That made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof; that opened not the house of his prisoners?

ISAIAH 14:17KJV
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Isaiah 14:17 (KJV)

What does Isaiah 14:17 mean?

Isaiah 14:17 portrays the fallen king of Babylon as a ruler whose power brought devastation and captivity to others. The verse is part of a taunt: people look at the defeated king and recall the suffering he caused.

Following the question in verse 16, the speakers continue asking whether this is really the man who once seemed so powerful. The image of a world turned into a wilderness pictures places made empty and desolate, while the closed “house” of prisoners pictures people kept from returning home.

The Hebrew behind Isaiah 14:17

  • “world” — תֵּבֵל (tevel): This word often means the inhabited world. Here, the destruction reaches beyond a single city or country to the places where people live.
  • “wilderness” — מִדְבָּר (midbar): This word can refer to open, uncultivated land. In this verse, it sharpens the contrast between a populated world and a place left desolate.

Why Isaiah 14:17 matters

  • The verse exposes the human cost of the king’s rule. Alongside the ruined “cities,” the mention of “prisoners” brings the plight of displaced people into view.
  • The question gains force from the king’s reversal. The speakers stare at him in verse 16, then ask how the man before them could be the one who caused such widespread damage.
  • The refusal to release prisoners matters in the wider passage. Earlier, Isaiah 14:3–4 introduces the taunt as a response to relief from harsh oppression.

Where else these words appear

“prisoners” Hebrew H615 · used in 12 verses

  • Genesis 39:20 And Joseph's master took him, and put him into the prison, a place where the king's prisoners were bound: and he was there in the prison.
  • Psalms 68:6 God setteth the solitary in families: he bringeth out those which are bound with chains: but the rebellious dwell in a dry land.
  • Psalms 107:10 Such as sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron;

“world” Hebrew H8398 · used in 36 verses

  • 1 Samuel 2:8 He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill, to set them among princes, and to make them inherit the throne of glory: for the pillars of the earth are the LORD'S, and he hath set the world upon them.
  • Psalms 50:12 If I were hungry, I would not tell thee: for the world is mine, and the fulness thereof.
  • Isaiah 13:11 And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.

“destroyed” Hebrew H2040 · used in 42 verses

  • Exodus 15:7 And in the greatness of thine excellency thou hast overthrown them that rose up against thee: thou sentest forth thy wrath, which consumed them as stubble.
  • Psalms 28:5 Because they regard not the works of the LORD, nor the operation of his hands, he shall destroy them, and not build them up.
  • Jeremiah 50:15 Shout against her round about: she hath given her hand: her foundations are fallen, her walls are thrown down: for it is the vengeance of the LORD: take vengeance upon her; as she hath done, do unto her.

“opened” Hebrew H6605 · used in 133 verses

  • Genesis 7:11 In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.
  • Nehemiah 1:6 Let thine ear now be attentive, and thine eyes open, that thou mayest hear the prayer of thy servant, which I pray before thee now, day and night, for the children of Israel thy servants, and confess the sins of the children of Israel, which we have sinned against thee: both I and my father's house have sinned.
  • Isaiah 5:27 None shall be weary nor stumble among them; none shall slumber nor sleep; neither shall the girdle of their loins be loosed, nor the latchet of their shoes be broken: