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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.
Isaiah 26:14 · Berean Standard Bible
Parallel translations
  • WEB The dead shall not live. The departed spirits shall not rise. Therefore you have visited and destroyed them, and caused all memory of them to perish.
  • KJV 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.
  • NKJV They are dead, they will not live; They are deceased, they will not rise. Therefore You have punished and destroyed them, And made all their memory to perish.
  • NASB The dead will not live, the departed spirits will not rise; Therefore You have punished and destroyed them, And You have eliminated all remembrance of them.
  • NLT Those we served before are dead and gone. Their departed spirits will never return! You attacked them and destroyed them, and they are long forgotten.

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 former tyrants are dead and will not rise; God has punished and destroyed them, erasing their memory. The proud oppressors are finally and fully overthrown.

Overview

The departed oppressors, the rival lords of the previous verse, are gone for good, their memory wiped out by God's judgment. In context this declares the permanent defeat of God's enemies. The verse sets up the contrasting hope of verse 19, where God's own people will rise, pointing to the resurrection assured in Christ.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 16

  • Rev 18:2–3And 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.
  • Prov 10:7The memory of the righteous is a blessing, but the name of the wicked will rot.
  • Isa 8:19When men tell you to consult the spirits of the dead and the spiritists who whisper and mutter, shouldn’t a people consult their God instead? Why consult the dead on behalf of the living?
  • Ps 106:28They yoked themselves to Baal of Peor and ate sacrifices offered to lifeless gods.
  • Isa 14:19–22But 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.
  • Isa 51:12–13“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?
  • Hab 2:18–20What 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.
  • Isa 10:3What will you do on the day of reckoning when devastation comes from afar? To whom will you flee for help? Where will you leave your wealth?
  • Ps 9:6The enemy has come to eternal ruin, and You have uprooted their cities; the very memory of them has vanished.
  • Deut 4:28And there you will serve man-made gods of wood and stone, which cannot see or hear or eat or smell.
  • Exod 14:30That day the LORD saved Israel from the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the shore.
  • Ps 109:13May his descendants be cut off; may their name be blotted out from the next generation.
  • Matt 2:20“Get up!” he said. “Take the Child and His mother and go to the land of Israel, for those seeking the Child’s life are now dead.”
  • Rev 20:5The rest of the dead did not come back to life until the thousand years were complete. This is the first resurrection.
  • Rev 19:19–21Then I saw the beast and the kings of the earth with their armies assembled to wage war against the One seated on the horse, and against His army.
  • Isa 26:19Your dead will live; their bodies will rise. Awake and sing, you who dwell in the dust! For your dew is like the dew of the morning, and the earth will bring forth her dead.

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Isaiah videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Isaiah 26:14YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on IsaiahMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

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 26:14 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

Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.