Passage

Isaiah 14.4

Book: Isaiah · NASB95

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV (ASV)

"2. And the peoples shall take them, and bring them to their place; and the house of Israel shall possess them in the land of Jehovah for servants and for handmaids: and they shall take them captive whose captives they were; and they shall rule over their oppressors. 3. And it shall come to pass in the day that Jehovah shall give thee rest from thy sorrow, and from thy trouble, and from the hard service wherein thou wast made to serve,"

"4. that thou shalt take up this parable against the king of Babylon, and say, How hath the oppressor ceased! the golden city ceased!"

"5. Jehovah hath broken the staff of the wicked, the sceptre of the rulers; 6. that smote the peoples in wrath with a continual stroke, that ruled the nations in anger, with a persecution that none restrained." (Isaiah 14:2-6, ASV)

WEB (WEB)

"2. The peoples will take them, and bring them to their place. The house of Israel will possess them in Yahweh’s land for servants and for handmaids. They will take as captives those whose captives they were; and they shall rule over their oppressors. 3. It will happen in the day that Yahweh will give you rest from your sorrow, from your trouble, and from the hard service in which you were made to serve,"

"4. that you will take up this parable against the king of Babylon, and say, “How the oppressor has ceased! The golden city has ceased!”"

"5. Yahweh has broken the staff of the wicked, the scepter of the rulers, 6. who struck the peoples in wrath with a continual stroke, who ruled the nations in anger, with a persecution that no one restrained." (Isaiah 14:2-6, WEB)

KJV (KJV)

"2. And the people shall take them, and bring them to their place: and the house of Israel shall possess them in the land of the LORD for servants and handmaids: and they shall take them captives, whose captives they were; and they shall rule over their oppressors. ^{whose: Heb. that had taken them captives} 3. And it shall come to pass in the day that the LORD shall give thee rest from thy sorrow, and from thy fear, and from the hard bondage wherein thou wast made to serve,"

"4. That thou shalt take up this proverb against the king of Babylon, and say, How hath the oppressor ceased! the golden city ceased! ^{proverb: or, taunting speech} ^{golden: or, exactress of gold}"

"5. The LORD hath broken the staff of the wicked, and the sceptre of the rulers. 6. He who smote the people in wrath with a continual stroke, he that ruled the nations in anger, is persecuted, and none hindereth. ^{a continual: Heb. a stroke without removing}" (Isaiah 14:2-6, KJV)

YLT (YLT)

"2. And peoples have taken them, And have brought them in unto their place, And the house of Israel have inherited them, On the land of Jehovah, For men-servants and for maid-servants, And they have been captors of their captors, And have ruled over their exactors. 3. And it hath come to pass, In the day of Jehovah's giving rest to thee, From thy grief, and from thy trouble, And from the sharp bondage, That hath been served upon thee,"

"4. That thou hast taken up this simile Concerning the king of Babylon, and said, How hath the exactor ceased,"

"5. Ceased hath the golden one. Broken hath Jehovah the staff of the wicked, The sceptre of rulers. 6. He who is smiting peoples in wrath, A smiting without intermission, He who is ruling in anger nations, Pursuing without restraint!" (Isaiah 14:2-6, YLT)

Setting

Speaker: TBD
Audience: TBD
Location: TBD
Time period: TBD

Theological reading

Patristic / early-church-father exegesis, to be added.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word; see Lexicon Roadmap.

TBD
TBD
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Quoted in

The Devil

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.