Yesaya 14:9-20

14:9 Sheol ¹  below is stirred up about you,

ready to meet you when you arrive.

It rouses ²  the spirits of the dead for you,

all the former leaders of the earth; ³ 

it makes all the former kings of the nations

rise from their thrones. ⁴ 

14:10 All of them respond to you, saying:

‘You too have become weak like us!

You have become just like us!

14:11 Your splendor ⁵  has been brought down to Sheol,

as well as the sound of your stringed instruments. ⁶ 

You lie on a bed of maggots,

with a blanket of worms over you. ⁷ 

14:12 Look how you have fallen from the sky,

O shining one, son of the dawn! ⁸ 

You have been cut down to the ground,

O conqueror ⁹  of the nations! ¹⁰ 

14:13 You said to yourself, ¹¹ 

“I will climb up to the sky.

Above the stars of El ¹² 

I will set up my throne.

I will rule on the mountain of assembly

on the remote slopes of Zaphon. ¹³ 

14:14 I will climb up to the tops ¹⁴  of the clouds;

I will make myself like the Most High!” ¹⁵ 

14:15 But you were brought down ¹⁶  to Sheol,

to the remote slopes of the pit. ¹⁷ 

14:16 Those who see you stare at you,

they look at you carefully, thinking: ¹⁸ 

“Is this the man who shook the earth,

the one who made kingdoms tremble?

14:17 Is this the one who made the world like a desert,

who ruined its ¹⁹  cities,

and refused to free his prisoners so they could return home?”’ ²⁰ 

14:18 ²¹ As for all the kings of the nations,

all of them ²²  lie down in splendor, ²³ 

each in his own tomb. ²⁴ 

14:19 But you have been thrown out of your grave

like a shoot that is thrown away. ²⁵ 

You lie among ²⁶  the slain,

among those who have been slashed by the sword,

among those headed for ²⁷  the stones of the pit, ²⁸ 

as if you were a mangled corpse. ²⁹ 

14:20 You will not be buried with them, ³⁰ 

because you destroyed your land

and killed your people.

The offspring of the wicked

will never be mentioned again.

Yesaya 37:38

37:38 One day, ³¹  as he was worshiping ³²  in the temple of his god Nisroch, ³³  his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer struck him down with the sword. ³⁴  They ran away to the land of Ararat; his son Esarhaddon replaced him as king.

Yehezkiel 32:22-23

32:22 “Assyria is there with all her assembly around her grave, ³⁵  all of them struck down by the sword. ³⁶  32:23 Their ³⁷  graves are located in the remote slopes of the pit. ³⁸  Her assembly is around her grave, all of them struck down by the sword, those who spread terror in the land of the living.

Wahyu 19:18-20

19:18 to eat ³⁹  your fill ⁴⁰  of the flesh of kings,

the flesh of generals, ⁴¹ 

the flesh of powerful people,

the flesh of horses and those who ride them,

and the flesh of all people, both free and slave, ⁴² 

and small and great!”

19:19 Then ⁴³  I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies assembled to do battle with the one who rode the horse and with his army. 19:20 Now ⁴⁴  the beast was seized, and along with him the false prophet who had performed the signs on his behalf ⁴⁵  – signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image. Both of them were thrown alive into the lake of fire burning with sulfur. ⁴⁶ 

[14:9]  ¹ sn Sheol is the proper name of the subterranean world which was regarded as the land of the dead.

[14:9]  ² tn Heb “arousing.” The form is probably a Polel infinitive absolute, rather than a third masculine singular perfect, for Sheol is grammatically feminine (note “stirred up”). See GKC 466 §145.t.

[14:9]  ³ tn Heb “all the rams of the earth.” The animal epithet is used metaphorically here for leaders. See HALOT 903 s.v. *עַתּוּד.

[14:9]  ⁴ tn Heb “lifting from their thrones all the kings of the nations.” הֵקִים (heqim, a Hiphil perfect third masculine singular) should be emended to an infinitive absolute (הָקֵים, haqem). See the note on “rouses” earlier in the verse.

[14:11]  ⁵ tn Or “pride” (NCV, CEV); KJV, NIV, NRSV “pomp.”

[14:11]  ⁶ tn Or “harps” (NAB, NIV, NRSV).

[14:11]  ⁷ tn Heb “under you maggots are spread out, and worms are your cover.”

[14:12]  ⁸ tn The Hebrew text has הֵילֵל בֶּן־שָׁחַר (helel ben-shakhar, “Helel son of Shachar”), which is probably a name for the morning star (Venus) or the crescent moon. See HALOT 245 s.v. הֵילֵל.

[14:12]  sn What is the background for the imagery in vv. 12-15? This whole section (vv. 4b-21) is directed to the king of Babylon, who is clearly depicted as a human ruler. Other kings of the earth address him in vv. 9ff., he is called “the man” in v. 16, and, according to vv. 19-20, he possesses a physical body. Nevertheless the language of vv. 12-15 has led some to see a dual referent in the taunt song. These verses, which appear to be spoken by other pagan kings to a pagan king (cf. vv. 9-11), contain several titles and motifs that resemble those of Canaanite mythology, including references to Helel son of Shachar, the stars of El, the mountain of assembly, the recesses of Zaphon, and the divine title Most High. Apparently these verses allude to a mythological story about a minor god (Helel son of Shachar) who tried to take over Zaphon, the mountain of the gods. His attempted coup failed and he was hurled down to the underworld. The king of Babylon is taunted for having similar unrealized delusions of grandeur. Some Christians have seen an allusion to the fall of Satan here, but this seems contextually unwarranted (see J. Martin, “Isaiah,” BKCOT, 1061).

