who struck the peoples in wrath with a continual stroke, who ruled the nations in anger, with a persecution that no one restrained.
Parallel Translations
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who struck the peoples in wrath with a continual stroke, who ruled the nations in anger, with a persecution that no one restrained.
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He who smote the people in wrath with a continual stroke, he that ruled the nations in anger, is persecuted, and none hindereth.
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That smote the peoples in wrath with an incessant stroke, that ruled the nations in anger, with a persecution that none restrained.
Cross-references (17)
Passages linked to Isaiah 14:6 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Daniel 7:19-21 “Then I desired to know the truth concerning the fourth animal, which was different from all of them, exceedingly terrible, whose teeth were of iron, and its nails of bronze; which devoured, broke in pieces, and stamped the residue with its feet; and concerning the ten horns that were on its head, and the other horn which came up, and before which three fell, even that horn that had eyes, and a mouth that spoke great things, whose look was more stout than its fellows. I saw, and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them,
- Jeremiah 50:31 “Behold, I am against you, you proud one,” says the Lord, Yahweh of Armies; “for your day has come, the time that I will visit you.
- James 2:13 For judgment is without mercy to him who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.
- Revelation 17:16-17 The ten horns which you saw, and the beast, these will hate the prostitute, will make her desolate, will strip her naked, will eat her flesh, and will burn her utterly with fire. For God has put in their hearts to do what he has in mind, to be of one mind, and to give their kingdom to the beast, until the words of God should be accomplished.
- Revelation 18:8-10 Therefore in one day her plagues will come: death, mourning, and famine; and she will be utterly burned with fire; for the Lord God who has judged her is strong. The kings of the earth who committed sexual immorality and lived wantonly with her will weep and wail over her, when they look at the smoke of her burning, standing far away for the fear of her torment, saying, ‘Woe, woe, the great city, Babylon, the strong city! For your judgment has come in one hour.’
- 2 Chronicles 36:17 Therefore he brought on them the king of the Chaldeans, who killed their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion on young man or virgin, old man or gray-headed. He gave them all into his hand.
- Job 9:13 “God will not withdraw his anger. The helpers of Rahab stoop under him.
- Proverbs 21:30 There is no wisdom nor understanding nor counsel against Yahweh.
- Isaiah 10:14 My hand has found the riches of the peoples like a nest, and like one gathers eggs that are abandoned, I have gathered all the earth. There was no one who moved their wing, or that opened their mouth, or chirped.”
- Isaiah 13:14-18 It will happen that like a hunted gazelle, and like sheep that no one gathers, they will each turn to their own people, and will each flee to their own land. Everyone who is found will be thrust through. Everyone who is captured will fall by the sword. Their infants also will be dashed in pieces before their eyes. Their houses will be ransacked, and their wives raped. Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them, who will not value silver, and as for gold, they will not delight in it. Their bows will dash the young men in pieces; and they shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb. Their eyes will not spare children.
- Isaiah 21:1-10 The burden of the wilderness of the sea. As whirlwinds in the South sweep through, it comes from the wilderness, from an awesome land. A grievous vision is declared to me. The treacherous man deals treacherously, and the destroyer destroys. Go up, Elam; attack! I have stopped all of Media’s sighing. Therefore my thighs are filled with anguish. Pains have seized me, like the pains of a woman in labor. I am in so much pain that I can’t hear. I so am dismayed that I can’t see. My heart flutters. Horror has frightened me. The twilight that I desired has been turned into trembling for me. They prepare the table. They set the watch. They eat. They drink. Rise up, you princes, oil the shield! For the Lord said to me, “Go, set a watchman. Let him declare what he sees. When he sees a troop, horsemen in pairs, a troop of donkeys, a troop of camels, he shall listen diligently with great attentiveness.” He cried like a lion: “Lord, I stand continually on the watchtower in the daytime, and every night I stay at my post. Behold, here comes a troop of men, horsemen in pairs.” He answered, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon; and all the engraved images of her gods are broken to the ground. You are my threshing, and the grain of my floor!” That which I have heard from Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, I have declared to you.
- Isaiah 33:1 Woe to you who destroy, but you weren’t destroyed, and who betray, but nobody betrayed you! When you have finished destroying, you will be destroyed; and when you have finished betrayal, you will be betrayed.
- Isaiah 46:10-11 I declare the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done. I say: My counsel will stand, and I will do all that I please. I call a ravenous bird from the east, the man of my counsel from a far country. Yes, I have spoken. I will also bring it to pass. I have planned. I will also do it.
