Isaiah 14:14

Isa 14:14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.

Ver. 14. I will ascend above the height of the clouds.] Ut verbo dicam, ero summa et sacra maiestas.

“ Attingit solium Iovis, et coelestia tentat. ”

- Hor., lib. i. Ode 3.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

14:14 Most High: See Gen 14:19-22.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

clouds--rather, "the cloud," singular. Perhaps there is a reference to the cloud, the symbol of the divine presence (Isa 4:5; Exo 13:21). So this tallies with Th2 2:4, "above all that is called God"; as here "above . . . the cloud"; and as the Shekinah-cloud was connected with the temple, there follows, "he as God sitteth in the temple of God," answering to "I will be like the Most High" here. Moreover, Rev 17:4-5, represents Antichrist as seated in BABYLON, to which city, literal and spiritual, Isaiah refers here.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

(14) I will be like the most High.—The Chaldaean king is rightly represented as using a Divine name (Elîôn), which was not essentially Israelite, but common to the Phœnicians and other kindred nations. (See Gen_14:18; Dan_4:24; Luk_8:28; Act_16:17.) The Persians carried their adulation still further, and applied the title “god” to their kings (Æsch. Pers. 623), as the Syrians afterwards did in the case of Antiochus Theos. The Assyrian and Babylonian inscriptions, for the most part, fall short of this, and describe the king as the “servant,” or “priest,” of Assur, or Bel, or Nebo, “the viceroy, or vicar, of the gods.”

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

14. I will be like the most High] Better: I will make myself like to the Most High. The sense of all the previous metaphors is gathered up in this sentence. The king arrogates to himself divine honour.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

I will ascend above the heights of the clouds,.... Which are the chariots of God, and in which he rides, and so this proud monarch affected to be as he; perhaps some reference is had to the cloud in which Jehovah dwelt in the temple. The Targum is,

"I will ascend above all people,''

compared to clouds for their multitude. In the mystical sense, the true ministers of the word may be meant, so called for their height, motion, swiftness, and fulness of Gospel doctrine, compared to rain; see Isa 5:6.

I will be like the most High; so Satan affected to be, and this was the bait he laid for our first parents, and with which they were taken; and nothing less than deity could satisfy some ambitious princes, as Caligula, and others; and this was what the Babylonish monarch aspired to, and ordered to be ascribed to him, and be regarded as such, either while living, or at least after death, which was what had been done to many Heathen princes. So antichrist is represented as showing himself to be God, Th2 2:4 by calling and suffering himself to be called God; by assuming all power in heaven and in earth; taking upon him to depose kings and dispose of kingdoms at pleasure; dispensing with the laws of God, and making new ones; absolving men from their oaths, pardoning their sins, setting up himself as infallible, as the sole interpreter of Scripture, and judge of controversies. The Targum is,

"I will he higher than them all;''

than the kings of the earth, and all other bishops.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

I will be like the Most High - There is a remarkable resemblance between this language and that used in 2Th 2:4, in regard to antichrist: ‘He, as God, sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.’ And this similarity is the more remarkable, because antichrist is represented, in Rev 17:4-5, as seated in babylon - the spiritual seat of arrogance, oppression, and pride. Probably Paul had the passage in Isaiah in his eye when he penned the description of antichrist.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Above the heights of the clouds, to wit, into heaven, as he said, Isa 14:13.

Like the Most High, in the uncontrollableness of my power, and the universal extent of my dominion over all the earth.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

14. Heights of the clouds — The simplest sense of the words is doubtless their true meaning. To climb above the highest clouds is an expression of the highest ambition and arrogance.

Like the Most High — This completes the climax. The wall sculptures of Assyria show, it is said, symbols of deity assigned to kings.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

I will be like the Most High. (comp. Isa_47:8) It is a mistake to say that "the Assyrians gave the name of God to their monarchs" (Kay), or, at any rate, there is no evidence that they did. Nor does any king, either Assyrian or Babylonian, ever assume a Divine title. There is a marked difference in this respect between the Egyptian and the Assyro-Babylonian religions. Probably Isaiah only means that Babylonian monarchs thought of themselves as gods, worked their own wills, were wrapped up in themselves, did not in heart bow down to a higher Power.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Like - In the uncontrolableness of my power, and the universal extent of my dominion.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

“I will mount above the cloud-heights; I will make myself like the Most High.” This is commonly regarded as a simple expression of unbounded arrogance; but there may be an allusion to the oriental custom of calling their kings gods, or to the fact that Syrian and Phenician kings did actually so describe themselves (Eze 28:2; Eze 28:6; Eze 28:9 - RAPC 2Ma 9:12). According to some writers, the singular noun cloud is here used to designate the cloud of the divine presence in the tabernacle and temple. This would agree well with the old interpretation of v. 13; but according to the other, cloud is a collective, meaning clouds in general.

Joseph Addison Alexander, The Prophecies of Isaiah (1846–1847; New York: Scribner, 1870–1878) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

I will ascend above the heights of the clouds I am not fit to dwell with mortals. I will make myself a small cloud in the air and I will dwell there. Jonathan renders: I will ascend over all nations.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

Join this verse to the following: Thou hast said, I will ascend, etc. but thou shalt be brought down, etc.

אדמה I will be like. It is Hithpael, the characteristic ת being absorbed by ד; the Dagesh in מ proves that it is Hithpael.

Ibn Ezra on the Tanakh — English translations: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “Yalkut, Sifsei Chachomim Chumash, Metsudah Publications, 2009” (CC BY 4.0); and “Commentary of Ibn Ezra on Isaiah - trans. by M. Friedlander, 1873” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.