Isaiah 14:10

They will all respond to you, saying, “You too have become weak, as we are; you have become like us!”

Berean Standard Bible

Study note

Setting — The assembled kings and rulers of the nations in Sheol address the fallen earthly monarch after his descent to the realm of the dead. They speak from their thrones at the precise moment he arrives among them.

The words — חֻלֵּ֥יתָ (chu.Lei.ta) translates literally as “you have been made weak,” and כָמ֖וֹ/נוּ (kha.Mo./nu) means “like us.” These terms frame the king’s former dominance as now reduced to the common condition of the dead.

The thread — The collapse of human pride before mortality echoes in Psalms 49:6 and Psalms 49:20, which contrast reliance on wealth with the inevitability of perishing like beasts. The tension between claimed exalted status and actual mortality also surfaces in Psalms 82:6.

Why it lands — The text demands recognition that earthly power and wealth cannot prevent descent to the grave. It requires readers to abandon pride in temporary status and accept mortality as the universal equalizer.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.

The Hebrew words

כֻּלָּ֣םku.La/mall of/ them יַֽעֲנ֔וּya.'a.Nuthey will answer וְיֹאמְר֖וּve./yo.me.Ruand/ they may say אֵלֶ֑יךָ'e.Lei./khato/ you גַּם־gam-also אַתָּ֛ה'a.Tahyou חֻלֵּ֥יתָchu.Lei.tayou have been made weak כָמ֖וֹנוּkha.Mo./nulike/ us אֵלֵ֥ינוּ'e.Lei./nuto/ us נִמְשָֽׁלְתָּ׃nim.Shal.tayou have become like

King James Version

All they shall speak and say unto thee, Art thou also become weak as we? art thou become like unto us?

Cross-references

Psalms 49:6 They trust in their wealth and boast in their great riches.
Psalms 49:20 A man who has riches without understanding is like the beasts that perish.
Psalms 82:6 I have said, ‘You are gods; you are all sons of the Most High.’
Ecclesiastes 2:16 For there is no lasting remembrance of the wise, just as with the fool, seeing that both will be forgotten in the days to come. Alas, the wise man will die just like the fool!
Ezekiel 32:21 Mighty chiefs will speak from the midst of Sheol about Egypt and her allies: ‘They have come down and lie with the uncircumcised, with those slain by the sword.’
Luke 16:20 And a beggar named Lazarus lay at his gate, covered with sores