Isaiah 14 · Verse 4

Isaiah 14:4

That thou shalt take up this proverb against the king of Babylon, and say, How hath the oppressor ceased! the golden city ceased!
Isaiah 14:4, King James Version

Isaiah 14:4 in other translations

BSByou will sing this song of contempt against the king of Babylon: How the oppressor has ceased, and how his fury has ended!
WEBthat you will take up this parable against the king of Babylon, and say, “How the oppressor has ceased! The golden city has ceased!”
ASVthat thou shalt take up this parable against the king of Babylon, and say, How hath the oppressor ceased! the golden city ceased!
YLTThat thou hast taken up this simile Concerning the king of Babylon, and said, How hath the exactor ceased,
DARBYthat thou shalt take up this proverb against the king of Babylon, and say, How hath the oppressor ceased, — the exactress of gold ceased!
BBEThat you will take up this bitter song against the king of Babylon, and say, How has the cruel overseer come to an end! He who was lifted up in pride is cut off;
WebsterThat thou shalt take up this proverb against the king of Babylon, and say, How hath the oppressor ceased! the golden city ceased!

What does Isaiah 14:4 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
4. proverb--The Orientals, having few books, embodied their thoughts in weighty, figurative, briefly expressed gnomes. Here a taunting song of triumph (Mi 2:4; Ha 2:6). the king--the ideal representative of Babylon; perhaps Belshazzar (Da 5:1-31). The mystical Babylon is ultimately meant. golden city--rather, "the exactress of gold" [Maurer]. But the old translators read differently in the Hebrew, "oppression," which the parallelism favors (compare Is 3:5).

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

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 4 This proverb "This parable" - משל mashal, I take this to be the general name for poetic style among the Hebrews, including every sort of it, as ranging under one or other, or all of the characters, of sententious, figurative, and sublime; which are all contained in the original notion, or in the use and application of the word mashal. Parables or proverbs, such as those of Solomon, are always expressed in short pointed sentences; frequently figurative, being formed on some comparison; generally forcible and authoritative, both in the matter and the form. And such in general is the style of the Hebrew poetry. The verb mashal signifies to rule; to exercise authority; to make equal; to compare one thing with another; to utter parables, or acute, weighty, and powerful speeches, in the form and manner of parables, though not properly such. Thus Balaam's first prophecy, (Num 23:7-10), is called his mashal; though it has hardly any thing figurative in it: but it is beautifully sententious, and, from the very form and manner of it, has great spirit, force, and energy. Thus Job's last speeches, in answer to his three friends, chap. 27-31, are called mashals; from no one particular character, which discriminates them from the rest of the poem, but from the sublime, the figurative, the sententious manner which equally prevails through the whole poem, and makes it one of the first and most eminent examples extant of the truly great and beautiful in poetic style. See the note on Pro 1:1 (note). The Septuagint in this place render the word by θρηνος, a lamentation. They plainly consider the speech here introduced as a piece of poetry, and of that species of poetry which we call the elegiac; either from the subject, it being a poem on the fall and death of the king of Babylon, or from the form of the composition, which is of the longer sort of Hebrew verse, in which the Lamentations of Jeremiah, called by the Septuagint Θρηνοι, are written. The golden city ceased - מדהבה madhebah, which is here translated golden city, is a Chaldee word. Probably it means that golden coin or ingot which was given to the Babylonians by way of tribute. So the word is understood by the Vulgate, where it is rendered tributum; and by Montanus, who translates it aurea pensio, the golden pension. Kimchi seems to have understood the word in the same sense. De Rossi translates it auri dives, rich in gold, or auri exactrix, the exactor of gold; the same as the exactor of tribute.

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 14:4 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.

וְנָשָׂ֜אתָve.na.Sa.taand you will lift upH5375
הַמָּשָׁ֥לha.ma.Shalthe sayingH4912
הַזֶּ֛הha.Zeh<the> thisH2088
עַל\־'al-onH5921
מֶ֥לֶךְMe.lekh[the] king ofH4428
בָּבֶ֖לba.VelBabylonH894
וְאָמָ֑רְתָּve.'a.Ma.re.taand you will sayH559
אֵ֚יךְ'eikhhow!H349
שָׁבַ֣תsha.Vathe has ceasedH7673
נֹגֵ֔שׂno.Ges[the] oppressorH5065
שָׁבְתָ֖הsha.ve.Tahit has ceasedH7673
מַדְהֵבָֽה\׃mad.he.VahragingH4062

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

Cross references for Isaiah 14:4

  • Isaiah 49:26

    And I will feed them that oppress thee with their own flesh; and they shall be drunken with their own blood, as with sweet wine: and all flesh shall know that I the Lord am thy Saviour and thy Redeemer, the mighty One of Jacob.

