Isaiah 26:14 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Isaiah 26:14
They are dead, they shall not live; they are deceased, they shall not rise: therefore hast thou visited and destroyed them, and made all their memory to perish.
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
Proverbs 10:7 The memory of the just is blessed: but the name of the wicked shall rot.
Revelation 18:2-3 And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the h…
Psalms 106:28 They joined themselves also unto Baal-peor, and ate the sacrifices of the dead.
Isaiah 8:19 And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter: should not a peopl…
Isaiah 14:19-22 But thou art cast out of thy grave like an abominable branch, and as the raiment of those that are slain, thrust through with a sword, that…
Isaiah 51:12-13 I, even I, am he that comforteth you: who art thou, that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that shall die, and of the son of man which shall…
Habakkuk 2:18-20 What profiteth the graven image that the maker thereof hath graven it; the molten image, and a teacher of lies, that the maker of his work t…
Exodus 14:30 Thus the LORD saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians; and Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the sea shore.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Isaiah 26:12-19
The prophet in these verses looks back upon what God had done with them, both in mercy and judgment, and sings unto God of both, and then looks forward upon what he hoped God would do for them. Observe,
I. His reviews and reflections are mixed. When he looks back upon the state of the church he finds,
1. That God had in many instances been very gracious to them and had done great things for them. (1.) In general (Isa 26:12): Thou hast wrought all our works in us, or for us. Whatever good work is done by us, it is owing to a good work wrought by the grace of God in us; it is he that puts good thoughts and affections into our hearts if at any time they be there, and that works in us both to wi…
They--The "other lords" or tyrants (Isa 26:13).
shall not live--namely, again.
deceased--Hebrew, "Rephaim"; powerless, in the land of shades (Isa 14:9-10).
therefore--that is, inasmuch as. Compare "therefore" (Gen 18:5; Gen 19:8).
John Gill on Isaiah 26:14
They are dead, they shall not live; they are deceased, they shall not rise,.... The above tyrannical lords, the kings of the earth and their mighty men, associates of the Romish antichrist, who shall be gathered together, and slain at the battle at Armageddon; these shall not live again in this world, nor rise from their graves, and return to their former state, power, and authority; or tyrannise over, molest, disturb, oppress, and persecute the people of God any more; though they shall live again at the end of the thousand years, and shall awake to everlasting shame and contempt, and come forth to the resurrection of damnation. The Targum is,
"they worship the dead, who do not live; and th…
The dead shall not live. [173] The Prophet again speaks of the unhappy end of the wicked, whose prosperity often agitates and vexes us, as we read in the Psalms of David. (Psalm 37:1, Psalm 73:3, 17.) That our eyes may not be dazzled by the present appearances of things, he foretells that their end will be very miserable. Others interpret this passage as relating to believers, who appear to die without any hope of a resurrection; but unquestionably he speaks of the reprobate, and this will be still more evident from an opposite statement which he makes at the nineteenth verse. There is a contrast between the resurrection of good men and wicked men, [174] between whom there would be little di…
The Church Fathers
For hence it is said by the prophet, "The dead shall not live; the giants shall not rise up again." For whom does he call "the dead" except sinners, and whom does he designate "giants" except those who over and above take pride in sin. Now the former do "not live," because by sinning they have forfeited the life of righteousness; these latter too "cannot rise up again" after death because after their transgression they are swollen with pride and do not have recourse to the remedies of penitence.
(Verse 14) Those who are dying shall not live; the giants shall not rise again. Therefore You visited and destroyed them, and wiped out all memory of them. LXX: For the dead shall not see life; nor will physicians bring them back. Therefore You brought in, and destroyed, and took away all their males. Symmachus in a clearer manner: The dead shall not be revived; the giants shall not rise. Therefore You visited and defeated them, and dispersed all memory of them. Let us first say according to the LXX: The question seems to be difficult, how do the dead not see life? The answer is sought: they do not see life as long as they are dead. Just as we say that a blind person does not see light as long as they are blind; but if they regain their health, they will see the light: so too, the one who is dead in iniquity and sins, before being enlivened by righteousness and virtues, through the one who says, I am the life (John 14), cannot live. And so He is called the God of the living, not of the dead (Matt. XXII). For the soul that sins, it shall die (Ezek. XVIII, 4). We read in the Epistle to the Hebrews: Let us not lay again the foundation of repentance from dead works (Heb. VI, 1). But if sins are called dead works, why are virtues not called living works? And what follows, Neither will physicians raise them up, is clear evidence that the fables of the poets, who boast of having raised Virbius from the dead, are condemned. Not only, however, is this to be said about the dead, but about every illness, that without the mercy of God, the art of healing is worth nothing. But how? Unless the Lord builds the house, in vain do they labor who build it: unless the Lord guards the city, in vain does he watch who guards it (Ps. 126, 1, 2). Similarly, unless the Lord heals the sickness, in vain do doctors labor who desire to heal the sick. Unless the Lord guards one's health, they guard in vain, who even eat the precepts of salvation in their own books: and it must always be learned not only in bodily health, but also in the health of the soul: Bless, my soul, the Lord, who heals all your weaknesses (Ps. 102, 1, 3). Moreover, those who persist in the sin of the dead, and cannot receive the health of the soul by any medical skill, they will be dispersed and taken away by the Lord, and whatever is robust in them, which is called masculine, will be completely taken away. And…
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…
Dead, The · Terms used to express: Deceased — Terms used to express: Deceased
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).
The tyrants who usurped the rule over Israel have now utterly disappeared. "Dead men live not again, shades do not rise again: so hast Thou visited and destroyed them, and caused all their memory to perish." The meaning is not that Jehovah had put them to death because there was no resurrection at all after death; for, as we shall see further on, the prophet was acquainted with such a resurrection. In mēthim (dead men) and rephâ'im (shades) he had directly in mind the oppressors of Israel, who had been thrust down into the region of the shades (like the king of Babylon in chapter 14), so that there was no possibility of their being raised up or setting themselves up again. The לכן is not a…
An upraised fist expresses anger and the threat of judgment (see also 19:16). • Fire was often an image for God’s judgment.
Rashi on Isaiah 26:14
The dead shall not live May it be Your will that these wicked men shall not live in the World to Come, and that these slackers who slackened their hands from Your commandments shall not have restoration.
therefore, You visited [upon them] and You destroyed them Have You not already visited upon them and destroyed them with the words of Your mouth, like the matter that is stated (Exodus 17:14): “For I will surely erase the memory of Amalek.”
