who made the world like a wilderness, and overthrew its cities, who didn’t release his prisoners to their home?”
Parallel Translations
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who made the world like a wilderness, and overthrew its cities, who didn’t release his prisoners to their home?”
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That made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof; that opened not the house of his prisoners?
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That made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof; that opened not the house of his prisoners?'
Cross-references (9)
Passages linked to Isaiah 14:17 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Joel 2:3 A fire devours before them, and behind them, a flame burns. The land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them, a desolate wilderness. Yes, and no one has escaped them.
- 2 Chronicles 28:8-15 The children of Israel carried away captive of their brothers two hundred thousand women, sons, and daughters, and also took away much plunder from them, and brought the plunder to Samaria. But a prophet of Yahweh was there, whose name was Oded; and he went out to meet the army that came to Samaria, and said to them, “Behold, because Yahweh, the God of your fathers, was angry with Judah, he has delivered them into your hand, and you have slain them in a rage which has reached up to heaven. Now you intend to degrade the children of Judah and Jerusalem as male and female slaves for yourselves. Aren’t there even with you trespasses of your own against Yahweh your God? Now hear me therefore, and send back the captives that you have taken captive from your brothers, for the fierce wrath of Yahweh is on you.” Then some of the heads of the children of Ephraim, Azariah the son of Johanan, Berechiah the son of Meshillemoth, Jehizkiah the son of Shallum, and Amasa the son of Hadlai, stood up against those who came from the war, and said to them, “You must not bring in the captives here, for you intend that which will bring on us a trespass against Yahweh, to add to our sins and to our guilt; for our guilt is great, and there is fierce wrath against Israel.” So the armed men left the captives and the plunder before the princes and all the assembly. The men who have been mentioned by name rose up and took the captives, and with the plunder clothed all who were naked among them, dressed them, gave them sandals, and gave them something to eat and to drink, anointed them, carried all the feeble of them on donkeys, and brought them to Jericho, the city of palm trees, to their brothers. Then they returned to Samaria.
- Ezra 1:2-4 “Cyrus king of Persia says, ‘Yahweh, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth; and he has commanded me to build him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever there is among you of all his people, may his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the house of Yahweh, the God of Israel (he is God), which is in Jerusalem. Whoever is left, in any place where he lives, let the men of his place help him with silver, with gold, with goods, and with animals, in addition to the free will offering for God’s house which is in Jerusalem.’ ”
- Isaiah 13:19-22 Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldeans’ pride, will be like when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. It will never be inhabited, neither will it be lived in from generation to generation. The Arabian will not pitch a tent there, neither will shepherds make their flocks lie down there. But wild animals of the desert will lie there, and their houses will be full of jackals. Ostriches will dwell there, and wild goats will frolic there. Wolves will cry in their fortresses, and jackals in the pleasant palaces. Her time is near to come, and her days will not be prolonged.
- Isaiah 45:13 I have raised him up in righteousness, and I will make all his ways straight. He shall build my city, and he shall let my exiles go free, not for price nor reward,” says Yahweh of Armies.
- Isaiah 58:6 “Isn’t this the fast that I have chosen: to release the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke?
- Isaiah 64:10 Your holy cities have become a wilderness. Zion has become a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation.
- Ezekiel 6:14 I will stretch out my hand on them, and make the land desolate and waste, from the wilderness toward Diblah, throughout all their habitations. Then they will know that I am Yahweh.’ ”
- Zephaniah 2:13-14 He will stretch out his hand against the north, destroy Assyria, and will make Nineveh a desolation, as dry as the wilderness. Herds will lie down in the middle of her, all the animals of the nations. Both the pelican and the porcupine will lodge in its capitals. Their calls will echo through the windows. Desolation will be in the thresholds, for he has laid bare the cedar beams.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (10 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain To set them at liberty: noting his cruelty.
To set them at liberty: noting his cruelty.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Isa 14:17 [That] made the world as a wilderness,…
Isa 14:17 [That] made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof; [that] opened not the house of his prisoners?
Ver. 17. That made the world as a wilderness.] Nero the tyrant came into the world an Agrippa, or born with his feet forward, and turned the world upside down ere he went out of it; so that the senate at last proclaimed him a public enemy to mankind, and condemned him to be drawn through the city, and whipped to death.
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That opened not the house of his prisoners.] Or, That did not loose his prisoners homewards, but kept them in durance with prisoners’ pittance. {Lam 3:34}
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Whereby he signifies both his irresistible power, and his…
Whereby he signifies both his irresistible power, and his continued cruelty. He neither was willing to give them any liberty or ease, nor could any force him to do it.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain That made the world as a wilderness,.... Both by…
That made the world as a wilderness,.... Both by destroying the inhabitants of it, and by laying waste cities, towns, villages, fields, vineyards, gardens, and all places improved and cultivated, wherever he came, as it follows:
and destroyed the cities thereof; as the Assyrian kings had done, some of which are mentioned in Isa 10:9,
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that opened not the house of his prisoners; the prison house, in, which they were held; or,
"the gate to his prisoners,''
as the Targum; or rather the words may be rendered, "that opened not to his prisoners", that they might go "home"; or as De Dieu, in short, yet fully, expresses it, "that did not dismiss his prisoners home"; he not only cruelly and inhumanly put many to the sword, but such as surrendered, and were taken captives, he detained them in prison, and would not loose their bonds, but let them die there; which was an instance of great cruelty and inhumanity.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Cried not - Whereby he signifies both his irresistible…
Cried not - Whereby he signifies both his irresistible power, and his continued cruelty.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain That made the world as a wilderness - That…
That made the world as a wilderness - That made cities and kingdoms desolate.
That opened not the house of his prisoners - This is a description of his oppression and cruelty. Of course many prisoners would be taken in war. Instead of giving them liberty, he threw them into prison and kept them there. This may be rendered, ‘his prisoners he did not release that they might return home’ (see the Margin). The Chaldee renders it, ‘To his prisoners he did not open the door.’ The sense is substantially the same. The idea is, that he was cruel and oppressive. He threw his captives into dungeons, and found pleasure in retaining them there.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain opened not . . . house . . .…
opened not . . . house . . . prisoners--But MAURER, as Margin, "Did not let his captives loose homewards."
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 17. opened not the house of his prisoners] Translate…
17. opened not the house of his prisoners] Translate as R.V. let not loose his prisoners to their home (a so-called pregnant construction). But from this point the rhythm is defective, and the text is almost certainly in some disorder. The immediate difficulty might be surmounted by bringing the words “every one in his house” from the end of Isa_14:18 (where they are rhythmically superfluous) to the end of Isa_14:17 : thus (with a slight alteration):—
“That let not loose his prisoners,—each to his home.”
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But a satisfactory reconstruction of the passage as a whole seems impossible.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (17) That opened not the house of his prisoners.—Better,…
(17) That opened not the house of his prisoners.—Better, as in the margin, he loosed not his prisoners to their homes. This was, we may note, a characteristic feature of the cruelty of the Assyrian kings. So Sennacherib and Assurbanipal boast of having carried off captive kings in “chains of iron” (Records of the Past, i. pp. 43, 62, 72), and kept them chained like dogs in the court of their palace (ib., pp. 93, 97). So Jehoiachin was kept in prison for thirty-seven years (Jer_52:31).
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain That opened not the house of his prisoners; literally,…
That opened not the house of his prisoners; literally, that loosed not his prisoners homewards. The long imprisonment of Jehoiachin by Nebuchadnezzar (thirty-six years, 2Ki_25:27) is an illustration; but perhaps it is rather the retention in captivity of the entire Jewish people that is brought to the prophet"s cognizance.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.