Isaiah 14:6

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

who smote: Isaiah 33:1, Isaiah 47:6, 2 Chronicles 36:17, Jeremiah 25:9, Daniel 7:19-21, James 2:13

continual stroke: Heb. a stroke without removing

is persecuted: Isaiah 13:14-18, Isaiah 21:1-10, Isaiah 47:1-15, Jeremiah 25:26, Jeremiah 50:31, Revelation 17:16, Revelation 17:17, Revelation 18:8-10

and none: Isaiah 46:10, Isaiah 46:11, Job 9:13, Proverbs 21:30, Daniel 4:35

Reciprocal: Exodus 1:14 - was with rigour Job 36:18 - his Psalms 9:6 - destructions Psalms 125:3 - the rod Isaiah 8:9 - and ye Isaiah 10:5 - the rod Isaiah 14:4 - How Jeremiah 50:42 - they are cruel Jeremiah 51:20 - art Nahum 2:1 - He that dasheth in pieces

Cross-References

Genesis 14:20
and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand." Then Abram gave Melchizedek a tenth of everything.

Genesis 16:7
Now the Angel of the LORD found Hagar by a spring of water in the desert-the spring along the road to Shur.

Genesis 21:21
And while he was dwelling in the Wilderness of Paran, his mother got a wife for him from the land of Egypt.

Genesis 36:8
So Esau (that is, Edom) settled in the hill country of Seir.

Numbers 10:12
and the Israelites set out from the Wilderness of Sinai, traveling from place to place until the cloud settled in the Wilderness of Paran.

Numbers 12:16
After that, the people set out from Hazeroth and camped in the Wilderness of Paran.

Numbers 13:3
So at the command of the LORD, Moses sent them out from the Wilderness of Paran. All the men were leaders of the Israelites,

Deuteronomy 2:12
The Horites used to live in Seir, but the descendants of Esau drove them out, destroying them completely and settling in their place, just as Israel did in the land the LORD gave them as their possession.)

Habakkuk 3:3
God came from Teman, and the Holy One from Mount Paran. Selah His glory covered the heavens, and His praise filled the earth.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

He who smote the people in wrath with a continual stroke,.... The king of Babylon, who made war with the people and nations of the earth, and conquered them, smote them with the edge of the sword to gratify his passions, and satiate his bloodthirsty mind; and those that were spared, he ruled with rigour, and oppressed them with tribute and hard bondage; and, when he had conquered one nation, attacked another, and so went on pursuing his victories without intermission, giving no respite neither to his army, nor to the people:

he that ruled the nations in anger; not with justice and clemency, but in a tyrannical and oppressive way, even his own nation, as well as the nations whom he subdued:

is persecuted; is, pursued by the justice of God, overtaken and seized, and brought to condign punishment;

[and] none hindereth; the execution of the righteous judgment upon him; none of the neighbouring kings and nations, either tributary to him, or in alliance with him, give him the least help or assistance, or attempt to ward off the blow upon him, given him, under the direction and appointment of God, by Cyrus the Persian. So the Romish antichrist, who has made war with the saints, and has smitten them with the sword, and gone on to do so without any intermission for ages together, and has tyrannised over them in a most cruel manner, he shall be persecuted, and taken, and brought to his end, and there shall be none to help him; see Revelation 13:7.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

He who smote - This may either refer to the king of Babylon, or to the rod or scepter which he had used, and which was now broken. Herder refers it to the scepter, ‘that which smote the nations.’ (On the meaning of the word “smote,” see the notes at Isaiah 10:20)

The people - The nations that were subject to his authority.

With a continual stroke - Margin, ‘A stroke without removing.’ Vulgate, Plaga insanabili - ‘With an incurable plague.’ - Septuagint the same - Πληγῇ ἀνιάτῳ Plēgē aniatō. The Hebrew is, as in the margin, ‘A smiting without removing,’ or without cessation. There was no relaxation in its oppressions, it was always engaged in acts of tyranny.

He that ruled the nations - Babylon was the capital of a vast empire, and that empire was composed of many dependent nations.

Is persecuted - By those that make war upon it. Its turn had come to be oppressed, and overthrown.

And none hindereth - No nation opposes the invader. None of the dependent kingdoms of Babylon have any real attachment to it, but all rejoice at its downfall. The most mighty kingdom of the earth is helpless and ruined. What a change was this! How sudden and striking the revolution! And what a warning to proud and guilty cities!