the Week of Proper 21 / Ordinary 26
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Isaiah 14:13
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But you said in your heart,‘I will ascend to heaven;I will raise my throne above the stars of God,And I will sit on the mount of assemblyIn the recesses of the north.
"But you said in your heart, 'I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God, And I will sit on the mount of assembly In the recesses of the north.
For thou saydest in thine heart, I wyll clymbe vp into heauen, and exalt my throne aboue beside the starres of God, I wyll sit also vpon the mount of the congregation towarde the North.
And thou that didst say in thy heart, I will ascend into the heavens, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God, and I will sit upon the mount of assembly, in the recesses of the north;
For you have said in your heart: "I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation On the farthest sides of the north;
For you have said In your heart, I will go up to the heavens; I will raise my throne above the stars of God, and I will sit in the mount of meeting, in the sides of the north.
You always told yourself, "I will go to the skies above. I will put my throne above God's stars. I will sit on Zaphon, the holy mountain where the gods meet.
You said in your heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; and I will sit on the mountain of congregation, in the uttermost parts of the north;
For thou hast said in thine heart; I wil ascend into heauen, I wil exalt my throne aboue the starres of God: I wil sit also vpon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the North.
For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:
And yet thou thoughtest in thine harte: I will clymme vp in to heauen, and make my seate aboue the starres of God, I wyll syt vpon the glorious mount toward the North,
You said to yourself, "I'll climb to heaven. I'll set my throne over the stars of God. I'll run the assembly of angels that meets on sacred Mount Zaphon. I'll climb to the top of the clouds. I'll take over as King of the Universe!"
"But you said in your heart, 'I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit on the mount of assembly In the remote parts of the north.
And thou saidst in thy heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; and I will sit upon the mount of congregation, in the uttermost parts of the north;
For you said in your heart, I will go up to heaven, I will make my seat higher than the stars of God; I will take my place on the mountain of the meeting-place of the gods, in the inmost parts of the north.
For thou hast said in thy heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:
You said to yourself, "I will climb up to the sky. Above the stars of El I will set up my throne. I will rule on the mountain of assembly on the remote slopes of Zaphon.
You said to yourself, "I'll climb to heaven and place my throne above the highest stars. I'll sit there with the gods far away in the north.
You thought to yourself, ‘I will scale the heavens, I will raise my throne above God's stars. I will sit on the Mount of Assembly far away in the north.
Yet thou saidest in thine heart, I will ascende into heauen, and exalt my throne aboue beside the starres of God: I will sitte also vpon the mount of the Congregation in the sides of the North.
For you have said in your heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will dwell also upon the high mountains in the outer regions of the north.
You said in your heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; and I will sit on the mountain of congregation, in the uttermost parts of the north;
And thou saidst in thy heart: 'I will ascend into heaven, above the stars of God will I exalt my throne, and I will sit upon the mount of meeting, in the uttermost parts of the north;
For you said to yourself, ‘I will ascend to heaven and set my throne above God's stars. I will preside on the mountain of the gods far away in the north.
You said in your heart, ‘I will go up to heaven. I will raise my throne above the stars of God. And I will sit on the mount of meeting in the far north.
But thou saidst in thine heart, I will go up to heaven, I will set my throne above the stars of heaven: I will sit on a lofty mount, on the lofty mountains toward the north:
And thou saidst in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; and I will sit upon the mount of congregation, in the uttermost parts of the north:
You said in your heart: "I will ascend to the heavens; I will raise my throne above the stars of God. I will sit on the mount of assembly, in the far reaches of the north.
You said in your heart, "I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit on the mount of assembly on the heights of Zaphon;
Yet, thou, didst say in thy heart - The heavens, will I ascend, Above the stars of GOD, will I lift up my throne, - That I may sit in the Mount of Assembly In the Recesses of the North:
And thou saidst in thy heart: I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God, I will sit in the mountain of the covenant, in the sides of the north.
And you yourself said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; I will raise up my throne above the stars of God; and I will sit on the mountain of assembly on the summit of Zaphon;
You said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God I will set my throne on high; I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north;
"But you said in your heart, 'I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God, And I will sit on the mount of assembly In the recesses of the north.
