Isaiah 14:20

20 You won't join them in burial, for you destroyed your own land; you killed your own people. Such evil offspring will never be mentioned again!

Isaiah 14:20 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 14:20

Thou shall not be joined with them in burial
The kings before mentioned; not that the sense is that he should not be interred in the same place they were, or lie in the same stately monuments they did, for that was never designed by him or others; but that he should not be buried in like manner, be embalmed as they, or have odours burned for him, or lie in such state and pomp, or have a "pyramid" or "mausoleum", or any rich monument, erected over him; unless this can be understood of his ancestors, the kings that were before him; and the sense be, that he should not have a burial with the kings of Babylon, or be inferred where they were, but, as before said, should be cast out, or be kept from the place of sepulture. The Targum is,

``thou shall not be as one of them in the grave;''

shall not be like them, or equal to them, in the glory and pomp of a funeral, not having the same funeral rites; obsequies, and ornaments they have had. So the whore of Rome shall have no funeral, but the kings of the earth will eat her flesh, and burn her with fire ( Revelation 17:16 ) , because thou hast destroyed thy land;
not only other lands and nations, but also his own, and the inhabitants of it, by his tyrannical government, by levies and exactions, by mulcts and fines, on various pretences: or, "hast corrupted, thy land" ^F7; which phrase is used of mystical Babylon, ( Revelation 19:2 ) see also ( Revelation 11:18 ) whose land or earth is the whole Romish jurisdiction, corrupted by her idolatries, and wasted and destroyed by the various methods used to drain away the substance thereof: [and] slain thy people;
put them to death at pleasure, without any just cause, for trifling matters; which is often done by arbitrary princes. Jarchi and Kimchi apply this to Nebuchadnezzar's slaying the wise men of Babylon, because they could not tell him his dream, and the interpretation of it. It is true of antichrist slaying such, that would not worship his image, and receive his mark, ( Revelation 13:10 Revelation 13:15 ) . The seed of evildoers shall never be renowned;
or, "not for ever"; though they may have a name, and be very famous for a while, yet not always; in process of time their honour is laid in the dust; or, "shall not be called for ever" ^F8; their name and their memory shall not always last; their name shall be cut off, and their memory shall rot; they shall have none to keep up their name, and they shall not be spoken of with respect; such a seed of evildoers were Belshazzar and his family, who descended from Nebuchadnezzar and Evilmerodach, and were at once extinct, as follows:

---

FOOTNOTES:

F7 (txv Kura) "terram tuam corrupisti", Montanus, Cocceius, Junius, Tremellius, Piscator.
F8 (Mlwel arqy al) "non nominabitur in seculum", Forerius; "vocabitur", Pagninus, Montanus, Munster.

Isaiah 14:20 In-Context

18 All the kings of the nations lie down honored, all of them, each in his own tomb.

19 But you are cast away from your own grave like a rejected branch, covered by the dead and those pierced by the sword— who go down to the stony pit— like a trampled corpse.

20 You won't join them in burial, for you destroyed your own land; you killed your own people. Such evil offspring will never be mentioned again!

21 Prepare a place to slaughter his sons for the guilt of their father. Don't let them arise to take over the earth or fill the world with cities.

22 I will arise against them, says the LORD of heavenly forces. I will cut off Babylon's renown and remnant, offshoot and offspring.