Major Prophets · Chapter 14 of 66

Isaiah 14

God promises to have mercy on Jacob, restore His people, and give them rest from bondage. Then He puts a taunt-song in their mouths against the king of Babylon: How the oppressor has ceased! The proud tyrant who said he would ascend above the stars and be like the Most High is brought down to the grave, mocked by the dead. God vows to cut off Babylon and break Assyria too.

What happens in Isaiah 14

The LORD will again have compassion on Jacob, settling His people in their land, so that captives become masters over their former oppressors. When God grants rest from sorrow and hard bondage, His people will take up a taunt against the king of Babylon: How has the oppressor ceased, the golden city stopped! The whole earth breaks into singing at his fall. The grave stirs to greet him, and the dead kings marvel that he too has become weak.

Then comes the famous cry: How are you fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning, cut down to the ground. He had said in his heart, I will ascend into heaven, exalt my throne above the stars, be like the Most High, yet he is brought down to the pit, cast out unburied. God vows to cut off Babylon's name and posterity, then adds an oracle breaking Assyria, and assures Zion that the LORD has founded it.

Isaiah 14 in context

Continuing the oracles against the nations, this taunt against Babylon's king is a classic ancient dirge sung in reverse, mocking a tyrant's downfall. It presupposes the future exile and restoration of Judah. The passage about the proud one falling from heaven has long been read on two levels, describing both a historical Babylonian ruler and, in later tradition, the deeper pride and downfall behind all such tyranny.

An appended oracle also targets Assyria.

Main themes of Isaiah 14

Isaiah 14 (KJV)

1For the LORD will have mercy on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel, and set them in their own land: and the strangers shall be joined with them, and they shall cleave to the house of Jacob. 2And the people shall take them, and bring them to their place: and the house of Israel shall possess them in the land of the LORD for servants and handmaids: and they shall take them captives, whose captives they were; and they shall rule over their oppressors. 3And it shall come to pass in the day that the LORD shall give thee rest from thy sorrow, and from thy fear, and from the hard bondage wherein thou wast made to serve, 4That thou shalt take up this proverb against the king of Babylon, and say, How hath the oppressor ceased! the golden city ceased! 5The LORD hath broken the staff of the wicked, and the sceptre of the rulers. 6He who smote the people in wrath with a continual stroke, he that ruled the nations in anger, is persecuted, and none hindereth. 7The whole earth is at rest, and is quiet: they break forth into singing. 8Yea, the fir trees rejoice at thee, and the cedars of Lebanon, saying, Since thou art laid down, no feller is come up against us. 9Hell from beneath is moved for thee to meet thee at thy coming: it stirreth up the dead for thee, even all the chief ones of the earth; it hath raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations. 10All they shall speak and say unto thee, Art thou also become weak as we? art thou become like unto us? 11Thy pomp is brought down to the grave, and the noise of thy viols: the worm is spread under thee, and the worms cover thee. 12How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! 13For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: 14I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. 15Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit. 16They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms; 17That made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof; that opened not the house of his prisoners? 18All the kings of the nations, even all of them, lie in glory, every one in his own house. 19But thou art cast out of thy grave like an abominable branch, and as the raiment of those that are slain, thrust through with a sword, that go down to the stones of the pit; as a carcase trodden under feet. 20Thou shalt not be joined with them in burial, because thou hast destroyed thy land, and slain thy people: the seed of evildoers shall never be renowned. 21Prepare slaughter for his children for the iniquity of their fathers; that they do not rise, nor possess the land, nor fill the face of the world with cities. 22For I will rise up against them, saith the LORD of hosts, and cut off from Babylon the name, and remnant, and son, and nephew, saith the LORD. 23I will also make it a possession for the bittern, and pools of water: and I will sweep it with the besom of destruction, saith the LORD of hosts. 24The LORD of hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass; and as I have purposed, so shall it stand: 25That I will break the Assyrian in my land, and upon my mountains tread him under foot: then shall his yoke depart from off them, and his burden depart from off their shoulders. 26This is the purpose that is purposed upon the whole earth: and this is the hand that is stretched out upon all the nations. 27For the LORD of hosts hath purposed, and who shall disannul it? and his hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it back? 28In the year that king Ahaz died was this burden. 29Rejoice not thou, whole Palestina, because the rod of him that smote thee is broken: for out of the serpent’s root shall come forth a cockatrice, and his fruit shall be a fiery flying serpent. 30And the firstborn of the poor shall feed, and the needy shall lie down in safety: and I will kill thy root with famine, and he shall slay thy remnant. 31Howl, O gate; cry, O city; thou, whole Palestina, art dissolved: for there shall come from the north a smoke, and none shall be alone in his appointed times. 32What shall one then answer the messengers of the nation? That the LORD hath founded Zion, and the poor of his people shall trust in it.

Verses to carry from Isaiah 14

“How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!”Isaiah 14:12

“For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:”Isaiah 14:13

“Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.”Isaiah 14:15

Reflection

The tyrant's boast, I will ascend, I will be like the Most High, is the oldest temptation in miniature, and it always ends in the pit. Weigh your own ambitions against the humble King who descended in order to be raised. The way up in God's kingdom runs downward, through humility and trust.

A prayer from Isaiah 14