You told yourself, "I will go up to heaven. I will put my throne above God's stars. I will sit on the mountain of the gods, on the slopes of the sacred mountain.
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.
You said to yourself: "I will ascend to the heavens; I will set up my throne above the stars of God. I will sit on the mount of the gods' assembly, in the remotest parts of the North.
Which seidist in thin herte, Y schal stie in to heuene, Y schal enhaunse my seete aboue the staris of heuene; Y schal sitte in the hil of testament, in the sidis of the north.
You said in your heart, 'I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God I will set my throne on high; I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far north;
And thou saidst in thy heart: the heavens I go up, Above stars of God I raise my throne, And I sit in the mount of meeting in the sides of the north.
Contextual Overview
Bible Verse Review
from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
thou: Isaiah 47:7-10, Ezekiel 27:3, Ezekiel 28:2, Ezekiel 29:3, Daniel 4:30, Daniel 4:31, Zephaniah 2:15, Revelation 18:7, Revelation 18:8
I will ascend: Ezekiel 28:9, Ezekiel 28:12-16, Daniel 8:10-12
the mount: Isaiah 2:2, Psalms 48:2
Reciprocal: Deuteronomy 7:17 - thou shalt 1 Kings 12:15 - that he might 2 Kings 19:22 - exalted thy voice Job 20:6 - his excellency Psalms 10:2 - The wicked Isaiah 26:5 - bringeth Isaiah 37:23 - against whom Isaiah 47:1 - there is Jeremiah 49:16 - though Jeremiah 50:29 - for she hath Jeremiah 50:32 - the most proud Ezekiel 31:2 - Whom Ezekiel 31:10 - and his Ezekiel 40:2 - on the south Daniel 7:4 - lifted Daniel 11:36 - exalt Daniel 11:37 - regard Daniel 11:45 - in the Amos 9:2 - climb Obadiah 1:3 - saith Matthew 11:23 - which art Luke 10:15 - which 2 Thessalonians 2:4 - and exalteth 1 Peter 5:8 - as Revelation 11:12 - And they
Cross-References
and the Jebusite, and the Amorite, and the Girgashite,
save only that which the young men have eaten, and the portion of the men that went with me, Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre. Let them take their portion.
that she called to the men of her house, and spoke to them, saying, See, he has brought in a Hebrew to us to mock us: he came in to me to lie with me, and I cried with a loud voice:
for indeed I was stolen away out of the land of the Hebrews: and here also I have done nothing that they should put me into the dungeon.
And there was with us there a young man, a Hebrew, slave to the captain of the guard; and we told him, and he interpreted to us our dreams; to each man according to his dream he did interpret.
And they set on for him by himself, and for them by themselves, and for the Egyptians, that ate with him, by themselves: because the Egyptians might not eat bread with the Hebrews; for that is disgusting to the Egyptians.
And she opened it, and saw the child: and, look, the baby wept. And she had compassion on him, and said, This is one of the Hebrews' children.
And it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown up, that he went out to his brothers, and looked on their burdens: and he saw an Egyptian smiting a Hebrew, one of his brothers.
And Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, saying,
And there ran a man of Benjamin out of the army, and came to Shiloh the same day, with his clothes rent, and with earth on his head.
Gill's Notes on the Bible
For thou hast said in thine heart,.... Which shows the pride and haughtiness that were in his heart; and were the cause and reason of his fall, for pride goes before a fall; it was the cause of the fall of angels, and of Adam, and of many kings and kingdoms; see
Proverbs 16:18 with this compare Revelation 18:7:
I will ascend into heaven; be above all men, rule over the whole world; and so the Targum.
"I will ascend on high;''
unless by it is meant the temple at Jerusalem, where Jehovah dwelt, an emblem of heaven, to which sense the following clauses incline; and so the Romish antichrist sits in the temple of God, and on his throne as if he was God, 2 Thessalonians 2:4.