  • Jeremiah 50:22-23

    A sound of battle is in the land, and of great destruction. How is the hammer of the whole earth cut asunder and broken! how is Babylon become a desolation among the nations!

  • Revelation 18:16

    And saying, Alas, alas, that great city, that was clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls!

  • Revelation 18:5-8

    For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities. Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works: in the cup which she hath filled fill to her double. How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow. Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her.

  • Revelation 16:5-6

    And I heard the angel of the waters say, Thou art righteous, O Lord, which art, and wast, and shalt be, because thou hast judged thus. For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and thou hast given them blood to drink; for they are worthy.

  • Daniel 7:19-25

    Then I would know the truth of the fourth beast, which was diverse from all the others, exceeding dreadful, whose teeth were of iron, and his nails of brass; which devoured, brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with his feet; And of the ten horns that were in his head, and of the other which came up, and before whom three fell; even of that horn that had eyes, and a mouth that spake very great things, whose look was more stout than his fellows. I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them; Until the Ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom. …

  • Isaiah 51:23

    But I will put it into the hand of them that afflict thee; which have said to thy soul, Bow down, that we may go over: and thou hast laid thy body as the ground, and as the street, to them that went over.

  • 2 Chronicles 36:18

    And all the vessels of the house of God, great and small, and the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king, and of his princes; all these he brought to Babylon.

  • Jeremiah 51:20-24

    Thou art my battle axe and weapons of war: for with thee will I break in pieces the nations, and with thee will I destroy kingdoms; And with thee will I break in pieces the horse and his rider; and with thee will I break in pieces the chariot and his rider; With thee also will I break in pieces man and woman; and with thee will I break in pieces old and young; and with thee will I break in pieces the young man and the maid; I will also break in pieces with thee the shepherd and his flock; and with thee will I break in pieces the husbandman and his yoke of oxen; and with thee will I break in pieces captains and rulers. …

  • Revelation 18:20

    Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets; for God hath avenged you on her.

  • Ezekiel 5:15

    So it shall be a reproach and a taunt, an instruction and an astonishment unto the nations that are round about thee, when I shall execute judgments in thee in anger and in fury and in furious rebukes. I the Lord have spoken it.

  • Habakkuk 2:6-12

    Shall not all these take up a parable against him, and a taunting proverb against him, and say, Woe to him that increaseth that which is not his! how long? and to him that ladeth himself with thick clay! Shall they not rise up suddenly that shall bite thee, and awake that shall vex thee, and thou shalt be for booties unto them? Because thou hast spoiled many nations, all the remnant of the people shall spoil thee; because of men’s blood, and for the violence of the land, of the city, and of all that dwell therein. Woe to him that coveteth an evil covetousness to his house, that he may set his nest on high, that he may be delivered from the power of evil! …

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

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
proverb. or, taunting speech.
Jer 24:9; Eze 5:15; Hab 2:6
How.
6,17; 47:5; 49:26; 51:23; Jer 25:9-14; 27:6,7; 50:22,23
Jer 51:20-24,34,35; Da 7:19-25; Hab 1:2-10; 2:6-12,17
Re 13:15-17; 16:5,6; 17:6; 18:5-8,20
golden city. or, exactress of gold.
13:19; 45:2,3; 2Ch 36:18; La 4:1; Da 2:38; Re 18:16

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

Context

  • Isaiah 14:3

    And 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,

  • Isaiah 14:4

    That thou shalt take up this proverb against the king of Babylon, and say, How hath the oppressor ceased! the golden city ceased!

  • Isaiah 14:5

    The Lord hath broken the staff of the wicked, and the sceptre of the rulers.

Read all of Isaiah 14

Isaiah 14:4 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		Que levantarás esta parábola sobre el rey de Babilonia, y dirás: ¡Cómo paró el exactor, cómo cesó la ciudad codiciosa del oro!
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		que tu prononceras ce cantique sentencieux sur le roi de Babylone, et tu diras: Comment l’oppresseur a-t-il cessé? comment l’exactrice a-t-elle cessé?
German
Elberfelder 1871		da wirst du diesen Spruch anheben über den König von Babel und sprechen: Wie hat aufgehört der Bedrücker, aufgehört die Erpressung!
Latin
Clementine Vulgate		sumes parabolam istam contra regem Babylonis, et dices: Quomodo cessavit exactor; quievit tributum?