Bible Strands
Isaiah 14:19
But you are cast out of your grave like a rejected branch, covered by those slain with the sword, and dumped into a rocky pit like a carcass trampled underfoot.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The prophet addresses a specific Babylonian ruler, contrasting his fate with the honored burials of other nations' kings described in the preceding verse. This pronouncement follows a taunt against the fallen monarch and immediately precedes a declaration that his offspring will never be remembered.
The words — The Hebrew verb הָשְׁלַכְתָּ (ha.she.Lakh.ta) literally means "you have been thrown out," paired with נִתְעָב (nit.'Av), meaning "abhorred" or "rejected." These terms frame the ruler's disgrace as a physical expulsion from the tomb alongside a despised branch.
The thread — The imagery of bodies discarded in pits and cisterns appears in Jeremiah 41:7 and Jeremiah 41:9, where slain men are thrown into a large cistern. The theme of dishonorable disposal for violent rulers also echoes the judgment pronounced in 1 Kings 21:19.
Why it lands — The text demands recognition that political power and military conquest cannot secure honor after death. It requires the reader to accept that divine judgment reverses earthly prestige into complete dishonor.
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
King James Version
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.
Cross-references
- Jeremiah 41:7 And when they came into the city, Ishmael son of Nethaniah and the men with him slaughtered them and threw them into a cistern.
- Jeremiah 41:9 Now the cistern into which Ishmael had thrown all the bodies of the men he had struck down along with Gedaliah was a large one that King Asa had made for fear of Baasha king of Israel. Ishmael son of Nethaniah filled it with the slain.
- 1 Kings 21:19 Tell him that this is what the LORD says: ‘Have you not murdered a man and seized his land?’ Then tell him that this is also what the LORD says: ‘In the place where the dogs licked up the blood of Naboth, there also the dogs will lick up your blood—yes, yours!’”
- 1 Kings 21:24 Anyone belonging to Ahab who dies in the city will be eaten by dogs, and anyone who dies in the field will be eaten by the birds of the air.”
- 2 Kings 9:25 And Jehu said to Bidkar his officer, “Pick him up and throw him into the field of Naboth the Jezreelite. For remember that when you and I were riding together behind his father Ahab, the LORD lifted up this burden against him:
- 2 Kings 9:34 Then Jehu went in and ate and drank. “Take care of this cursed woman,” he said, “and bury her, for she was the daughter of a king.”
- Isaiah 22:16 What are you doing here, and who authorized you to carve out a tomb for yourself here—to chisel your tomb in the height and cut your resting place in the rock?
- Jeremiah 8:1 “At that time,” declares the LORD, “the bones of the kings of Judah, the bones of the officials, the bones of the priests, the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the people of Jerusalem will be removed from their graves.
- Jeremiah 16:6 “Both great and small will die in this land. They will not be buried or mourned, nor will anyone cut himself or shave his head for them.
- Jeremiah 22:19 He will be buried like a donkey, dragged away and thrown outside the gates of Jerusalem.