Isaiah 14:11 - Printer Friendly

ESV: Your pomp is brought down to Sheol, the sound of your harps; maggots are laid as a bed beneath you, and worms are your covers.

NIV: All your pomp has been brought down to the grave, along with the noise of your harps; maggots are spread out beneath you and worms cover you.

NASB: Your pride and the music of your harps Have been brought down to Sheol; Maggots are spread out as your bed beneath you And worms are your covering.’

CSB: Your splendor has been brought down to Sheol, along with the music of your harps. Maggots are spread out under you, and worms cover you."

NLT: Your might and power were buried with you. The sound of the harp in your palace has ceased. Now maggots are your sheet, and worms your blanket.’

KJV: Thy pomp is brought down to the grave, and the noise of thy viols: the worm is spread under thee, and the worms cover thee.

NKJV: Your pomp is brought down to Sheol, And the sound of your stringed instruments; The maggot is spread under you, And worms cover you.’

In a poetic and imaginary scene, fallen kings of the world have risen from their thrones in the land of the dead to greet the arrival of the king of Babylon (Isaiah 14:3–8). This once powerful ruler has been defeated and killed by the Lord God of Israel. If this were a normal funeral dirge, they would rise to honor him and welcome him into their midst (Isaiah 14:9–10).

This, though, is a taunting song. It is a mockery of a normal funeral dirge. Isaiah shows that this king will not be honored even in the afterlife by those who have died before him. Instead of rising to pay him respect, the departed kings rise to point out that he is now as pathetic as they are. He may have been responsible for sending some of them to the grave, but he is now with them.

They observe that his pomp and the "sound of his harps" are brought down to Sheol. In other words, all the royal finery and symbols of power have been stripped away. The once-feared king of Babylon is no longer important or significant. There is no reason to fear this man, for he is just that, a powerless husk of the former ruler. He is merely another dead soul whose body will feed worms and bacteria.

Isaiah is not giving a theological diagram of the afterlife here. Instead, he uses the common cultural understanding of Sheol to illustrate just how powerless the king of Babylon truly is. His reign of terror is utterly complete. Now his body will rot in the ground in the way of every other person who has gone before him. He is neither powerful nor unique: simply a man whose time is done.

Chapter 14:3–23 contains a mocking, sarcastic dirge for the fallen king of Babylon. The song imitates the respects otherwise paid to honor a fallen king. Instead, this song describes celebration of both people and trees at his death. The fallen kings in Sheol rise to mock the man for his weakness. The king is sarcastically referred to as the "Day Star"—leading to speculation that this is also a description of Satan's fall from heaven. The fallen one had ambition to become like the Most High among the gods, but instead was cut down to nothing in his death.

After the oracle against Babylon in the previous chapter, Isaiah briefly describes what will follow for Judah. In compassion, the Lord will choose His people once more. He will return them to their homeland. They will sing a mocking taunt-song against the fallen king of Babylon. Isaiah pronounces oracles from the Lord against Assyria and Philistia. The Lord will break the Assyrians in His land. With heavy symbolism, Isaiah seems to prophecy that the Assyrians will defeat the Philistines with a siege four years before it happens. God's people will find refuge in Zion.

Chapter 14 follows the oracle about the destruction of Babylon with a brief encouragement to the people of Judah. The Lord will restore them to the land. They will taunt the fallen Babylonian king, using phrases many also associate with the fall of Satan. Isaiah pronounces oracles from the Lord against Assyria and Philistia. He declares that He will break the Assyrians in His land, freeing His people from their oppression. Philistia will fall at the Lord's hand to a famine inflicted on them by a power from the north. Next, Isaiah's prophecy will turn to Moab.

Isaiah is among the most important prophetic books in the entire Bible. The first segment details God's impending judgment against ancient peoples for sin and idolatry (Isaiah 1—35). The second part of Isaiah briefly explains a failed assault on Jerusalem during the rule of Hezekiah (Isaiah 36—39). The final chapters predict Israel's rescue from Babylonian captivity (Isaiah 40—48), the promised Messiah (Isaiah 49—57), and the final glory of Jerusalem and God's people (Isaiah 58—66).