- Isaiah 47:1-15 “Come down and sit in the dust, virgin daughter of Babylon. Sit on the ground without a throne, daughter of the Chaldeans. For you will no longer be called tender and delicate. Take the millstones and grind flour. Remove your veil, lift up your skirt, uncover your legs, and wade through the rivers. Your nakedness will be uncovered. Yes, your shame will be seen. I will take vengeance, and will spare no one.” Our Redeemer, Yahweh of Armies is his name, is the Holy One of Israel. “Sit in silence, and go into darkness, daughter of the Chaldeans. For you shall no longer be called the mistress of kingdoms. I was angry with my people. I profaned my inheritance and gave them into your hand. You showed them no mercy. You laid a very heavy yoke on the aged. You said, ‘I will be a princess forever,’ so that you didn’t lay these things to your heart, nor did you remember the results. “Now therefore hear this, you who are given to pleasures, who sit securely, who say in your heart, ‘I am, and there is no one else besides me. I won’t sit as a widow, neither will I know the loss of children.’ But these two things will come to you in a moment in one day, the loss of children and widowhood. They will come on you in their full measure, in the multitude of your sorceries, and the great abundance of your enchantments. For you have trusted in your wickedness. You have said, ‘No one sees me.’ Your wisdom and your knowledge has perverted you. You have said in your heart, ‘I am, and there is no one else besides me.’ Therefore disaster will come on you. You won’t know when it dawns. Mischief will fall on you. You won’t be able to put it away. Desolation will come on you suddenly, which you don’t understand. “Stand now with your enchantments and with the multitude of your sorceries, in which you have labored from your youth, as if you might profit, as if you might prevail. You are wearied in the multitude of your counsels. Now let the astrologers, the stargazers, and the monthly prognosticators, stand up and save you from the things that will happen to you. Behold, they are like stubble. The fire will burn them. They won’t deliver themselves from the power of the flame. It won’t be a coal to warm at or a fire to sit by. The things that you labored in will be like this: those who have trafficked with you from your youth will each wander in his own way. There will be no one to save you.
- Jeremiah 25:9 behold, I will send and take all the families of the north,” says Yahweh, “and I will send to Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will bring them against this land, and against its inhabitants, and against all these nations around. I will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, and a hissing, and perpetual desolations.
- Jeremiah 25:26 and all the kings of the north, far and near, one with another; and all the kingdoms of the world, which are on the surface of the earth. The king of Sheshach will drink after them.
- Daniel 4:35 All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing; and he does according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth; and no one can stop his hand, or ask him, “What are you doing?”
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (13 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain That is, he suffered all violence and injuries to…
That is, he suffered all violence and injuries to be done.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Isa 14:6 He who smote the people in wrath…
Isa 14:6 He who smote the people in wrath with a continual stroke, he that ruled the nations in anger, is persecuted, [and] none hindereth.
Ver. 6. He that smote the people in wrath, &c.] This is the tyrant’s epitaph; there is at their death a general joy, as was the time when the world was well rid of Tiberius, Caligula, Nero, Heliogabalus, &c. When Domitian died, the senate decreed that his name should be erased, that all his acts should be rescinded, and his memorial abolished quite for ever. When Caligula was cut off, his monies were all melted by the decree of the senate; {a} like as King Richard III’s cognisance, the white boar, was torn from every sign, that his memory might perish. {b}
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{a} Aurel. Victor.
{b} Speed.
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 In anger; with rigour, and not with clemency, as…
In anger; with rigour, and not with clemency, as many conquerors have done.
Non hindereth; neither the Babylonians themselves, nor their confederates, could withstand the power of the Medes and Persians.
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 He who smote the people in wrath with a…
He who smote the people in wrath with a continual stroke,.... The king of Babylon, who made war with the people and nations of the earth, and conquered them, smote them with the edge of the sword to gratify his passions, and satiate his bloodthirsty mind; and those that were spared, he ruled with rigour, and oppressed them with tribute and hard bondage; and, when he had conquered one nation, attacked another, and so went on pursuing his victories without intermission, giving no respite neither to his army, nor to the people:
he that ruled the nations in anger; not with justice and clemency, but in a tyrannical and oppressive way, even his own nation, as well as the nations whom he subdued:
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is persecuted; is, pursued by the justice of God, overtaken and seized, and brought to condign punishment;
and none hindereth; the execution of the righteous judgment upon him; none of the neighbouring kings and nations, either tributary to him, or in alliance with him, give him the least help or assistance, or attempt to ward off the blow upon him, given him, under the direction and appointment of God, by Cyrus the Persian. So the Romish antichrist, who has made war with the saints, and has smitten them with the sword, and gone on to do so without any intermission for ages together, and has tyrannised over them in a most cruel manner, he shall be persecuted, and taken, and brought to his end, and there shall be none to help him; see Rev 13:7.
