Isaiah chapter 14
That wonderful day. A taunt-song against the king of Babylon. The fall of Sennacherib. Assyria will destroy Babylon. A message about Philistia.
THAT WONDERFUL DAY
VERSE 1. For the LORD will have compassion on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel, and set them in their own land. The foreigner will join himself with them, and they will unite with the house of Jacob.
will have compassion. The day will come when the LORD God will again have compassion on his people.
will yet choose Israel. The LORD God will indeed restore his people.
When? On “that wonderful day,” as we see in verse 3 below.
they will unite with the house of Jacob. Many Gentiles will become Jewish.
VERSE 2. The peoples will take them, and bring them to their place. The house of Israel will possess them in the LORD’s land for servants and for handmaids. They will take as captives those whose captives they were; and they shall rule over their oppressors.
A TAUNT-SONG AGAINST THE KING OF BABYLON
VERSE 3. It will happen in the day that the LORD will give you rest from your sorrow, from your trouble, and from the hard service in which you were made to serve,
NLT translation. In that wonderful day, when the LORD gives his people rest from sorrow and fear, from slavery and chains,
that wonderful day. This is the day when the LORD God will restore his people.
the LORD gives his people rest from sorrow and fear. They will finally be free of their fear of the tyrant.
VERSE 4. that you will take up this parable against the king of Babylon, and say, “How the oppressor has ceased! The golden city has ceased!”
parable. Or “taunt-song.”
VERSE 5. The LORD has broken the staff of the wicked, the scepter of the rulers,
VERSE 6. who struck the peoples in wrath with a continual stroke, who ruled the nations in anger, with a persecution that no one restrained.
VERSE 7. The whole earth is at rest, and is quiet. They break out in song.
VERSE 8. Yes, the cypress trees rejoice with you, with the cedars of Lebanon, saying, “Since you are humbled, no lumberjack has come up against us.”
VERSE 9. Sheol from beneath has moved for you to meet you at your coming. It stirs up the departed spirits for you, even all the rulers of the earth. It has raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations.
Sheol from beneath. The New Testament describes heaven and eternal life. But what does the Old Testament say about life after death? Read more »
VERSE 10. They all will answer and ask you, “Have you also become as weak as we are? Have you become like us?”
VERSE 11. Your pomp is brought down to Sheol, with the sound of your stringed instruments. Maggots are spread out under you, and worms cover you.
THE FALL OF SENNACHERIB
VERSE 12. How you have fallen from heaven, shining one, son of the dawn! How you are cut down to the ground, who laid the nations low!
fallen from heaven. Michael the Archangel leads the God-fearing angels into combat against Satan and his minions. They throw Satan and his minions out of heaven and to the earth. Read more »
shining. In Hebrew, phosphres.
son of the dawn. In Hebrew, shachar.
Put those two words together and we have shachar phosphres. That means “morning shining.” Some translations say “morning star.”
In English, we say Lucifer.
That was a title for the king of Babylon. Thus the natural interpretation of this proud tyrant is Sennacherib (705-681).
However, many centuries later, Tertullian (circa 160-230 AD) and Gregory the Great (circa 540-604 AD) applied the name “Lucifer” to Satan.
Due to that, many Christians see passage as describing the fall of the mighty angel Lucifer into sin. Their interpretation goes like this:
Assumption 1. Lucifer’s fall into sin triggered a civil war among the angels in heaven. It was a war between the angels who fell into sin versus the righteous angels.
Assumption 2. Michael the archangel led the forces of heaven to victory. He cast Lucifer and his angelic allies out of heaven.
Assumption 3. Now bound in hell, Lucifer is known by his new name: “Satan,” or “the devil.”
In the Catholic church, there is a prayer to St. Michael. It is based on those three assumptions above.
