“The Lord has broken the staff of the wicked, The scepter of rulers,
Parallel translations
- WEB Yahweh has broken the staff of the wicked, the scepter of the rulers,
- KJV The LORD hath broken the staff of the wicked, and the sceptre of the rulers.
- BSB The LORD has broken the staff of the wicked, the scepter of the rulers.
- NKJV The Lord has broken the staff of the wicked, The scepter of the rulers;
- NLT For the Lord has crushed your wicked power and broken your evil rule.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The Lord has broken the tyrant's staff and scepter of rule. God shatters the instruments of oppression.
Overview
It is the Lord who 'has broken the staff of the wicked' — the symbol of Babylon's oppressive dominion. The credit for the tyrant's fall belongs to God, not to human strength. The verse affirms that God puts down rulers who abuse their power and will finally break every unjust scepter.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 5
- Ps 125:3For the scepter of wickedness won’t remain over the allotment of the righteous; so that the righteous won’t use their hands to do evil.
- Isa 9:4For the yoke of his burden, and the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, you have broken as in the day of Midian.
- Isa 10:5Alas Assyrian, the rod of my anger, the staff in whose hand is my indignation!
- Jer 48:15–17Moab is laid waste, and they have gone up into his cities, and his chosen young men have gone down to the slaughter,” says the King, whose name is Yahweh of Armies.
- Isa 14:29Don’t rejoice, O Philistia, all of you, because the rod that struck you is broken; for out of the serpent’s root an adder will emerge, and his fruit will be a fiery flying serpent.
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Christ at the center
Isaiah sees him most clearly: the virgin's son Immanuel, the child on David's throne, the shoot from Jesse, the light to the nations, and above all the Suffering Servant pierced for our transgressions (ch. 53).
How Isaiah 14:5 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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