I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; which he has made and set in the heavens, and preserves; meaning either the angels,
Job 38:7 or rather the kings and princes of the earth, over whom he placed himself, having subdued them under him. It may be applied to ecclesiastical persons, pastors, and bishops of churches, compared to stars, Revelation 1:20 the third part of which the dragon drew with his tail, Revelation 12:4 and over whom the bishop of Rome has usurped an universal dominion. The Targum is,
"over the people of God I will put the throne of my kingdom;''
notoriously true of the man of sin:
I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: that is, as some think, in the temple where the tribes of Israel gathered together for worship, which was built upon Mount Zion; which, as Kimchi says, lay north of Jerusalem; see Psalms 48:2 so the tabernacle is often called the tabernacle of the congregation; but, as Cocceius and Vitringa observe, Mount Zion was not to the north, but to the south of Jerusalem; wherefore not that mount, but Mount Moriah, which was to the north of Mount Zion, is designed; however, not Babylon is here meant, as R. Joseph Kimchi thought; called, as he supposes, "the mount of the congregation", because all the world were gathered thither to the king of Babylon; and a "mount", because a strong city; and said to be "in the sides of the north", because it lay north east to the continent; but, as one observes, he had no need to boast of sitting there, where he was already. Jarchi thinks the last clause refers to the north side of the altar, in the court, where the sacrifice was killed, Leviticus 1:11 and may point at the seat of the Romish antichrist, and the sacerdotal power usurped by him, to offer sacrifice for the sins of men, particularly the bloodless sacrifice of the Mass.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible
For thou hast said in thine heart - It was thy purpose or design.
I will ascend into heaven - Nothing could more strikingly show the arrogance of the monarch of Babylon than this impious design. The meaning is, that he intended to set himself up as supreme; he designed that all should pay homage to him; be did not intend to acknowledge the authority of God. It is not to be understood literally; but it means that he intended “not” to acknowledge any superior either in heaven or earth, but designed that himself and his laws should be regarded as supreme.
Above the stars of God - The stars which God has made. This expression is equivalent to the former that he would ascend into heaven.
I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation - The word rendered ‘congregation’ מועד mô‛êd from יעד yâ‛ad “to fix, appoint”), properly means a fixed or definite time; then an “appointed” place of meeting; then a meeting itself; an assembly, a congregation. What is referred to here it is difficult to determine. The Septuagint renders it, ‘On a high mountain, on the lofty regions which lie to the north.’ The Chaldee, ‘I will sit in the mount of covenant, in the regions of the north.’ Grotius supposes that when the king of Babylon said he would ascend into heaven, he meant the land of Judea, which was called heaven because it was dedicated to God; that when he said be would ascend above the stars, he meant to denote those ‘who were learned in the law;’ that by the ‘mount of the congregation,’ he meant mount Moriah where was the temple; and that by the ‘side of the north,’ he meant mount Zion, which, he says, was on the north of Jerusalem. It is remarkable that the usually accurate Grotius should have fallen into this error, as mount Zion was not on the north of Jerusalem, but was south of mount Moriah. Vitringa defends the same interpretation in the main, but supposes that by the ‘mount of the congregation’ is meant mount Zion, and by ‘the sides of the north;’ is meant mount Moriah lying north of Zion. He supposes that mount Zion is called ‘the mount of the congregation,’ not because the congregation of Israel assembled there, but because it was the “appointed place” where God met his people, or where he manifested himself to them, and appeals to the following places where the word which is here lrcndered ‘congregation’ is applied, in various forms, to the manifestation which God thus made Exodus 25:22; Exodus 29:42-43; Psalms 74:8. So Lowth supposes that it refers to the place where God promised to meet with his people Exodus 25:22; Exodus 29:42-43, and to commune with them, and translates it ‘the mount of the divine presence.’ But to this interpretation there are great objections:
(1) The terms here employed ‘the mount of the congregation,’ ‘the sides of the north,’ are not elsewhere applied to mount Zion, and to mount Moriah.
(2) It does not correspond with the evident design of the king of Babylon. His object was not to make himself master of Zion and Moriah, but it was to exalt himself above the stars; to be elevated above all inferior beings; and to be above the gods.
