Bible Strands
Isaiah 26:14
The dead will not live; the departed spirits will not rise. Therefore You have punished and destroyed them; You have wiped out all memory of them.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The prophet speaks on behalf of Israel, addressing God directly after recalling how foreign powers once ruled them (Isaiah 26:13). This declaration follows a transition from past subjugation to God’s future exaltation of His people (Isaiah 26:15).
The words — The text uses רְפָאִים (re.fa.'Im), literally "shades" or "departed spirits," paired with בַּל־ (bal-), meaning "not," to negate any possibility of their revival. It also employs פָּקַ֙דְתָּ֙ (pa.Kad.ta), literally "you have visited," to describe divine judgment that results in their complete destruction.
The thread — The theme of obliterated memory for the wicked appears in Proverbs 10:7, where the wicked's name "will rot," and Revelation 18:2, which declares Babylon's sudden fall and erasure. These passages parallel Isaiah 26:14’s assertion that God will "wipe out all memory" of those opposed to Him.
Why it lands — The verse demands recognition that human alliances and idolatrous systems yield only permanent ruin, while God alone secures lasting glory for His people. Readers must abandon reliance on any power besides God and accept that divine judgment is final and irreversible.
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
They are dead, they shall not live; they are deceased, they shall not rise: therefore hast thou visited and destroyed them, and made all their memory to perish.
Cross-references
- Proverbs 10:7 The memory of the righteous is a blessing, but the name of the wicked will rot.
- Revelation 18:2 And he cried out in a mighty voice: “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! She has become a lair for demons and a haunt for every unclean spirit, every unclean bird, and every detestable beast.
- Psalms 106:28 They yoked themselves to Baal of Peor and ate sacrifices offered to lifeless gods.
- Isaiah 8:19 When men tell you to consult mediums and spiritists who whisper and mutter, shouldn’t a people consult their God instead? Why consult the dead on behalf of the living?
- 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.
- Isaiah 51:12 “I, even I, am He who comforts you. Why should you be afraid of mortal man, of a son of man who withers like grass?
- Habakkuk 2:18 What use is an idol, that a craftsman should carve it—or an image, a teacher of lies? For its maker trusts in his own creation; he makes idols that cannot speak.
- Exodus 14:30 That day the LORD saved Israel from the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the shore.
- Deuteronomy 4:28 And there you will serve man-made gods of wood and stone, which cannot see or hear or eat or smell.
- Psalms 9:6 The enemy has come to eternal ruin, and You have uprooted their cities; the very memory of them has vanished.