Isaiah 14:11
in Isaiah 14Your pomp has been brought down to Sheol, along with the music of your harps. Maggots are your bed and worms your blanket.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Thy pomp is brought down to Sheol, and the noise of thy viols: the worm is spread under thee, and worms cover thee.
KJV
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.
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This verse in Isaiah 14
Commentary
13 notes on this verse(Verse 11) The pride, or your glory, has been taken down to the underworld, and your corpse has fallen, or as the LXX translated, your great joy, with which you used to rejoice over the nations subject to you. Under you shall be strewn putrefaction, and worms shall be your covering. This is the resting place of the devil, this is the bed of the tempter, who was raised up in such pride that he dared even to tempt the Lord, saying: 'All these things I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.' (Matth. IV, 9).
This site's exposition
Sheol beneath is eager to meet
on Isaiah 14:9-11
Sheol is personified, stirring the dead and raising kings from their thrones to greet the fallen tyrant with mockery. Their words, "You too have become weak, as we are," turn welcome into insult. Maggots for a bed and worms for a blanket replace the pomp and harps of his court.
This site's exposition
Your pomp has been brought down to Sheol
Wesley connects the harps with Belshazzar's feast in Daniel 5. That was the night the city was taken. Henry draws the lesson that vain pomp goes to the grave with the body, while true glory goes up with the soul.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
(Verses 10, 11.) And you have been wounded as we, you have become like us: your pride has been brought down to the grave: your body has fallen, tinea will spread beneath you, and worms will cover you. The speech of the powerful and the princes of the earth, whom he called higher than cedars and fir trees, is directed to the king of Babylon who is established in the depths. Now we do not grieve to have been cut down, since you also fall by the same axe. All your power, and the pride raised to the heavens, has been brought down to earth. Therefore, shall I support your corpse in my hand, and cover it with a multitude of swarming worms? You will feel through the death of a man the worthlessness, who preferred the power of God in you.
The Medieval Church1 voice
Then as to the humiliation of the dead man, both in soul, your pride is brought down to hell, and in body, your carcass of death is fallen down; then also as to the affliction of the dead man in hell: under you shall the …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
Thy pomp - All thy glory is buried with thee. Viols - All thy musical instruments, which were much used in Babylon, and were doubtless used in Belshazzar's solemn feasts, Dan. v, 1, at which time the city was taken; to which possibly the prophet here alludes.
Did ever any man fall from such a height of honour and power into such an abyss of shame and misery?" This has been commonly alluded to (and it is a mere allusion) to illustrate the fall of the angels, who were as morning stars ( Job xxxviii.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens+odd-straight-quotes
He affected to appear in the utmost magnificence. But that was not the worst: it was the temper of his mind, and the elevation of that, that ripened him for ruin (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
5 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
), that is, it perishes with him; the pomp of his life shall not, as usual, end in a funeral pomp. True glory (that is, true grace) will go up with the soul to heaven, but vain pomp will go down with the body to the grave: there is an end of it.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
Thy pomp is brought down to the grave,....
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Thy pomp - Thy magnificence (see the note at Isa 5:14). The noise of thy viols - Instruments of music were often used in their feasts; and the meaning here is, that instead of being surrounded with splendor, and the instruments of music, the monarch was now brought down to the corruption and stillness of the grave. The instrument referred to by the word ‘viol’ (נבל nēbel, plur. נבלים nebalı̂ym, Greek νάβλα nabla, Latin nablium), was a stringed instrument usually with twelve strings, and played by the pecten or by the hand (see the notes and illustrations on Isa 5:12).
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
THE JEWS ADDRESS HIM AGAIN AS A FALLEN ONCE-BRIGHT STAR. The language is so framed as to apply to the Babylonian king primarily, and at the same time to shadow forth through him, the great final enemy, the man of sin, Antichrist, of Daniel, St. Paul, and St. John; he alone shall fulfil exhaustively all the lineaments here given.
