But thou art cast out of thy grave like an abominable branch, [and as] the raiment of those that are slain, thrust through with a sword, that go down to the stones of the pit; as a carcass trodden under feet.
19. cast out of thy grave ] Better as in R.V., cast forth away from thy sepulchre, i.e. flung out unburied. The idea that the body had been disinterred is inconsistent with Isa 14:20.
like an abominable branch ] A worthless scion of the family.
and as the raiment of those that are slain ] Render as R.V. clothed with (i.e. “surrounded by”) the slain, on the field of battle.
that go down to the stones of the pit ] A difficult expression. In its present position it is most naturally understood of the hasty and ignominious burial of a dead enemy by casting stones on the body (cf. 2Sa 18:17). The rhythm, however, demands a short line at this point, and this phrase is much too long. Hence some propose to transfer the words to the beginning of Isa 14:20, where they would open a new strophe, thus:
“Those that are buried in graves of stone, with them shalt thou not be united in sepulture.”
On this view they must be a synonym for honourable sepulture, and the “stones of the pit” would denote stone-built tombs. This seems a less natural sense. A reference to the pit of Sheol ( Isa 14:15) is hardly to be expected in this place.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
But thou art cast out of thy grave – Thou art not buried like other kings in a magnificent sepulchre, but art cast out like the common dead. This was a mark of the highest infamy (see Isa 34:3; Eze 29:5; Jer 22:19). Nothing was considered more disgraceful than to be denied the privileges of an honorable burial (see the note at Isa 53:9). On the fulfillment of this prophecy, see the note at Isa 14:20.
As an abominable branch – ( kenetser nte‘ab). The Septuagint renders this, And thou shalt be cast upon the mountains as a dead body that is abominable, with many dead that are slain by the sword, descending to Hades. The Chaldee, And thou shalt be cast out of thy sepulchre as a branch that is hid. Lowth supposes that by abominable branch there is allusion to a tree on which a malefactor was hanged, that was regarded as detestable, and cursed. But there are obvious objections to this interpretation. One is, that the word branch (netser) is never applied to a tree. It means a shoot, a slip, a scion (note, Isa 11:1). Another objection is, that there seems here to be no necessary allusion to such a tree; or to anything that would lead to it. Jerome says, that the word netser denotes a shoot or sucker that starts up at the root of a plant or tree, and that is useless to the farmer, and which he therefore cuts off. So, says he, the king of Babylon shall be cast off – as the farmer throws away the useless sucker. This is probably the correct idea. The word abominable means, therefore, not only that which is useless, but indicates that the shoot or sucker is troublesome to the farmer. It is an object that he hates, and which he gets clear of as soon as possible. So the king of Babylon would be cast out as useless, hateful, abominable; to be thrown away, as the noxious shoot is, as unfit for use, and unworthy to be preserved.
As the raiment of those that are slain – As a garment that is all defiled with gore, and that is cast away and left to rot. The garments of those slain in battle, covered with blood and dirt, would be cast away as polluted and worthless, and so would be the king of Babylon. Among the Hebrews such garments were regarded with special abhorrence (Rosenmuller); perhaps from the dread which they had of touching a dead body, and of course of anything that was found on a dead body.
Thrust through with a sword – That is, the slain thrust through. The effect of this was to pollute the garment with blood, and to render it useless.
That go down to the stones of the pit – The pit here means the grave or sepulchre Isa 14:15. The phrase stones of the pit, conveys the idea that the grave or sepulchre was usually either excavated from the solid rock, or constructed of stones. The idea is simply, that those who were slain with the sword were buried in the usual manner, though their bloody garments defiled were cast away. But the king of Babylon should not have even the honor of such a burial as was given to those who fell in battle.
As a carcase trodden under foot – Unburied; as the body of a brute that is exposed to the air, and denied the honor of a sepulchre.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 19. Like an abominable branch – “Like the tree abominated”] That is, as an object of abomination and detestation; such as the tree is on which a malefactor has been hanged. “It is written,” saith St. Paul, Ga 3:13, “Cursed is every man that hangeth on a tree,” from De 21:23. The Jews therefore held also as accursed and polluted the tree itself on which a malefactor had been executed, or on which he had been hanged after having been put to death by stoning. “Non suspendunt super arbore, quae radicibus solo adhaereat; sed super ligno eradicato, ut ne sit excisio molesta: nam lignum, super quo fuit aliquis suspensus, cum suspendioso sepelitur; ne maneat illi malum nomen, et dicant homines, Istud est lignum, in quo suspensus est ille, . Sic lapis, quo aliquis fuit lapidatus; et gladius, quo fuit occisus is qui est occisus; et sudarium sive mantile, quo fuit aliquis strangulates; omnia haec cum iis, qui perierunt, sepeliuntur.” Maimonides, apud Casaub. in Baron. Exercitat. xvi. An. 34, Num. 134. “Cum itaque homo suspensu maximae esset abominationi – Judaei quoque prae caeteris abominabantur lignum quo fuerat suspensus, ita ut illud quoque terra tegerent, tanquam rem abominabilem. Unde interpres Chaldaeus haec verba transtulit kechat temir, sicut virgultum absconditum, sive sepultum.” Kalinski, Vaticinta Observationibus Illustrata, p. 342.
