Book of Isaiah Chapter 14 Vs. 6

Israel's Remnant Taunts Babylon

 

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.

He who smote...

נָכָה

nāḵāh

A verb meaning to beat, to strike, to wound. There are many instances of striking physically (Exo. 21:15, 21:19; Job 16:10; Psm. 3:7,8; Song 5:7). This word is also used in a different sense, as when the men of Sodom and Gomorrah were stricken blind by the two angels (Gen. 19:11); when a priest stuck a fork into the kettle (1Sam. 2:14); when people clapped their hands (2Kgs. 11:12); or when people verbally abused Jeremiah (Jer. 18:18). God struck the Egyptians with plagues (Exo. 3:20); and struck people down in judgment (Isa. 5:25).

the people...

עַ ם

‛am, עָ ם

‛ām

A masculine noun meaning a people, peoples, people of the land, citizens. The word is used over nineteen hundred times to indicate groups of people that can be categorized in various ways. The largest group of people is the one comprising the whole earth (see Gen. 11:1); it constituted one people (Gen. 11:6); who shared a common language (Gen. 11:6; Eze. 3:5); a common location (see Gen. 11:2); and a common purpose and goal (see Gen. 11:4). However, the Lord scattered the group and brought about multiple languages, thereby producing many groups who would then develop into new peoples united around common languages, including common ancestors, religious beliefs, traditions, and ongoing blood relationships.

The word is used to describe various groups that developed. The people of the sons of Israel (Exo. 1:9; Ezra 9:1), was a term referring to all Israel. The people of Judah were a subgroup of Israel (2Sam. 19:40,41), as was northern Israel (2Kgs. 9:6). The people of Israel as a whole could be described in religious or moral terms as a holy, special people (Deut. 7:6; 14:2; Dan. 8:24); or the Lord's inheritance (Deut. 4:20). Above all, they were to be the Lord's people (Jdg. 5:11; 1Sam. 2:24); and the people of God (2Sam. 14:13). They were the Lord's own people because He had rescued them from slavery to Pharaoh and his gods (Exo. 6:7). But the Lord Himself characterized His people as stiff-necked (Exo. 32:9; 33:3; 34:9; Deut. 9:13). To be a member of the Lord's people was to have the Lord as one's God (Ruth 1:16); if God's people rejected the Lord, they ceased to be His people. Therefore, it is clear that God's presence and ownership of His people gave them their identity (Exo. 33:13, 33:16; Hos. 1:9; cf. Deut. 32:21).

In the plural form, the word refers to many peoples or nations. Jeru-salem, destroyed and lamenting, called for the people of the world to look on it and its guilt (Lam. 1:18). Israel was chosen from among all the peoples of the earth (Exo. 19:5, 19:7; Deut. 14:2). The Lord is in control of all the plans of the nations and peoples (Psm. 33:10). The word is used in parallel with gôyim. Isaac prayed for Jacob's offspring to become a community of peoples that would include the twelve tribes of Israel (Gen. 28:3).

The word described people in general that is, nonethnic or national groups. It refers to all the people as individuals in the world (Isa. 42:5). When persons died, they were gathered to their people (Gen. 25:8, 25:17). It also referred to people from a particular city (Ruth 4:9; 2Chr. 32:18); or people from a specific land (e.g., Canaan Zeph. 1:11). Centuries earlier, Pharaoh referred to the Hebrews living in Egypt under slavery as the people of the land (Exo. 5:5). This phrase could refer to the population at large in Solomon's time and later (2Kgs. 11:14, 11:18; 15:5); or to the population of Canaan in Abraham's time (Gen. 23:7).

The term also depicted foreign peoples and nations. The Moabites were the people of the god Chemosh (Num. 21:29). The word designated foreigners in general as strange or alien people (Exo. 21:8); the people of Egypt were considered the people of Pharaoh (Exo. 1:9, 1:22).

The word is even used to describe a gathering of ants (Prov. 30:25); or rock badgers (Prov. 30:26).

in wrath...

