Isaiah 14 · Verse 13

Isaiah 14:13

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, King James Version

Isaiah 14:13 in other translations

BSBYou 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.
WEBYou 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!
ASVAnd thou saidst in thy heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; and I will sit upon the mount of congregation, in the uttermost parts of the north;
YLTAnd thou saidst in thy heart: the heavens I go up, Above stars of God I raise my throne, And I sit in the mount of meeting in the sides of the north.
DARBYAnd thou that didst say in thy heart, I will ascend into the heavens, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God, and I will sit upon the mount of assembly, in the recesses of the north;
BBEFor 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.
WebsterFor thou hast said in thy 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:

What does Isaiah 14:13 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
13. above ... God--In Da 8:10, "stars" express earthly potentates. "The stars" are often also used to express heavenly principalities (Job 38:7). mount of the congregation--the place of solemn meeting between God and His people in the temple at Jerusalem. In Da 11:37, and 2Th 2:4, this is attributed to Antichrist. sides of the north--namely, the sides of Mount Moriah on which the temple was built; north of Mount Zion (Psa 48:2). However, the parallelism supports the notion that the Babylonian king expresses himself according to his own, and not Jewish opinions (so in Is 10:10) thus "mount of the congregation" will mean the northern mountain (perhaps in Armenia) fabled by the Babylonians to be the common meeting-place of their gods. "Both sides" imply the angle in which the sides meet; and so the expression comes to mean "the extreme parts of the north." So the Hindus place the Meru, the dwelling-place of their gods, in the north, in the Himalayan mountains. So the Greeks, in the northern Olympus. The Persian followers of Zoroaster put the Ai-bordsch in the Caucasus north of them. The allusion to the stars harmonizes with this; namely, that those near the North Pole, the region of the aurora borealis (compare see on Job 23:9; Job 37:22) [Maurer, Septuagint, Syriac].

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 13 I will ascend into heaven - I will get the empire of the whole world. I will exalt my throne above the stars of God - above the Israelites, who are here termed the stars of God. So the Targum of Jonathan, and R. D. Kimchi. This chapter speaks not of the ambition and fall of Satan, but of the pride, arrogance, and fall of Nebuchadnezzar. The mount of the congregation "The mount of the Divine Presence" - It appears plainly from Exo 25:22, and Exo 29:42, Exo 29:43, where God appoints the place of meeting with Moses, and promises to meet with him before the ark to commune with him, and to speak unto him; and to meet the children of Israel at the door of the tabernacle; that the tabernacle, and afterwards the door of the tabernacle, and Mount Zion, (or Moriah, which is reckoned a part of Mount Zion), whereon it stood, was called the tabernacle, and the mount of convention or of appointment; not from the people's assembling there to perform the services of their religion, (which is what our translation expresses by calling it the tabernacle of the congregation), but because God appointed that for the place where he himself would meet with Moses, and commune with him, and would meet with the people. Therefore הר מועד har moed, the "mountain of the assembly," or אהל מועד ohel moed, the "tabernacle of the assembly," means the place appointed by God, where he would present himself; agreeably to which I have rendered it in this place, the mount of the Divine Presence.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Isaiah 14:1-23

The destruction of Babylon, and the death of its proud monarch. (Is. 14:1-23) Assurance of the destruction of Assyria. (Is. 14:24-27) The destruction of the Philistines. (Is. 14:28-32) Verses 1-23 The whole plan of Divine Providence is arranged with a view to the good of the people of God. A settlement in the land of promise is of God's mercy. Let the church receive those whom God receives. God's people, wherever…

Read the full comment on Isaiah 14:1-23 →

Isaiah 14:13 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

וְאַתָּ֞הve.'a.Tahand youH859
אָמַ֤רְתָּ'a.Mar.tayou saidH559
בִֽלְבָבְךָ֙vil.va.ve.Khain heart yourH3824
הַשָּׁמַ֣יִםha.sha.Ma.yimthe heavensH8064
אֶֽעֱלֶ֔ה'e.'e.LehI will ascendH5927
מִמַּ֥עַלmi.Ma.'alfrom aboveH4605
לְכֽוֹכְבֵי\־le.khokh.vei-<to> [the] stars ofH3556
אֵ֖ל'elElH410
אָרִ֣ים'a.RimI will raiseH7311
כִּסְאִ֑יkis.'Ithrone myH3678
וְאֵשֵׁ֥בve.'e.Shevso I may sitH3427
בְּהַר\־be.har-on [the] mountain ofH2022
מוֹעֵ֖דmo.'Edappointed meetingH4150
בְּיַרְכְּתֵ֥יbe.yar.ke.Teiin [the] remotest parts ofH3411
צָפֽוֹן\׃tza.FonZaphonH6828