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 Anger - With rigor and not with clemency. None…
Anger - With rigor and not with clemency. None - Neither the Babylonians themselves, nor their confederates.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Isa 14:6-11. He that ruled the nations in anger…
Isa 14:6-11. He that ruled the nations in anger — With rigour, and not with clemency; is persecuted and none hindereth — Neither the Babylonians themselves nor their confederates. The whole earth is at rest — The subjects of that vast empire who groaned under his cruel bondage. Yea, the cedars of Lebanon — Which were felled for the service of his pride and luxury, but are now suffered to stand and flourish. It is a figure usual in sacred and profane writers. Hell — The invisible world, or rather, the grave, as the same word is rendered Isa 14:11, and in innumerable other places; to which he elegantly ascribes sense and speech, as poets and orators frequently do; is moved to meet thee at thy coming — And to compliment thee on thy arrival in their dark regions. “This image of the state of the dead, or the Infernum Poeticum of the Hebrews, is taken from their custom of burying, those at least of the higher rank, in large sepulchral vaults hewn in the rock. Of this kind of sepulchres there are remains at Jerusalem now extant; and some that are said to be the sepulchres of the kings of Judah: see Maundrell, p. 76. You are to form to yourself an idea of an immense subterraneous vault, a vast gloomy cavern, all round the sides of which are cells to receive the dead bodies; here the deceased monarchs lie in a distinguished sort of state, suitable to their former rank, each on his own couch, with his arms beside him, his sword at his head, and the bodies of his chiefs and companions round about him: see Eze 32:27. These illustrious shades rise at once from their couches, as from their thrones; and advance to the entrance of the cavern to meet the king of Babylon, and to receive him with insults on his fall.” — Bishop Lowth. All they shall say, Art thou become weak as we? — Thou, who wast king of kings, and far superior to us in power and authority? that didst neither fear God nor reverence man, but rather didst rank thyself among the immortals; thou, before whom all people, nations, and languages trembled and feared, art thou come to take thy fate with us poor mortal men? Where now is thy power and thy glory? Thy pomp is brought down to the grave — Is lost and buried with thee; and the noise of thy viols — All thy musical instruments, which were much used in Babylon, and were doubtless used in Belshazzar’s solemn feasts, (Dan 5:1,) at which time the city was taken; to which possibly the prophet here alludes. The worm is spread under thee — Instead of those stately carpets upon which thou didst frequently tread.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain He who smote - This may either refer to…
He who smote - This may either refer to the king of Babylon, or to the rod or scepter which he had used, and which was now broken. Herder refers it to the scepter, ‘that which smote the nations.’ (On the meaning of the word “smote,” see the notes at Isa 10:20)
The people - The nations that were subject to his authority.
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With a continual stroke - Margin, ‘A stroke without removing.’ Vulgate, Plaga insanabili - ‘With an incurable plague.’ - Septuagint the same - Πληγῇ ἀνιάτῳ Plēgē aniatō. The Hebrew is, as in the margin, ‘A smiting without removing,’ or without cessation. There was no relaxation in its oppressions, it was always engaged in acts of tyranny.
He that ruled the nations - Babylon was the capital of a vast empire, and that empire was composed of many dependent nations.
Is persecuted - By those that make war upon it. Its turn had come to be oppressed, and overthrown.
And none hindereth - No nation opposes the invader. None of the dependent kingdoms of Babylon have any real attachment to it, but all rejoice at its downfall. The most mighty kingdom of the earth is helpless and ruined. What a change was this! How sudden and striking the revolution! And what a warning to proud and guilty cities!
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Persecuted. The Jews read incorrectly, "is persecuted."
Persecuted. The Jews read incorrectly, "is persecuted."
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain people--the peoples subjected to Babylon.
people--the peoples subjected to Babylon.
is persecuted--the Hebrew is rather, active, "which persecuted them, without any to hinder him" [Vulgate, JEROME, and HORSLEY].
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 6. The oldest and the latest writers, with few…
6. The oldest and the latest writers, with few exceptions, make this verse descriptive of the Babylonian tyranny.
He who smote the people — Nebuchadnezzar, no doubt, the loftiest king of Babylon, who “smote” not only the Jews, but other nations contiguous to his own territory.
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Continual stroke — Never intermitted. The tyrant’s sceptre smote nations with incessant blows and persecution. The phrase, ruled the nations in anger, is persecuted, and none hindereth, is better rendered: Subdued nations in anger with a pursuit unrestrained. The expression refers to Babylonian tyranny, yielding to no pity, nor restraint of conscience.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 6. He who] Better, as R.V., that; the antecedent…
6. He who] Better, as R.V., that; the antecedent being the staff,
is persecuted, and none hindereth] R.V. “with a persecution that none restrained.” The parallelism requires instead of “persecution” a noun cognate with the verb rendered “rule,” as in the preceding line. An easy emendation (mirdath for murdâph) supplies this; and this reading is almost universally accepted. The balance of clauses is then perfect:—
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That struck the peoples in anger,—with incessant stroke;
That trod down the nations in wrath,—with unrelenting tread.
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 (6) He who smote . . .—Better, which smote,…
(6) He who smote . . .—Better, which smote, the whole verse being of the nature of a relative clause, with the “sceptre” for antecedent.
A continual stroke.—Literally, a stroke without ceasing.
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Is persecuted, and none hindereth.—Better, completing the parallelism, with a trampling that is not stayed.
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 He who smote the people; rather, which smote the…
He who smote the people; rather, which smote the peoples. The participle translated "he who smote" refers to "staff" or "scepter." With a continual stroke; i.e. incessantly, one war following another without pause or stop. He that ruled, etc.; rather, which ruled the nations in anger with a persecution that held not back.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.