Isaiah 14:12-16

14:12 Look how you have fallen from the sky,

O shining one, son of the dawn! ¹ 

You have been cut down to the ground,

O conqueror ²  of the nations! ³ 

14:13 You said to yourself, ⁴ 

“I will climb up to the sky.

Above the stars of El ⁵ 

I will set up my throne.

I will rule on the mountain of assembly

on the remote slopes of Zaphon. ⁶ 

14:14 I will climb up to the tops ⁷  of the clouds;

I will make myself like the Most High!” ⁸ 

14:15 But you were brought down ⁹  to Sheol,

to the remote slopes of the pit. ¹⁰ 

14:16 Those who see you stare at you,

they look at you carefully, thinking: ¹¹ 

“Is this the man who shook the earth,

the one who made kingdoms tremble?

[14:12]  ¹ tn The Hebrew text has הֵילֵל בֶּן־שָׁחַר (helel ben-shakhar, “Helel son of Shachar”), which is probably a name for the morning star (Venus) or the crescent moon. See HALOT 245 s.v. הֵילֵל.

[14:12]  ² tn Some understand the verb to from חָלַשׁ (khalash, “to weaken”), but HALOT 324 s.v. II חלשׁ proposes a homonym here, meaning “to defeat.”

[14:12]  ³ sn In this line the taunting kings hint at the literal identity of the king, after likening him to the god Helel and a tree. The verb גָדַע (gada’, “cut down”) is used of chopping down trees in 9:10 and 10:33.

[14:13]  ⁴ tn Heb “you, you said in your heart.”

[14:13]  ⁵ sn In Canaanite mythology the stars of El were astral deities under the authority of the high god El.

[14:13]  ⁶ sn Zaphon, the Canaanite version of Olympus, was the “mountain of assembly” where the gods met.

[14:14]  ⁷ tn Heb “the high places.” This word often refers to the high places where pagan worship was conducted, but here it probably refers to the “backs” or tops of the clouds. See HALOT 136 s.v. בָּמָה.

[14:14]  ⁸ sn Normally in the OT the title “Most High” belongs to the God of Israel, but in this context, where the mythological overtones are so strong, it probably refers to the Canaanite high god El.

[14:15]  ⁹ tn The prefixed verb form is taken as a preterite. Note the use of perfects in v. 12 to describe the king’s downfall.

[14:15]  ¹⁰ tn The Hebrew term בּוּר (bor, “cistern”) is sometimes used metaphorically to refer to the place of the dead or the entrance to the underworld.

[14:16]  ¹¹ tn The word “thinking” is supplied in the translation in order to make it clear that the next line records their thoughts as they gaze at him.