Lectionary Calendar
Wednesday, July 30th, 2025
the Week of Proper 12 / Ordinary 17
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Read the Bible

Good News Translation

Isaiah 14:14

You said you would climb to the tops of the clouds and be like the Almighty.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Ambition;   Babylon;   Isaiah;   Presumption;   Pride;   Rulers;   Scofield Reference Index - Satan;   Thompson Chain Reference - Exaltation;   Satanic;   Self-Exaltation;   The Topic Concordance - Abasement;   Devil/devils;   Exaltation;   Hell;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Ambition;   Babylon;  

Dictionaries:

- Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Babylon;   Funeral;   Nebuchadnezzar;   Pride;   Sin;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Ascension of Jesus Christ;   Cloud, Cloud of the Lord;   Kill, Killing;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Heaven;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Devil;   Satan;   Uzziah;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Isaiah, Book of;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Judgment Damnation;   Old Testament (Ii. Christ as Student and Interpreter of).;   Philippians Epistle to the;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Angels;   Babylon ;   Type;   The Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary - Medes;   Smith Bible Dictionary - Isa'iah, Book of;   Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary - Belshazzar;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Cloud;   God;   Isaiah;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Apocalyptic Literature, Neo-Hebraic;   Bat Ḳol;   El 'Elyon;   High Place;   Humility;   Lucifer;   Satire;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
I will ascend above the highest clouds;I will make myself like the Most High.”
Hebrew Names Version
I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like Ha`Elyon.
King James Version
I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.
English Standard Version
I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.'
New American Standard Bible
'I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.'
New Century Version
I will go up above the tops of the clouds. I will be like God Most High."
Amplified Bible
'I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.'
World English Bible
I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.
Geneva Bible (1587)
I wil ascend aboue ye height of the cloudes, and I will be like the most high.
Legacy Standard Bible
I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;I will make myself like the Most High.'
Berean Standard Bible
I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High."
Contemporary English Version
I'll be above the clouds, just like God Most High."
Complete Jewish Bible
I will rise past the tops of the clouds, I will make myself like the Most High.'
Darby Translation
I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High:
Easy-to-Read Version
I will go up to the altar above the tops of the clouds. I will be like God Most High."
George Lamsa Translation
I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.
Lexham English Bible
I will ascend to the high places of the clouds, I will make myself like the Most High.'
Literal Translation
I will rise over the heights of the clouds; I will be compared to the Most High.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
I wyll clymme vp aboue the cloudes, & wilbe like the highest of all.
American Standard Version
I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.
Bible in Basic English
I will go higher than the clouds; I will be like the Most High.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the Most High.'
King James Version (1611)
I wil ascend aboue the heights of the cloudes, I wil bee like the most High.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
I wyll clymbe vp aboue the cloudes, and wyll be lyke the hyghest of all.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
I will go up above the clouds: I will be like the Most High.
English Revised Version
I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the Most High.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Y schal stie on the hiynesse of cloudis; Y schal be lijk the hiyeste.
Update Bible Version
I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.
Webster's Bible Translation
I will ascend above the hights of the clouds; I will be like the Most High.
New English Translation
I will climb up to the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High!"
New King James Version
I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.'
New Living Translation
I will climb to the highest heavens and be like the Most High.'
New Life Bible
I will go much higher than the clouds. I will make myself like the Most High.'
New Revised Standard
I will ascend to the tops of the clouds, I will make myself like the Most High."
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
I will mount on the hills of the clouds, I will match the Most High!
Douay-Rheims Bible
I will ascend above the height of the clouds, I will be like the most High.
Revised Standard Version
I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will make myself like the Most High.'
Young's Literal Translation
I go up above the heights of a thick cloud, I am like to the Most High.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
'I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.'

Contextual Overview

4 When he does this, they are to mock the king of Babylon and say: "The cruel king has fallen! He will never oppress anyone again! 5 The Lord has ended the power of the evil rulers 6 who angrily oppressed the peoples and never stopped persecuting the nations they had conquered. 7 Now at last the whole world enjoys rest and peace, and everyone sings for joy. 8 The cypress trees and the cedars of Lebanon rejoice over the fallen king, because there is no one to cut them down, now that he is gone! 9 "The world of the dead is getting ready to welcome the king of Babylon. The ghosts of those who were powerful on earth are stirring about. The ghosts of kings are rising from their thrones. 10 They all call out to him, ‘Now you are as weak as we are! You are one of us! 11 You used to be honored with the music of harps, but now here you are in the world of the dead. You lie on a bed of maggots and are covered with a blanket of worms.'" 12 King of Babylon, bright morning star, you have fallen from heaven! In the past you conquered nations, but now you have been thrown to the ground. 13 You were determined to climb up to heaven and to place your throne above the highest stars. You thought you would sit like a king on that mountain in the north where the gods assemble.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

ascend: Isaiah 37:23, Isaiah 37:24

I will be: Isaiah 47:8, Genesis 3:5, 2 Thessalonians 2:4

Reciprocal: Deuteronomy 32:8 - Most 2 Kings 19:22 - exalted thy voice Job 20:6 - his excellency Job 35:12 - because Psalms 37:35 - I have Isaiah 47:1 - there is Jeremiah 50:29 - for she hath Ezekiel 28:2 - I sit Ezekiel 31:2 - Whom

Cross-References

Genesis 12:5
Abram took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, and all the wealth and all the slaves they had acquired in Haran, and they started out for the land of Canaan. When they arrived in Canaan,
Genesis 12:16
Because of her the king treated Abram well and gave him flocks of sheep and goats, cattle, donkeys, slaves, and camels.
Genesis 13:8
Then Abram said to Lot, "We are relatives, and your men and my men shouldn't be quarreling.
Genesis 14:1
Four kings, Amraphel of Babylonia, Arioch of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer of Elam, and Tidal of Goiim,
Genesis 14:2
went to war against five other kings: Bera of Sodom, Birsha of Gomorrah, Shinab of Admah, Shemeber of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (or Zoar).
Genesis 14:3
These five kings had formed an alliance and joined forces in Siddim Valley, which is now the Dead Sea.
Genesis 14:5
In the fourteenth year Chedorlaomer and his allies came with their armies and defeated the Rephaim in Ashteroth Karnaim, the Zuzim in Ham, the Emim in the plain of Kiriathaim,
Genesis 14:11
The four kings took everything in Sodom and Gomorrah, including the food, and went away.
Genesis 14:12
Lot, Abram's nephew, was living in Sodom, so they took him and all his possessions.
Genesis 15:3
You have given me no children, and one of my slaves will inherit my property."

Gill's Notes on the Bible

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 Isaiah 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, 2 Thessalonians 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.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

I will be like the Most High - There is a remarkable resemblance between this language and that used in 2 Thessalonians 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 Revelation 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.


 
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