Isaiah 14:5

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

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
LORD	יְהוָ֖ה Yah.weh	H3068	Jehovah · proper noun, a title
broken	שָׁבַ֥ר sha.Var	H7665	to burst (literally or figuratively) · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
staff	מַטֵּ֣ה ma.Teh	H4294	a branch (as extending) · noun, common masculine singular construct
wicked	רְשָׁעִ֑ים re.sha.'Im	H7563	morally wrong · noun, common masculine plural absolute
sceptre	שֵׁ֖בֶט She.vet	H7626	a scion · noun, common masculine singular construct
rulers	מֹשְׁלִֽים mo.she.Lim	H4910	to rule · verb, qal active participle, masculine plural absolute

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

Psalms 125:3 For the rod of the wicked shall not rest upon the lot of the righteous; lest the righteous put forth their hands unto iniquity.
Isaiah 9:4 For thou hast broken the yoke of his burden, and the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, as in the day of Midian.
Isaiah 14:29 Rejoice not thou, whole Palestina, because the rod of him that smote thee is broken: for out of the serpent’s root shall come forth a cockat…
Jeremiah 48:15-17 Moab is spoiled, and gone up out of her cities, and his chosen young men are gone down to the slaughter, saith the King, whose name is the L…
Isaiah 10:5 O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation.

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Isaiah 14:4-23

The kings of Babylon, successively, were the great enemies and oppressors of God's people, and therefore the destruction of Babylon, the fall of the king, and the ruin of his family, are here particularly taken notice of and triumphed in. In the day that God has given Israel rest they shall take up this proverb against the king of Babylon. We must not rejoice when our enemy falls, as ours; but when Babylon, the common enemy of God and his Israel, sinks, then rejoice over her, thou heaven, and you holy apostles and prophets, Rev 18:20. The Babylonian monarchy bade fair to be an absolute, universal, and perpetual one, and, in these pretensions, vied with the Almighty; it is therefore very just…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Isaiah 14:5

staff--not the scepter (Psa 2:9), but the staff with which one strikes others, as he is speaking of more tyrants than one (Isa 9:4; Isa 10:24; Isa 14:29) [MAURER]. rulers--tyrants, as the parallelism "the wicked" proves (compare see on Isa 13:2).

John Gill on Isaiah 14:5

The Lord hath broken the staff of the wicked,.... This is an answer to the above question, how the exactor and his tribute came to cease; this was not by man, but by the Lord himself; for though he made use of Cyrus, the work was his own, he broke the power of the wicked kings of Babylon: and the sceptre of the rulers; that were under the king of Babylon; or of the several kings themselves, Nebuchadnezzar, Evilmerodach, and Belshazzar; so Kimchi interprets it. This may be applied to the kingdom of antichrist, and the antichristian states, which shall be broken to shivers as a potter's vessel by Christ, the King of kings, and Lord of lords, Revelation 2:27. The "staff" and "sceptre" are embl…

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John Calvin on Isaiah 14:5-6

The Lord hath broken the staff of the wicked. He answers the question which has just been put; for he did not intend that believers should doubt that it would happen, but rather that they should be amazed at such wonderful works of God; for the question had a tendency to arouse their minds to more earnest attention. It is as if he had said that it did not happen at random or through the blind violence of fortune that they have not been oppressed by continual bondage, but that it ought to be ascribed to the providence of God, who hath broken that hard yoke of bondage. Now, the ungodly are amazed at such works, and remain bewildered, because they do not see the reason; but the godly know that…

The Church Fathers

(Verse 5) The Lord has broken the rod of the wicked, the staff of rulers. That man, I say, who was the staff of the wicked, who fiercely struck down all with his scepter and royal rod.
— Jerome, Commentary on Isaiah

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Isaiah, Book Of — I. Chapters 1-5 contain Isaiah’s prophecies in the reigns of Uzziah and Jotham, foretelling that the present prosperity of Judah should be destroyed, and that Israel should be brought to desolation.…
Sceptre — (Heb. shebet = Gr. skeptron), properly a staff or rod. As a symbol of authority, the use of the sceptre originated in the idea that the ruler was as a shepherd of his people (Gen. 49:10; Num. 24:17;…
Babylon · Predictions respecting: Destruction of — Predictions respecting: Destruction of
Nation · Promises of peace to — Promises of peace to
Scepter (Sceptre) · A symbol of authority — A symbol of authority

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).

Isaiah 14:5

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Isaiah 14:4-23

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Isaiah 14:5

John Gill on Isaiah 14:5

John Calvin on Isaiah 14:5-6

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Isaiah 14:5

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Isaiah 14:4-23

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Isaiah 14:5

John Gill on Isaiah 14:5

John Calvin on Isaiah 14:5-6

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Keil & Delitzsch on Isaiah 14:3-6

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Isaiah 14:4

Rashi on Isaiah 14:5