Isaiah 14:9-15

14:9 Sheol ¹  below is stirred up about you,

ready to meet you when you arrive.

It rouses ²  the spirits of the dead for you,

all the former leaders of the earth; ³ 

it makes all the former kings of the nations

rise from their thrones. ⁴ 

14:10 All of them respond to you, saying:

‘You too have become weak like us!

You have become just like us!

14:11 Your splendor ⁵  has been brought down to Sheol,

as well as the sound of your stringed instruments. ⁶ 

You lie on a bed of maggots,

with a blanket of worms over you. ⁷ 

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

O shining one, son of the dawn! ⁸ 

You have been cut down to the ground,

O conqueror ⁹  of the nations! ¹⁰ 

14:13 You said to yourself, ¹¹ 

“I will climb up to the sky.

Above the stars of El ¹² 

I will set up my throne.

I will rule on the mountain of assembly

on the remote slopes of Zaphon. ¹³ 

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

I will make myself like the Most High!” ¹⁵ 

14:15 But you were brought down ¹⁶  to Sheol,

to the remote slopes of the pit. ¹⁷ 

[14:9]  ¹ sn Sheol is the proper name of the subterranean world which was regarded as the land of the dead.

[14:9]  ² tn Heb “arousing.” The form is probably a Polel infinitive absolute, rather than a third masculine singular perfect, for Sheol is grammatically feminine (note “stirred up”). See GKC 466 §145.t.

[14:9]  ³ tn Heb “all the rams of the earth.” The animal epithet is used metaphorically here for leaders. See HALOT 903 s.v. *עַתּוּד.

[14:9]  ⁴ tn Heb “lifting from their thrones all the kings of the nations.” הֵקִים (heqim, a Hiphil perfect third masculine singular) should be emended to an infinitive absolute (הָקֵים, haqem). See the note on “rouses” earlier in the verse.

[14:11]  ⁵ tn Or “pride” (NCV, CEV); KJV, NIV, NRSV “pomp.”

[14:11]  ⁶ tn Or “harps” (NAB, NIV, NRSV).

[14:11]  ⁷ tn Heb “under you maggots are spread out, and worms are your cover.”

[14:12]  ⁸ 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]  ⁹ 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]  ¹⁰ 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]  ¹¹ tn Heb “you, you said in your heart.”

[14:13]  ¹² sn In Canaanite mythology the stars of El were astral deities under the authority of the high god El.

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

[14:14]  ¹⁴ 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]  ¹⁵ 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]  ¹⁶ 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]  ¹⁷ 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.