[14:12]  ⁹ tn Some understand the verb to from חָלַשׁ (khalash, “to weaken”), but HALOT 324 s.v. II חלשׁ proposes a homonym here, meaning “to defeat.”

[14:12]  ¹⁰ sn In this line the taunting kings hint at the literal identity of the king, after likening him to the god Helel and a tree. The verb גָדַע (gada’, “cut down”) is used of chopping down trees in 9:10 and 10:33.

[14:13]  ¹¹ tn Heb “you, you said in your heart.”

[14:13]  ¹² sn In Canaanite mythology the stars of El were astral deities under the authority of the high god El.

[14:13]  ¹³ sn Zaphon, the Canaanite version of Olympus, was the “mountain of assembly” where the gods met.

[14:14]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “the high places.” This word often refers to the high places where pagan worship was conducted, but here it probably refers to the “backs” or tops of the clouds. See HALOT 136 s.v. בָּמָה.

[14:14]  ¹⁵ sn Normally in the OT the title “Most High” belongs to the God of Israel, but in this context, where the mythological overtones are so strong, it probably refers to the Canaanite high god El.

[14:15]  ¹⁶ tn The prefixed verb form is taken as a preterite. Note the use of perfects in v. 12 to describe the king’s downfall.

[14:15]  ¹⁷ tn The Hebrew term בּוּר (bor, “cistern”) is sometimes used metaphorically to refer to the place of the dead or the entrance to the underworld.

[14:16]  ¹⁸ tn The word “thinking” is supplied in the translation in order to make it clear that the next line records their thoughts as they gaze at him.

[14:17]  ¹⁹ tc The pronominal suffix is masculine, even though its antecedent appears to be the grammatically feminine noun “world.” Some have suggested that the form עָרָיו (’arayv, plural noun with third masculine singular suffix) should be emended to עָרֶיהָ (’areha, plural noun with third feminine singular suffix). This emendation may be unnecessary in light of other examples of lack of agreement a suffix and its antecedent noun.

[14:17]  ²⁰ tn Heb “and his prisoners did not let loose to [their] homes.” This really means, “he did not let loose his prisoners and send them back to their homes.’ On the elliptical style, see GKC 366 §117.o.

[14:18]  ²¹ sn It is unclear where the quotation of the kings, begun in v. 10b, ends. However, the reference to the “kings of the nations” in v. 18 (see also v. 9) seems to indicate that the quotation has ended at this point and that Israel’s direct taunt (cf. vv. 4b-10a) has resumed. In fact the references to the “kings of the nations” may form a stylistic inclusio or frame around the quotation.

[14:18]  ²² tc The phrase “all of them” does not appear in the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a.

[14:18]  ²³ sn This refers to the typically extravagant burial of kings.

[14:18]  ²⁴ tn Heb “house” (so KJV, ASV), but in this context a tomb is in view. Note the verb “lie down” in the preceding line and the reference to a “grave” in the next line.

[14:19]  ²⁵ tn Heb “like a shoot that is abhorred.” The simile seems a bit odd; apparently it refers to a small shoot that is trimmed from a plant and tossed away. Some prefer to emend נֵצֶר (netser, “shoot”); some propose נֵפֶל (nefel, “miscarriage”). In this case one might paraphrase: “like a horrible-looking fetus that is delivered when a woman miscarries.”

[14:19]  ²⁶ tn Heb “are clothed with.”

[14:19]  ²⁷ tn Heb “those going down to.”

[14:19]  ²⁸ tn בּוֹר (bor) literally means “cistern”; cisterns were constructed from stones. On the metaphorical use of “cistern” for the underworld, see the note at v. 15.

[14:19]  ²⁹ tn Heb “like a trampled corpse.” Some take this line with what follows.

[14:20]  ³⁰ tn Heb “you will not be united with them in burial” (so NASB).

[37:38]  ³¹ sn The assassination of King Sennacherib probably took place in 681 b.c.

[37:38]  ³² tn The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.

[37:38]  ³³ sn No such Mesopotamian god is presently known. Perhaps the name Nisroch is a corruption of Nusku.

[37:38]  ³⁴ sn Extra-biblical sources also mention the assassination of Sennacherib, though they refer to only one assassin. See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 239-40.

[32:22]  ³⁵ tn Heb “around him his graves.” The masculine pronominal suffixes are problematic; the expression is best emended to correspond to the phrase “around her grave” in v. 23. See D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 2:219.

[32:22]  ³⁶ tn Heb “all of them slain, the ones felled by the sword.” See as well vv. 23-24.

[32:23]  ³⁷ tn Heb “whose.”

[32:23]  ³⁸ tn The only other occurrence of the phrase “remote slopes of the pit” is in Isa 14:15.

[19:18]  ³⁹ tn The ἵνα (Jina) clause, insofar as it is related to the first imperative, has the force of an imperative.

[19:18]  ⁴⁰ tn The idea of eating “your fill” is evident in the context with the use of χορτάζω (cortazw) in v. 21.

[19:18]  ⁴¹ tn Grk “chiliarchs”; normally a chiliarch was a military officer commanding a thousand soldiers, but here probably used of higher-ranking commanders like generals (see L&N 55.15; cf. Rev 6:15).

[19:18]  ⁴² tn See the note on the word “servants” in 1:1.

[19:19]  ⁴³ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence within the narrative.

[19:20]  ⁴⁴ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate the introduction of an unexpected development in the account: The opposing armies do not come together in battle; rather the leader of one side is captured.

[19:20]  ⁴⁵ tn For this meaning see BDAG 342 s.v. ἐνώπιον 4.b, “by the authority of, on behalf of Rv 13:12, 14; 19:20.”

[19:20]  ⁴⁶ tn Traditionally, “brimstone.”