Isaiah 14:9 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Isaiah 14:9
Hell from beneath is moved for thee to meet thee at thy coming: it stirreth up the dead for thee, even all the chief ones of the earth; it hath raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations.
Hades or the world of the dead (as if a subterranean re… · noun, common both genders singular absolute
moved
רָגְזָ֥הra.ge.Zah
H7264
to quiver (with any violent emotion · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person feminine singular
meet
קִרְאָהqirʼâh
H7125
an encountering
coming
בּוֹאֶ֑ךָbo.'E.kha
H935
to go or come (in a wide variety of applications) · verb, qal infinitive construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
up
עוֹרֵ֨רo.Rer
H5782
to wake (literally or figuratively) · verb, piel perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
dead
רְפָאִים֙re.fa.'Im
H7496
properly · noun, common masculine plural absolute
ones
עַתּ֣וּדֵי'a.Tu.dei
H6260
prepared · noun, common masculine plural construct
earth
אָ֔רֶץ'A.retz
H776
the earth (at large · noun, common feminine singular absolute
up
הֵקִים֙he.Kim
H6965
to rise (in various applications · verb, hiphil perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
thrones
מִכִּסְאוֹתָ֔םmi.kis.'o.Tam
H3678
properly · preposition + noun, common feminine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
kings
מַלְכֵ֥יmal.Khei
H4428
a king · noun, common masculine plural construct
nations
גוֹיִֽםgo.Yim
H1471
a foreign nation · noun, common 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
Ezekiel 32:21-32 The strong among the mighty shall speak to him out of the midst of hell with them that help him: they are gone down, they lie uncircumcised,…
Jeremiah 50:8 Remove out of the midst of Babylon, and go forth out of the land of the Chaldeans, and be as the he goats before the flocks.
Proverbs 15:24 The way of life is above to the wise, that he may depart from hell beneath.
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…
THE SCENE CHANGES FROM EARTH TO HELL. (Isa 14:9-11)
moved--put into agitation.
for thee--that is, "at thee"; towards thee; explained by "to meet thee at thy coming" [MAURER].
chief ones--literally, "goats"; so rams, leaders of the flock; princes (Zac 10:3). The idea of wickedness on a gigantic scale is included (Eze 34:17; Mat 25:32-33). MAGEE derives "Rephaim" (English Version, "the dead") from a Hebrew root, "to resolve into first elements"; so "the deceased" (Isa 26:14) "ghosts" (Pro 21:16). These being magnified by the imagination of the living into gigantic stature, gave their name to giants in general (Gen 6:4; Gen 14:5; Eze 32:18, Eze 32:21). "Rephaim," translated in the Septuagi…
Hell from beneath is moved for thee,.... Or the "grave", or the place and state of the dead, and particularly of the damned, meaning those that are in such a place and state; and the sense is, that not only the inhabitants of the earth, and the trees upon it, express their joy at the fall of the king of Babylon, but those that are under the earth, in the grave, or in hell, are affected with it, and moved on account of it, not with fear and dread, as they were in his and their life time, as Kimchi suggests; but they are represented as in motion, and that as attended with a great noise, because of the multitude of them, upon hearing of his death, and his entrance into the regions of the dead:…
The Church Fathers
(Verse 9.) The underworld beneath you is stirred up, it raises the giants to meet your arrival: all the rulers of the earth have risen from their thrones: all the rulers of the nations will respond and say to you. These things are to be read emphatically and in a dramatic manner; not that they have actually happened, but that they could have happened: unless, of course, we believe that the souls of the kings whom you have killed have appeared, taunting the Babylonian king. For it is a comfort in misfortune, when enemies see them endure the same things.
