Isa 14:4, Jer 51:7, Rev 18:16 | JFB | STEP | 4. proverb —The Orientals, having few books, embodied their thoughts in weighty, figurative, briefly expressed gnomes. Here a taunting song of triumph ( ). the king —the ideal representative of Babylon; perhaps Belshazzar ( ). The mystical Babylon is ultimately meant. golden city —rather, "the exactress of gold" [MAURER ]. But the old translators read differently in the Hebrew, "oppression," which the parallelism favors (compare ).

Isaiah 14:4

4. proverb—The Orientals, having few books, embodied their thoughts in weighty, figurative, briefly expressed gnomes. Here a taunting song of triumph (Mic 2:4; Hab 2:6).

the king—the ideal representative of Babylon; perhaps Belshazzar (Da 5:1-31). The mystical Babylon is ultimately meant.

golden city—rather, "the exactress of gold" [MAURER]. But the old translators read differently in the Hebrew, "oppression," which the parallelism favors (compare Isa 3:5).

Jeremiah 51:7

7. Babylon is compared to a cup, because she was the vessel in the hand of God, to make drunken with His vengeance the other peoples (Jer 13:12; 25:15, 16). Compare as to spiritual Babylon, Re 14:8; 17:4. The cup is termed "golden," to express the splendor and opulence of Babylon; whence also in the image seen by Nebuchadnezzar (Da 2:38) the head representing Babylon is of gold (compare Isa 14:4).

Revelation of John 18:16

16. And—so Vulgate and ANDREAS. But A, B, and C omit.

decked—literally, "glided."

stones . . . pearls—Greek, "stone . . . pearl." B and ANDREAS read "pearls." But A and C, "pearl."