עֶבְרָה

‛eḇrāh

A feminine noun meaning wrath, fury. The word is derived from the word ‛āḇar (H5674) and thus implies an overflowing anger. When the word is used of people, it usually describes a fault of character, a cruel anger (Gen. 49:7; Amos 1:11); associated with pride (Prov. 21:24; Isa. 16:6). The wrath of a king toward shameful servants, however, is justifiable, representing God's anger (Prov. 14:35, cf. Prov. 14:34; Rom. 13:4). The word most often signifies God's wrath, an attribute people generally fail to properly appreciate (Psm. 90:11). God's wrath disregards a person's wealth (Prov. 11:4); and brings fiery judgment, purging the sin of His people (Eze. 22:21, cf. Eze. 22:22); and ultimately bringing wickedness and wicked people to an end on earth (Zeph. 1:15, 1:18). The instrument of wrath is sometimes pictured as a rod (Prov. 22:8; Lam. 3:1).

with a continual stroke...

סָרָה

sārāh

A feminine noun meaning a defection, a revolt, an apostasy. Derived from a verb that means to turn aside, this term refers to God's people turning away from Him to follow false gods (Deut. 13:5,6). Frequently, it describes those who chose to rebel against God (Isa. 1:5; 31:6; 59:13; Jer. 28:16; 29:32). Although some translations of this term in Deuteronomy 19:16 suggest it simply means a general offense, its use elsewhere in Deuteronomy and the rest of the Old Testament indicates that this word refers to apostasy.

מַכָּה

makkāh

A feminine noun meaning a blow, a stroke. When the word carries this literal sense, often a weapon (sword, rod, whip) functions as the instrument by which the blow is delivered. The individual judged to be in the wrong in a legal case could receive as punishment a beating of up to forty blows or lashes (Deut. 25:3). In accordance with the royal edict decreed in the name of Xerxes, King of Persia, the Jews struck down their enemies with the blow of the sword (Est. 9:5). The Lord declared to Israel and Judah that He had dealt them their blows because their guilt was so great (Jer. 30:14). Elsewhere, the term signifies the result of a blow: a wound. King Joram rested in Jezreel to recover from wounds incurred in battle against the Arameans (2Kgs. 9:15). In another battle, King Ahab died of a wound, having been pierced by an arrow (1Kgs. 22:35; cf. Isa. 1:6; Jer. 6:7; 30:17; Mic. 1:9). In other passages, the word described calamities inflicted by God: affliction, misery, and plague. The Lord solemnly warned Israel that failing to diligently obey His commands would result in His overwhelming them with severe and lasting afflictions (Deut. 28:59, 28:61). The Philistines remembered that the God of the Hebrews struck the Egyptians with all kinds of miseries (1Sam. 4:8; cf. Jer. 10:19, 49:17). Finally, the term can convey the sense of defeat or slaughter. Joshua and his fighting men handed the Amorites a great defeat at Gibeon (Jos. 10:10; cf. 10:20). Samson took revenge on the Philistines, killing many in a terrible slaughter because they had burned his wife and father-in-law (Jdg. 15:8; cf. Jdg. 11:33; 1Sam. 4:10; 14:14). This noun is related to the verb nāḵāh.

he that ruled...

רָדָה

rāḏāh

A verb meaning to rule, to have dominion, to subjugate. This Hebrew word conveys the notion of exercising domain, whether legitimate or not, over those who are powerless or otherwise under one's control. It is related as the exercise of authority by the priesthood (Jer. 5:31); by slave owners over their slaves (Lev. 25:43); by supervisors over their workers (1Kgs. 9:23); and by a king over his kingdom (1Kgs. 4:24; 5:4). Theologically significant is the use of this word to identify people's God-ordained relationship to the created world around them (Gen. 1:26, 1:28).

the nations...

גּוֹי

gôy, גּוֹיִם

gôyim, הַגּוֹיִם

hāggôyim

A masculine noun meaning nation, people, Gentiles, country. The word is used to indicate a nation or nations in various contexts and settings: it especially indicates the offspring of Abraham that God made into a nation (Gen. 12:2) and thereby set the stage for Israel's appearance in history as a nation (Gen. 18:18; Psm. 106:5). Israel was to be a holy nation (Exo. 19:6). Even the descendants of Abraham that did not come from the seed of Isaac would develop into nations (Gen. 21:13). God can create a nation, even a holy nation like Israel, through the descendants of the person whom He chooses, as He nearly does in the case of Moses when Israel rebels (Exo. 32:10). Edom refers to Israel and Judah as two separate nations (Eze. 35:10), but God planned for them to be united forever into one nation (Eze. 37:22). Then they would become the head of the nations (Deut. 28:12). In this overall literary, theological, and historical context, it is clear that Israel would share common ancestors, and would have a sufficient increase in numbers to be considered a nation. It would have a common place of habitation and a common origin, not only in flesh and blood, but in their religious heritage. It would share a common history, culture, society, religious worship, and purposes for the present and the future.