Cover thee “Thy covering” - Twenty-eight MSS. (ten ancient) of Kennicott’s, thirty-nine of De Rossi’s, twelve editions, with the Septuagint and Vulgate, read ומכסך umechassecha, in the singular number.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
the stirring of your psalteries The psalteries and harps that used to play before you.
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
Have you too become weak like us We are amazed how the misfortune has fallen upon you, that you too have become weak, to be like us, to die.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 4 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
10 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| הוּרַ֥ד | hurad | it has been brought down | H3381 → | 381 times |
| שְׁא֛וֹל | sheol | Sheol | H7585 → | 66 times |
| גְּאוֹנֶ֖ךָ | geonekha | pride your | H1347 → | 49 times |
| הֶמְיַ֣ת | hemyat | [the] sound of | H1998 → | |
| נְבָלֶ֑יךָ | nevaleikha | lyres your | H5035 → | 38 times |
| תַּחְתֶּ֙יךָ֙ | tachteikha | under you | H8478 → | 505 times |
| יֻצַּ֣ע | yutza' | it is spread as a bed | H3331 → | |
| רִמָּ֔ה | rimah | maggot[s] | H7415 → | |
| וּמְכַסֶּ֖יךָ | umekhaseikha | and coverings your | H4374 → | |
| תּוֹלֵעָֽה׃ | toleah | [are] worm[s] | H8438 → | 43 times |
הוּרַ֥דit has been brought down
huradH3381 →381 times
שְׁא֛וֹלSheol
sheolH7585 →66 times
גְּאוֹנֶ֖ךָpride your
geonekhaH1347 →49 times
הֶמְיַ֣ת[the] sound of
hemyatH1998 →
נְבָלֶ֑יךָlyres your
nevaleikhaH5035 →38 times
תַּחְתֶּ֙יךָ֙under you
tachteikhaH8478 →505 times
יֻצַּ֣עit is spread as a bed
yutza'H3331 →
רִמָּ֔הmaggot[s]
rimahH7415 →
וּמְכַסֶּ֖יךָand coverings your
umekhaseikhaH4374 →
תּוֹלֵעָֽה׃[are] worm[s]
toleahH8438 →43 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Isaiah 66:24“As they go forth, they will see the corpses of the men who have rebelled against Me; for their worm will never die, their fire will never be quenched, and they will be a…
it leads to
- Revelation 14:10–11
he too will drink the wine of God’s anger, poured undiluted into the cup of His wrath. And he will be tormented in fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and…
- Daniel 12:2
And many who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake, some to everlasting life, but others to shame and everlasting contempt.
- 1 Thessalonians 2:15–16
who killed both the Lord Jesus and their own prophets, and drove us out as well. They are displeasing to God and hostile to all men,
- Revelation 21:8
But to the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and sexually immoral and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their place will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur. This…
- Psalms 58:10–11
The righteous will rejoice when they see they are avenged; they will wash their feet in the blood of the wicked.
- Revelation 14:10–11
Through
Isaiah 22:2O city of commotion, O town of revelry? Your slain did not die by the sword, nor were they killed in battle.
it leads to
- Isaiah 32:13
and for the land of my people, overgrown with thorns and briers—even for every house of merriment in this city of revelry.
- Isaiah 32:13
Through
Ezekiel 26:13So I will silence the sound of your songs, and the music of your lyres will no longer be heard.
it leads to
- Isaiah 23:16
“Take up your harp, stroll through the city, O forgotten harlot. Make sweet melody, sing many a song, so you will be remembered.”
- Jeremiah 7:34
I will remove from the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem the sounds of joy and gladness and the voices of the bride and bridegroom, for the land will become a wasteland.”
- Isaiah 23:16
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies6
On this verse
About Isaiah
This page draws on 10 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Isaiah; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Joseph Addison Alexander, Commentary on the Prophecies of Isaiah; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Isaiah.