(Verse 9) The underworld also, disturbed and turned towards bitterness, at the approach of the true Nebuchadnezzar, is the place of punishments and tortures, in which the rich one clothed in purple appears: to whom the Lord descended, in order to release the prisoners from the prison. We can speak of the opposing inferno and the angel who is placed in charge of the punishments of the underworld, who raised all the giants: for which some call them Raphaims, others call them Titans. Giants, according to the custom of the Gentiles, are called those whom they consider to be earth-born, whom the earth has produced. However, we can call giants, according to the etymology of the Greek language, those who served earthly works. Finally, it follows: All the rulers of the earth rose from their thrones, in the coming of their former ruler: so that those whom they previously honored for their power, afterwards marveled at their punishments, and said: You have been wounded just like us: you have become like us. What words have this meaning: We thought that because of our weakness we could not resist the power of God, and that you were the only one who would remain in your greatness; but as it is evident, you were wounded and captured, like us; so that whom dignity separates on earth, punishment may unite in the underworld.
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
Giants — (1.) Heb. nephilim, meaning “violent” or “causing to fall” (Gen. 6:4). These were the violent tyrants of those days, those who fell upon others. The word may also be derived from a root signifying…
Goat — (1.) Heb. ‘ez, the she-goat (Gen. 15:9; 30:35; 31:38). This Hebrew word is also used for the he-goat (Ex. 12:5; Lev. 4:23; Num. 28:15), and to denote a kid (Gen. 38:17, 20). Hence it may be regarded…
Hades — That which is out of sight, a Greek word used to denote the state or place of the dead. All the dead alike go into this place. To be buried, to go down to the grave, to descend into hades, are…
Immortality — Perpetuity of existence. The doctrine of immortality is taught in the Old Testament. It is plainly implied in the writings of Moses (Gen. 5:22, 24; 25:8; 37:35; 47:9; 49:29, comp. Heb. 11:13-16; Ex.…
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.…
Babylon · Predictions respecting: Destruction of — Predictions respecting: Destruction of
Death Of The Wicked, The · Punishment follows — Punishment follows
Hell · In the R. V. of O. T. it appears only in — In the R. V. of O. T. it appears only in
Immortality · 2:11; — 2:11;
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).
Hell from beneath is moved for thee. [217] As he had formerly attributed gladness to the trees, so now, by a similar figure, he attributes speech to the dead [218] He arouses them, as it were, from their graves, to mock at the pride of this tyrant. The whole passage is ironical, and full of keen sarcasm. At the approach of kings, the people tremble, and come forth to meet and receive them with pompous display. The Prophet makes a fictitious representation, that when this tyrant shall die and go down to the grave, the dead will go forth to meet and honor him, but with such honor as he deserves. As if he had said, "Not only the living, but also the dead will rejoice at his death. The dead also…
But whilst it has become so quiet on earth, there is the most violent agitation in the regions below. "The kingdom of the dead below is all in uproar on account of thee, to meet thy coming; it stirreth up the shades for thee, all the he-goats of the earth; it raiseth up from their throne-seats all the kings of the nations." The notion of Hades, notwithstanding the mythological character which it had assumed, was based upon the double truth, that what a man has been, and the manner in which he has lived on this side the grave, are not obliterated on the other side, but are then really brought to light, and that there is an immaterial self-formation of the soul, in which all that a man has bec…
The Babylonians saw the place of the dead (Hebrew Sheol) as a place of no return. • stand up (literally get up from their thrones): The thrones reflect the Babylonian concept of the life hereafter as a continuation of the same mode of existence as the present life. It appears that the other kings are honoring the great king of Babylon, but the next verses tell a different story.
Rashi on Isaiah 14:9
toward your arrival When you descend to Gehinnom, and what is the quaking? To arouse toward you...
giants Heb. רְפָאִים, the giants lying there.
all the chiefs of the earth [lit. the he-goats.] All the kings of the nations, the princes, and the princesses, are compared by Scripture, to bulls, to cows, and to he-goats. Comp. (Psalms 22:13) “Bulls surrounded me.” Also (Amos 4:1): “The cows of the Bashan that were on Mt. Shomron,” and here he compares them to he-goats.
he caused to rise he threw
from their thrones [i.e.,] the messenger of Gehinnom caused all the kings of the nations [to rise] from their thrones. [according to mss. and Shem Ephraim]
