Isaiah 14:20 - Printer Friendly

ESV: You will not be joined with them in burial, because you have destroyed your land, you have slain your people. “May the offspring of evildoers nevermore be named!

NIV: you will not join them in burial, for you have destroyed your land and killed your people. Let the offspring of the wicked never be mentioned again.

NASB: You will not be united with them in burial, Because you have ruined your country, You have killed your people. May the descendants of evildoers never be mentioned.

CSB: You will not join them in burial, because you destroyed your land and slaughtered your own people. The offspring of evildoers will never be mentioned again.

NLT: You will not be given a proper burial, for you have destroyed your nation and slaughtered your people. The descendants of such an evil person will never again receive honor.

KJV: Thou 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.

NKJV: You will not be joined with them in burial, Because you have destroyed your land And slain your people. The brood of evildoers shall never be named.

The taunt-song about the fallen king of Babylon continues to focus on the circumstances of his burial. Unlike all the kings of the nations he has defeated, this king will not lie in glory in his own tomb. He will not be honored. In the ancient world, this was a catastrophe, as many cultures considered proper burial a crucial part of passing into the afterlife. Isaiah has shown that the king's body will not even be treated with dignity. His remains will be trampled in the streets and piled with the others killed in the attack on Babylon (Isaiah 14:18–19).

Now Isaiah provides a surprising reason for this disrespectful treatment: The king has destroyed his own land and killed his own people. It's not the other nations that he has conquered who will treat his remains so dishonorably. It is his own nation, perhaps the first target of his ruthless ambition. The Babylonians paid the highest price when multiple nations gathered to destroy the king. The attack will take countless lives of the people this king was supposed to protect. They will not honor him in death who brought so much destruction on them in life.

After the death of the king, the people demand that the "offspring of evildoers nevermore be named." In other words, they reject even the possibility of the king's descendants taking the throne after him (Isaiah 14:21). In refusing to even speak the name of his children, the name of the king will also be removed from the record of history. Indeed, Isaiah never reveals the name of the king in this poem written to dishonor him.

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).