(3) It is a most forced and unnatural interpretation to call the land of Judea ‘heaven,’ to speak of it as being ‘above the stars of God,’ or as ‘above the heights of the clouds;’ and it is clear that the king of Babylon had a much higher ambition, and much more arrogant pretensions, than the conquest of what to him would be the comparatively limited province of Judea.
However important that land appeared to the Jews as their country and their home; or however important it was as the place of the solemnities of the true religion, yet we are to remember that it had no such consequence in the eyes of the king of Babylon. He had no belief in the truth of the Jewish religion, and all Judea compared with his other vast domains would appear to be a very unimportant province. It is evident, therefore, I think, that the king of Babylon did not refer here to Judea, or to Zion. The leading idea of his heart, which ought to guide our interpretation, was, that he designed “to ascend in authority over all inferior beings, and to be like the Most High.” We are to remember that Babylon was a city of idolatry; and it is most probable that by ‘the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north,’ there is reference to a belief prevalent in Babylon that the gods had their residence on some mountain of the north.
This was a common opinion among the ancients. The Hindus call that mountain “Meru;” the Persians, who are followers of Zoroaster, “Al Bordsch;” the Arabs, “Kafe;” and the Greeks, “Olympus.” The common opinion was that this mountain was in the center of the world, but the Hindoos speak of it as to the north of themselves in the Himalaya regions; the followers of Zoroaster in the mountains of Caucasus, lying to the north of their country; and the Greeks speak of Olympus, the highest mountain north of them in Thessaly. The Hindoo belief is thus referred to by Ward: ‘In the book of Karma-Vipaka, it is said that the heavenly Vishnu, Brahma, and Siva, are upon the three peaks of the mountain Su-Meru, and that at the foot of this mountain are the heavens of twenty-one other gods.’ (“View of the History, Literature, and Religion of the Hindoos,” vol. i. p. 13.) So Wilford, in a Treatise on the mountain Caucasus, in the “Asiatic Researches,” vol. vi. p. 488, says, ‘The Hindoos regard the mountain Meru as the dwelling-place of the gods.
In the Puranas it is said, that upon the mountain Meru there is eternal day, for a space of fourteen degrees around the mountain Su-Meru, and consequently eternal night for the same space on the opposite side; so the Hindoos are constrained to admit that Su-Meru is directly upon the top of the shadow of the earth, and that from the earth to that peak there is a vast cone-formed hill, dense as other earthly bodies, but invisible, impalpable, and impassable by mortals. On the side of this hill are various abodes, which, the higher one ascends, become the more beautiful, and which are made the dwellings of the blessed, according to the degrees of their desert. God and the most exalted of the divine beings have their abodes on the sides of the north, and on the top of this mountain.’ According to the Zendavesta, the Al Bordsch is the oldest and the highest of the mountains; upon that is the throne of Ormuzd, and the assemblage of the heavenly spirits (Feruer; see Rosenmuller, “Alterthumskunde,” vol. i. pp. 154-157).
Thus in Babylon, some of the mountains north in Armenia may have been supposed to be the special dwelling-place of the gods. Such a mountain would “appear” to be under the north pole, and the constellations would seem to revolve around it. It is not improbable that the Aurora Borealis, playing often as it does in the north with special magnificence, might have contributed to the belief that this was the special abode of the gods. Unable to account - as indeed all moderns are - for these special and magnificent lights in the north, it accorded with the poetic and mythological fancy of the ancients to suppose that they were designed to play around, and to adorn the habitation of the gods. This disposition to make the mountains of the north the seat of the gods, may have arisen also in part from the fact that the country on the north of Babylon was a volcanic region, and that the light emitted from volcanoes was an appropriate manifestation of the glory of superior invisible beings. ‘On the borders of the Caspian (Sea), in the country around the Bakir, there is a tract called The Field of Fire, which continually emits inflammable gas, while springs of naphtha and petroleum occur in the same vicinity, as also mud volcanoes.