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Isaiah 14:13

  • Daniel 8:10-12

    And it waxed great, even to the host of heaven; and it cast down some of the host and of the stars to the ground, and stamped upon them. Yea, he magnified himself even to the prince of the host, and by him the daily sacrifice was taken away, and the place of his sanctuary was cast down. And an host was given him against the daily sacrifice by reason of transgression, and it cast down the truth to the ground; and it practised, and prospered.

  • Ezekiel 28:2

    Son of man, say unto the prince of Tyrus, Thus saith the Lord God; Because thine heart is lifted up, and thou hast said, I am a God, I sit in the seat of God, in the midst of the seas; yet thou art a man, and not God, though thou set thine heart as the heart of God:

  • Ezekiel 28:12-16

    Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord God; Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty. Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created. Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee. …

  • 2 Thessalonians 2:4

    Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.

  • Ezekiel 29:3

    Speak, and say, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am against thee, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great dragon that lieth in the midst of his rivers, which hath said, My river is mine own, and I have made it for myself.

  • Daniel 5:22-23

    And thou his son, O Belshazzar, hast not humbled thine heart, though thou knewest all this; But hast lifted up thyself against the Lord of heaven; and they have brought the vessels of his house before thee, and thou, and thy lords, thy wives, and thy concubines, have drunk wine in them; and thou hast praised the gods of silver, and gold, of brass, iron, wood, and stone, which see not, nor hear, nor know: and the God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways, hast thou not glorified:

  • Zephaniah 2:15

    This is the rejoicing city that dwelt carelessly, that said in her heart, I am, and there is none beside me: how is she become a desolation, a place for beasts to lie down in! every one that passeth by her shall hiss, and wag his hand.

  • Ezekiel 27:3

    And say unto Tyrus, O thou that art situate at the entry of the sea, which art a merchant of the people for many isles, Thus saith the Lord God; O Tyrus, thou hast said, I am of perfect beauty.

  • Isaiah 47:7-10

    And thou saidst, I shall be a lady for ever: so that thou didst not lay these things to thy heart, neither didst remember the latter end of it. Therefore hear now this, thou that art given to pleasures, that dwellest carelessly, that sayest in thine heart, I am, and none else beside me; I shall not sit as a widow, neither shall I know the loss of children: But these two things shall come to thee in a moment in one day, the loss of children, and widowhood: they shall come upon thee in their perfection for the multitude of thy sorceries, and for the great abundance of thine enchantments. For thou hast trusted in thy wickedness: thou hast said, None seeth me. Thy wisdom and thy knowledge, it hath perverted thee; and thou hast said in thine heart, I am, and none else beside me.

  • Psalms 48:2

    Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King.

  • Isaiah 2:2

    And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.

  • Matthew 11:23

    And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell: for if the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
thou.
47:7-10; Eze 27:3; 28:2; 29:3; Da 4:30,31; Zep 2:15; Re 18:7,8
I will ascend.
Eze 28:9,12-16; Da 8:10-12
the mount.
2:2; Ps 48:2

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • Isaiah 14:12

    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 14:13

    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 14:14

    I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.

Read all of Isaiah 14

Isaiah 14:13 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909
Tú que decías en tu corazón: Subiré al cielo, en lo alto junto á las estrellas de Dios ensalzaré mi solio, y en el monte del testimonio me sentaré, á los lados del aquilón;
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885
Et toi, tu as dit dans ton cœur: Je monterai aux cieux, j’élèverai mon trône au-dessus des étoiles de ✶Dieu, et je m’assiérai sur la montagne de l’assignation, au fond du nord.
German
Elberfelder 1871
Und du, du sprachst in deinem Herzen: "Zum Himmel will ich hinaufsteigen, hoch über die Sterne Gottes meinen Thron erheben, und mich niedersetzen auf den Versammlungsberg im äußersten Norden.
Latin
Clementine Vulgate
Qui dicebas in corde tuo: In cælum conscendam, super astra Dei exaltabo solium meum; sedebo in monte testamenti, in lateribus aquilonis;