Blessed Michael, archangel, defend us in the hour of conflict. Be our safeguard against the wickedness and snares of the devil (may God restrain him, we humbly pray): and do thou, O Prince of the heavenly host, by the power of God thrust Satan down to hell and with him those other wicked spirits who wander through the world for the ruin of souls.
who laid the nations low. Lucifer has a sociopathic compulsion to destroy.
VERSE 13. You said in your heart, “I will ascend into heaven! I will exalt my throne above the stars of God! I will sit on the mountain of assembly, in the far north!
BBE translation. For you said in your heart, I will go up to heaven, I will make my seat higher than the stars of God; I will take my place on the mountain of the meeting-place of the gods, in the inmost parts of the north.
higher than the stars of God. Lucifer’s sin is pride.
VERSE 14. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds! I will make myself like the Most High!”
VERSE 15. Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, to the depths of the pit.
VERSE 16. Those who see you will stare at you. They will ponder you, saying, “Is this the man who made the earth to tremble, who shook kingdoms,
VERSE 17. who made the world like a wilderness, and overthrew its cities, who didn’t release his prisoners to their home?”
VERSE 18. All the kings of the nations, sleep in glory, everyone in his own house.
VERSE 19. But you are cast away from your tomb like an abominable branch, clothed with the slain, who are thrust through with the sword, who go down to the stones of the pit; like a dead body trodden under foot.
cast away from your tomb. That is, cast forth “without burial.”
like a dead body trodden under foot. Oppressors and tyrants seem to prosper, at least for a while. But they always come to a bad end.
VERSE 20. You will not join them in burial, because you have destroyed your land. You have killed your people. The offspring of evildoers will not be named forever.
VERSE 21. Prepare for slaughter of his children because of the iniquity of their fathers, that they not rise up and possess the earth, and fill the surface of the world with cities.
VERSE 22. “I will rise up against them,” says the LORD of Hosts, “and cut off from Babylon name and remnant, and son and son’s son,” says the LORD.
VERSE 23. “I will also make it a possession for the porcupine, and pools of water. I will sweep it with the broom of destruction,” says the LORD of Hosts.
ASSYRIA WILL DESTROY BABYLON
VERSE 24. The LORD of Hosts has sworn, saying, “Surely, as I have thought, so shall it happen; and as I have purposed, so shall it stand:
VERSE 25. that I will break the Assyrian in my land, and tread him under foot on my mountains. Then his yoke will leave them, and his burden leave their shoulders.
VERSE 26. This is the plan that is determined for the whole earth. This is the hand that is stretched out over all the nations.
VERSE 27. For the LORD of Hosts has planned, and who can stop it? His hand is stretched out, and who can turn it back?”
VERSE 28. This burden was in the year that king Ahaz died.
VERSE 29. Don’t rejoice, O Philistia, all of you, because the rod that struck you is broken; for out of the serpent’s root an adder will emerge, and his fruit will be a fiery flying serpent.
a fiery flying serpent. That is, “a fiery flying seraph.”
VERSE 30. The firstborn of the poor will eat, and the needy will lie down in safety; and I will kill your root with famine, and your remnant will be killed.
A MESSAGE ABOUT PHILISTIA
VERSE 31. Howl, gate! Cry, city! You are melted away, Philistia, all of you; for smoke comes out of the north, and there is no straggler in his ranks.
VERSE 32. What will they answer the messengers of the nation? That the LORD has founded Zion, and in her the afflicted of his people will take refuge.
BBE translation. What should we tell the Philistine messengers? Tell them, “The LORD has built Jerusalem; its walls give refuge to his oppressed people.”
The LORD has built Jerusalem. God’s eye is always on Jerusalem!
ISAIAH
CHAPTERS: 01, 02, 03, 04, 05, 06, 07, 08, 09, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66
RESOURCES: Summary, Outline, Memorize, True Fasting
Unless otherwise noted, all Bible quotations on this page are from the World English Bible and the World Messianic Edition. These translations have no copyright restrictions. They are in the Public Domain.