Scofield Reference Bible Notes
Isaiah 14

Isa 14:1 For the LORD will have mercy on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel, and set them in their own land: and the strangers shall be joined with them, and they shall cleave to the house of Jacob.

will yet choose Israel

Zec 1:17; 2:12.

Isa 14:4 That thou shalt take up this proverb against the king of Babylon, and say, How hath the oppressor ceased! the golden city ceased!

thou shalt take up this proverb

Isa 13:19; Hab 2:6.

Isa 14:8 Yea, the fir trees rejoice at thee, and the cedars of Lebanon, saying, Since thou art laid down, no feller is come up against us.

the fir trees rejoice

Isa 55:12; Eze 31:16.

Isa 14:9 Hell from beneath is moved for thee to meet thee at thy coming: it stirreth up the dead for thee, even all the chief ones of the earth; it hath raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations.

Hell

Hebrew sheol; also Isa 14:15. See Scofield Habakkuk 2:5, note.

Isa 14:11 Thy pomp is brought down to the grave, and the noise of thy viols: the worm is spread under thee, and the worms cover thee.

grave

Hebrew sheol. See Scofield Habakkuk 2:5, note.

Isa 14:12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!

Lucifer

Luk 10:18; Rev 12:8, 9.

Verses 12-14 evidently refer to Satan, who, as prince of this world-system (see "World," Scofield Jhn 7:7; Rev 13:8, note), is the real unseen ruler of the successive world-powers. Tyre, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome, etc. (see Eze 28:12-14). Lucifer, "day-star," can be none other that Satan. This tremendous passage marks the beginning of sin in the universe. When Lucifer said, "I will," sin began. See Scofield Rev 20:10, note. See other instances of addressing Satan through another, Gen 3:15; Mat 16:22, 23.

Satan, Isa 14:12-14; Eze 28:12-15. (Gen 3:1; Rev 20:10.)

Isa 14:22 For I will rise up against them, saith the LORD of hosts, and cut off from Babylon the name, and remnant, and son, and nephew, saith the LORD.

Babylon

See Scofield Isaiah 13:19, note.

Isa 14:23 I will also make it a possession for the bittern, and pools of water: and I will sweep it with the besom of destruction, saith the LORD of hosts.

a possession for the bittern

Isa 34:11; Zep 2:14.

Isa 14:26 This is the purpose that is purposed upon the whole earth: and this is the hand that is stretched out upon all the nations.

the whole earth

This universality is significant and marks the whole passage as referring, not merely to a near judgment upon Assyria, but in a yet larger sense to the final crash of the present world-system at the end of the age. (See "Times of the Gentiles," Scofield Luk 21:24; Rev 16:14; Dan 2:44, 45; "Armageddon," Rev 16:14; 19:17.) No other such universal catastrophe on the nations is known to Scripture.

Isa 14:28 In the year that king Ahaz died was this burden.

burden

See Scofield Isaiah 13:1, note.

Isa 14:29 Rejoice not thou, whole Palestina, because the rod of him that smote thee is broken: for out of the serpent's root shall come forth a cockatrice, and his fruit shall be a fiery flying serpent.

him

i.e. Ahaz.

come forth a cockatrice

The descendants of Ahaz.

Isa 14:32 What shall one then answer the messengers of the nation? That the LORD hath founded Zion, and the poor of his people shall trust in it.

trust

Scofield Psalm 2:12, note.