In the chain of Elburs, to the south of this sea, is a lofty mountain, which, according to Morier, sometimes emits smoke, and at the base of which there are several craters where sulphur and saltpetre are procured in sufficient abundance to be used in commerce.’ (Lyell’s Geology, vol. i. p. 297.) We find some trades of these ideas in the Scriptures. The north is often mentioned as the seat of the whirlwind, the storm, and especially as the residence of the cherubim. Thus in Ezekiel’s vision of the cherubim, the whole magnificent scene is represented as coming from the north - as if the appropriate abode of the cherubim:
‘I looked, and lo! a whirlwind from the north
Came sweeping onward, a vast cloud that rolled
In volumes, charged with gleaming fire, along,
And east its splendors all around.
Brow from within shone forth, what seemed the glow
Of gold and silver molten in the flame,
And in the midst thereof the form expressed,
As of a fourfold living thing - a shape
That yet contained the semblance of a man.’
Ezekiel 1:4-5, trans. in Marsh’s Herder.
Thus, in Ezekiel 28:14, Tyre is said to be ‘the anointed cherub that covereth,’ and to have been ‘upon the holy mountain of God,’ or “the gods” - evidently meaning, not Zion, but some mountain in the vicinity of Eden (see Isaiah 14:13). Thus also, in Zechariah 6:1-8, four chariots are represented as coming out of the mountains, the first chariot with red horses, the second with black horses, the third with white horses, and the fourth with bay horses. The horses that have gone through the earth are Isaiah 14:8 represented as going to the “north” as their place of rest. These passages, particularly the one from Ezekiel, show that the northern regions were regarded as the seat of striking and special manifestations of the divine glory (compare Job 23:9, note; Job 37:22, note). And it is probable that, in the view of the Babylonians, the northern mountains of Armenia, that seemed to be near the north pole, around which the constellations revolved, and that appeared to be surmounted and encompassed by the splendid light of the Aurora Borealis, were regarded as the special place where the gods held their assemblies, and from where their power went forth through the nations. Over all their power it was the intention of the king of Babylon to ascend, and even to rise above the stars that performed their revolutions around the seats of the gods in the north; to be “supreme” in that assembly of the gods, and to be regarded there as the supreme and incontrollable director of even all the gods. It is probable, says Mitford (“Life of Milton,” vol. i. p. 73), that from this scarcely intelligible hint Milton threw up his palace for his fallen angels: thus:
At length into the limits of the north
They came, and Satan to his royal seat,
High on a hill, far blazing as a mount
Raised on a mount, with pyramids and towers,
From diamond quarries hewn, and rocks of gold.
The palace of great Lucifer, so call
That structure in the dialect of men
Interpreted; which not long after he
Affecting an equality with God,
In imitation of that mount, whereon
Messiah was declared in sight of heaven,
The mountain of the congregation called, etc.
Clarke's Notes on the Bible
Verse Isaiah 14:13. I will ascend into heaven — I will get the empire of the whole world. I will exalt my throne above the stars of God - above the Israelites, who are here termed the stars of God. So the Targum of Jonathan, and R. D. Kimchi. This chapter speaks not of the ambition and fall of Satan, but of the pride, arrogance, and fall of Nebuchadnezzar.
The mount of the congregation - "The mount of the Divine Presence"] It appears plainly from Exodus 25:22, and Exodus 29:42-43, where God appoints the place of meeting with Moses, and promises to meet with him before the ark to commune with him, and to speak unto him; and to meet the children of Israel at the door of the tabernacle; that the tabernacle, and afterwards the door of the tabernacle, and Mount Zion, (or Moriah, which is reckoned a part of Mount Zion,) whereon it stood, was called the tabernacle, and the mount of convention or of appointment; not from the people's assembling there to perform the services of their religion, (which is what our translation expresses by calling it the tabernacle of the congregation,) but because God appointed that for the place where he himself would meet with Moses, and commune with him, and would meet with the people. Therefore הר מועד har moed, the "mountain of the assembly," or אהל מועד ohel moed, the "tabernacle of the assembly," means the place appointed by God, where he would present himself; agreeably to which I have rendered it in this place, the mount of the Divine Presence.