“The Jews never hang any malefactor upon a tree that is growing in the earth, but upon a post fixed in the ground, that it might never be said, ‘That is the tree on which such a one was hanged;’ for custom required that the tree should be buried with the malefactor. In like manner the stone by which a criminal was stoned to death, or the sword by which he was beheaded, or the napkin or handkerchief by which he was strangled, should be buried with him in the same grave.” “For as the hanged man was considered the greatest abomination, so the very post or wood on which he was hanged was deemed a most abominable thing, and therefore buried under the earth.”
Agreeably to which Theodoret, Hist. Ecclesiast. i. 17, 18, in his account of the finding of the cross by Helena, says, “That the three crosses were buried in the earth near the place of our Lord’s sepulchre.” And this circumstance seems to confirm the relation of the discovery of the cross of Christ. The crosses were found where the custom required they should be buried.
The raiment of those that are slain – “Clothed with the slain”] Thirty-five MSS., (ten ancient,) and three editions, have the word fully written, lebush. It is not a noun, but the participle passive; thrown out among the common slain and covered with the dead bodies. So Isa 14:11, the earth-worm is said to be his bed-covering. This reading is confirmed by two ancient MSS. in my own collection.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Cast out of thy grave; or, cast from thy grave or burying place; which very probably happened to Belshazzar, who was slain in the night, Dan 5:30, when his people had neither opportunity nor heart to bestow an honourable interment upon him, and the conquerors would not suffer them to do it.
Like an abominable branch; like a useless and rotten twig of a tree, which he that pruneth the trees cutteth off, and casteth away with abhorrency, and suffers to lie rotting more and more upon the ground; or, like a degenerate plant of a noble vine, which is abominable.
As the raiment of those that are slain; which, being cut and mangled, and besmeared with mire, and defiled with blood, was cast away with contempt, and abominated as an unclean thing, as it was in divers respects, in that age and state of the church.
That go down to the stones of the pit; which persons being slain, they, together with their garments, are cast into some pit. He saith, to the stones of the pit, either because such bodies are commonly thrown into the next pits, and pits were frequently made by digging stones out of their quarries; or because there usually are a great number of stones in the bottoms of pits, either naturally, or being cast in thither upon, divers occasions; and when dead bodies are cast in thither, men use to throw a heap of stones upon them.
As a carcass trodden under feet; neglected, like such a carcass. Or this might literally happen to Belshazzars dead body, through military fury and contempt, or from other causes.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
19. cast out ofnot that hehad lain in the grave and was then cast out of it, but”cast out without a grave,” such as might havebeen expected by thee (“thy”).
brancha useless suckerstarting up from the root of a tree, and cut away by the husbandman.
raiment of those . . .slaincovered with gore, and regarded with abhorrence asunclean by the Jews. Rather, “clothed (that is, covered)with the slain”; as in Job7:5, “My flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dust”[MAURER].
thrust throughthat is,”the slain who have been thrust through,” &c.
stones of . . . pitwhosebodies are buried in sepulchres excavated amidst stones, whereas theking of Babylon is an unburied “carcass trodden underfoot.”
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
But thou art cast out of thy grave,…. Or rather “from” it d; that is, he was not suffered to be put into it, or to have a burial, as the following words show, at least not to be laid in the grave designed for him; though the Jews e, who apply this to Nebuchadnezzar, have a fabulous story that he was taken out of his grave by his son, to confirm this prophecy; and which their commentators, Aben Ezra, Jarchi, Kimchi, and Abendana, tell in this manner: that when Nebuchadnezzar was driven from men, and was with the beasts of the field for seven years, the people made his son Evilmerodach king; but when Nebuchadnezzar came to his right mind, and returned to his palace at Babylon, and found his son upon the throne, he put him in prison, where he lay till Nebuchadnezzar died, when the people took him out to make him king; but he refused to be king, saying, he did not believe his father was dead; and that if he should come again, as before, and find him, he would kill him; upon which they took him out of his grave, to show him that he was dead: but the sense here is not that the king of Babylon should be taken out of his grave, after he was laid in it, but that he should be hindered from being put into it; which very likely was the case of Belshazzar.
