamity, as the result of the sin of their ancestor.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Isaiah 14:20. Because thou hast destroyed thy land, c. - "Because thou hast destroyed thy country thou hast slain thy people"] Xenophon gives an instance of this king's wanton cruelty in killing the son of Gobrias, on no other provocation than that, in hunting, he struck a boar and a lion which the king had missed. Cyrop. iv. 309.