This noun is used to mean nations other than Israel as well; pagan, Gentile, or heathen nations (Exo. 9:24; 34:10; Eze. 5:6-8), for all the earth and all the nations belong to God (cf. Exo. 19:5). Israel was to keep herself from the false religions, unclean practices, and views of these nations (Ezra 6:21). In the plural, the noun may indicate the generic humankind (Isa. 42:6). In a few instances, the word refers to a group of people rather than to a nation (2Kgs. 6:18; Psm. 43:1; Isa. 26:2), although the exact translation is difficult in these cases.

The word is used in a figurative sense to refer to animals or insects, such as in Joel 1:6 where it depicts locusts.

in anger...

אַף

’ap̱

A masculine noun meaning nose, nostril, and anger. These meanings are used together in an interesting wordplay in Prov. 30:33. This word may, by extension, refer to the whole face, particularly in the expression, to bow one's face to the ground (Gen. 3:19; 19:1; 1Sam. 24:8,9). To have length of nose is to be slow to wrath; to have shortness of nose is to be quick tempered (Prov. 14:17, 14:29; Jer. 15:14-15). This Hebrew term is often intensified by being paired with another word for anger or by associating it with various words for burning (Num. 22:27; Deut. 9:19; Jer. 4:8; 7:20). Human anger is almost always viewed negatively with only a few possible exceptions (Exo. 32:19; 1Sam. 11:6; Prov. 27:4). The anger of the Lord is a frequent topic in the Old Testament. The Old Testament describes how God is reluctant to exercise His anger and how fierce His anger is (Exo. 4:14; 34:6; Psm. 30:5,6; 78:38; Jer. 51:45).

is persecuted...

מֻרְדָּף

murdāp̱

A masculine noun indicating persecution, aggression. It is used of Babylon's political and military aggression, pressure, and violence on other nations (Isa. 14:6).

and none...

בְּלִי

b^eliy

A negative particle meaning not, without. It is used as a noun with a negative implication often meaning destruction, failure (Psm. 72:7; Isa. 38:17). More often it negates something by interjecting the idea of without, defective: without a name, nameless (Job 30:8); without a place, last place (Isa. 28:8); and often with the meaning without: without water (Job 8:11); without clothing, naked (Job. 24:10); without knowledge (Job 35:16; 42:3). It is used to negate an idea put forth in an adjective or participle of a verb (2Sam. 1:21; Psm. 19:3,4).

A preposition may be prefixed to beliy to mean without (Job 35:16; 36:12, without knowledge; Isa. 5:14; Jer. 2:15). With the preposition min (H4480) prefixed, this combination expresses causation, because, since (Deut. 9:28; 28:55). Sometimes the same construction means for lack of or for want of (Isa. 5:13; Eze. 34:5; Hos. 5:6). The Lord's people are being destroyed for lack of knowledge (Hos. 4:6). This combination functions with a following ’^ašer and as a conjunction meaning so that not . . . (Ecc. 3:11). Very rarely, it is used to negate a finite verb form (Gen. 31:20; Isa. 32:10; Job 41:26,18).

hindereth...

חָשַׂךּ

ḥāśaḵ

A verb indicating to hold back, to spare, to withhold; to keep from doing something. It means to hold something back, to retain: it is used of Abraham's not withholding Isaac from possible sacrifice (Gen. 22:12); of a parent sparing the rod in discipline (Prov. 13:24); to keep a person from something, such as God keeping Abimelech from sinning (Gen. 20:6); of the Lord's keeping David from killing Nabal (1Sam. 25:39); of Joab holding back the people in battle pursuit (2Sam. 18:16); of restraining one's speech and keeping one's mouth shut (Job 7:11; Prov. 10:19; 17:27); of refraining from something (Isa. 54:2; 58:1); or of sparing or holding back one's hand from a person such as Namaan (2Kgs. 5:20). It takes on the idea of treasuring up or holding something in reserve (Job 38:23). In its passive use, it refers to something being spared (Job 16:6; 21:30). It is used in a figurative sense of not wandering into error both physically and spiritually by keeping one's feet in check (Jer. 14:10).

Again, The one whose fury (Isa. 14:4; cf. Isa. 14:6) would end is the oppressor who had struck down peoples and aggressively subdued nations.