Like an abominable branch; cut off from a tree as useless and hurtful, and cast upon the ground, where it lies and rots, and is good for nothing, neither for fuel, nor anything else, but is neglected and despised of all:
[and as] the raiment of those that are slain; in battle, which being rolled in blood, nobody cares to take up and wear, nor even touch; for such persons were accounted unclean by the ceremonial law, and by the touch of them uncleanness was contracted; and perhaps with a view to this the simile is used, to express the very mean and abject condition this monarch should be in:
thrust through with a sword; which was added for explanation sake, to show in which way the persons were slain whose raiment is referred to; the clothes of such being stained with blood, when those that died by other means might not have their raiment so defiled. The word f rendered “thrust through”, is only used in this place, and in
Ge 45:17 where it is rendered “lade”, or put on a burden; but, as the several Jewish commentators before mentioned observe g, in the Arabic language it signifies to pierce or thrust through with sword or spear, and so it is used in the Arabic version of Joh 19:34:
that go down to the stones of the pit; into which dead bodies after a battle are usually cast, and which have often stones at the bottom; and into which being cast, stones are also thrown over them:
as a carcass trodden underfoot; which is frequently the case of those that fall in battle; and very probably was the case of Belshazzar, when slain by the Chaldeans, whose body in a tumult might be neglected and trodden upon, and afterwards have no other burial than that of a common soldier in a pit; and instead of having a sepulchral monument erected over him, as kings used to have, had nothing but a heap of stones thrown upon him.
d “a sepulchro tuo”, Gataker. e Seder Olam Rabba c. 28. fol. 81. f Strong’s Concondance assigns two numbers to this word, 02943 and 02944. The word is the same in the Hebrew, differing only in the tense. This case is a Pual and the one in Genesis is a Qal. Wigrim’s Englishman’s Hebrew Concondance also has them in separate categories. There appears to be no good reason for this. Editor. g “confodit cum instrumentis, hasta, gladiis”, Castel. col. 1546. So it is used in the Arabic version of Lam. iv. 9. and in the Chaldee language it signifies to pierce through and wound; as in the Targum on Jer. li. 4.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
19. But thou art cast out of thy grave like an abominable branch. He shows that the kings of Babylon will be loaded with such disgrace, that they will even be cast out of the sepulcher which they possessed by inheritance, and will exhibit a disgraceful spectacle. It may be asked, Is it of so great value in the sight of God to be buried with our fathers, that to be deprived of it should be reckoned a punishment and a curse? I answer, he does not here speak of the grave, as if it were necessary for salvation; but it ought justly to be reckoned disgraceful to be denied burial. And first, we ought to consider why burial has been so highly valued among all nations. This undoubtedly arose from the patriarchs, whose bodies the Lord commanded to be buried in the hope of the last resurrection. The carcases of beasts are cast out, because they are only fit for rotting; but ours are laid in the earth, that being kept there, they may await the last day, when they shall rise to enjoy a blessed and immortal life in union with the soul.
Various superstitions have arisen as to the interment of bodies. This has undoubtedly been occasioned by the craftiness of Satan, who usually corrupts and perverts everything that is good and useful, for he devised innumerable contrivances by which he might dazzle the eyes of men. We need not wonder that the Jews had a great variety of ceremonies connected with this subject, and they cannot be blamed on account of it, for Christ had not yet been revealed, and consequently they had not so clear a revelation of the resurrection. But in our time the case is very different, for we plainly see the resurrection in Christ, and, every vail having now been removed, we behold clear promises which were more obscure to the Jews. If any one, therefore, were again to introduce and renew those ancient rites, he would undoubtedly darken the light, and, by putting a vail on Christ who has been revealed to us, would offer to him a high insult. Yet it is not useless to pay attention to burial, for it is the symbol of the last resurrection, which we still look for; but let there be no superstition and ostentatious display in funerals, which all godly persons ought to detest.
Now, if any one has been entirely deprived of burial, we must examine the cause. Many of the prophets, martyrs, and holy men have been deprived of it. We hear the Church bewailing that
the dead bodies of the servants of God have been thrown down to wild beasts and to the fowls of heaven, and that there is none to bury them, (Psa 79:2😉
and every day we see the servants of Christ burned, or drowned, or hanged; and yet their death is glorious and blessed in the sight of God. As the cross of Christ was blessed, so crosses, chains, prisons, and deaths, which are endured by his members, share in the same blessing, and far exceed the prosperity and trappings and splendor and majesty of kings, so that, following the example of Paul, they boldly venture even to glory in them. (Rom 5:3; 2Co 12:5; Gal 6:14.)
But as to those whom the Lord permits to remain unburied, when we see nothing else than a token of his anger, we must fall back on this statement and others of the same kind. For example, Jeremiah threatened Jehoiakim with the burial of an ass, because he deserved to be ranked with beasts rather than with men, who, even after death, are distinguished from beasts by being buried. Thus it was proper that the king of Babylon, who had exalted himself above all men, should be cast down below all men, so as even to be deprived of ordinary burial. Isaiah, therefore, foretells that he will not be buried in his own house, that is, in the sepulcher of his fathers, which came to him by inheritance; for we must not suppose that sepulchres were within houses. (226) The comparisons which are added express more strongly the disgrace which was due to that tyrant. As hurtful or useless trees are rooted out, so he shows that the king of Babylon does not deserve to have any place among men.
As the garments of those who are slain. They who fall in the field of battle are not buried in the ordinary way, but their bloody and stinking bodies are trodden down, and are thrown into a ditch along with their rotten garments, that they may not infect the air with their offensive smell; and no one deigns to touch the very garments defiled by mire and blood, lest he should be polluted by them. Which of the kings of Babylon it was that suffered this we cannot tell; but undoubtedly it was fulfilled.
(226) Bogus footnote
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(19) Like an abominable branch.The noun is the same as in Isa. 11:1; Isa. 60:21. The idea seems to be that of a scion or shoot which is mildewed and blasted, and which men fling away as loathsome.
As the raiment of those that are slain . . .The image reminds us of the garments rolled in blood of Isa. 9:5, gathered after the battle, and cast forth to be burnt. In such raiment, not in stately robes nor kingly grave-clothes, would the great ruler be found. To lie thus unburied, a prey to dogs and vultures (Homer, Iliad, i. 4), was, as with the Homeric heroes, the shame of all shames.
That go down to the stones of the pit.By some critics these words are joined with the following verse: Those that go down . . . with them thou shalt not be joined in burial, i.e., shalt have no proper sepulchre. As the passage stands, the stones of the pit represent the burial-place into which the carcases of the slain were indiscriminately thrown.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
19. Cast out of thy grave A neglected carcass, far from thy grandly-built sepulchre. How horrible the contrast in this case!
Abominable branch A shoot or branch cut off as an abhorred thing; cast away for burning.
Stones of the pit A place of burial either excavated or built up with stones. Even common soldiers, when slain, were not denied this.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Isa 14:19 But thou art cast out of thy grave like an abominable branch, [and as] the raiment of those that are slain, thrust through with a sword, that go down to the stones of the pit; as a carcase trodden under feet.
Ver. 19. But thou art cast out of thy grave, ] i.e., Cast out and kept from thy grave. a This befell Belshazzar upon the surprisal of the city. Dan 5:30 And the like also befell Alexander the Great dying at the same city; and our William the Conqueror, who having utterly sacked the city of Mants in France, and in the destruction thereof got his own, died shortly after at Rouen, where his corpse lay three days unburied – his interment being hindered by one that claimed the ground to be his. b
Like an abominable branch.
a Insepulta sepultura turpissime abiectus es. – Scult.
b Daniel’s History, 42, 50.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
cast out = flung out: out, or far away.
grave = sepulchre. Heb keber. See App-35.
abominable branch = a detested or despised scion.
that go down, &c. As those that go down . . . as, &c.
to. One school of Massorites reads “upon”, another reads “up to”.
stones. Cast upon those who were buried. No word has “evidently dropped out” of Isa 14:20; for Isa 14:19 does state that they were buried, but he was not.
pit = a rock-hewn burying place, as in Psa 28:1; Psa 30:3; Psa 88:5. Hebrew. bor. See note on Gen 21:19, showing the sense in which we are to understand Sheol in verses: Isa 11:15. Compare English word “bore. “Hebrew. bor rendered cistern, four times; dungeon, thirteen; fountain, one; well, nine; pit, thirty-nine times.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
thou: The prophet having briefly set forth, in the beginning of this chapter, the deliverance of Judah from captivity, in consequence of the destruction of Babylon, then introduces this triumphant song, the beauties of which are excellently illustrated by Bp. Lowth. 1Ki 21:19, 1Ki 21:24, 2Ki 9:25, 2Ki 9:34-36, Jer 8:1, Jer 8:2, Jer 16:6, Jer 22:19
go: Jer 41:7, Jer 41:9, Eze 32:23
Reciprocal: 1Ki 14:10 – as a man taketh Psa 63:9 – go Ecc 6:3 – and also Isa 13:15 – General Isa 18:6 – General Isa 25:5 – branch Isa 25:10 – even Isa 26:14 – and made Isa 34:3 – slain Jer 37:10 – wounded men Jer 51:4 – thrust Eze 16:6 – polluted Eze 32:4 – General Eze 32:27 – shall not Joh 15:6 – he Heb 10:29 – trodden
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
14:19 But thou art {m} cast out of thy grave like an abominable branch, [and as] the raiment of those that are slain, thrust through with a sword, that go down to the stones of the pit; as a carcase trodden under feet.
(m) You were not buried in the sepulchre of your fathers, your tyranny was so abhorred.