*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
But thou shalt be brought down to the grave. He formerly explained the intention of the king of Babylon, which was, that he should place his throne above the clouds; but he now contrasts with it an opposite event, namely, the sides of the pit or ditch, that is, some corner of a sepulcher into which he shall be thrown. He had formerly said that the king of Babylon wished to be carried up to Mount Zion, to the sides of the north, because that was a very lofty situation, and widely seen. He now uses the word sides in an opposite sense, as if he had said that he would have an abode in the most contemptible part of a sepulcher, as when one is thrust into a mean and despicable corner. In a wide and large sepulcher they place the dead bodies of honorable men in the middle; but the Prophet means that he will be thrown into a corner, or into the outer edges. Thus the Lord from on high laughs at the pride of the ungodly, so that, when they shall have swallowed up everything by their covetousness, and shall have burst through the clouds and heaven itself by their effrontery, he will at length expose them to the mockery of all, after having, in the twinkling of an eye, overturned their schemes.
Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell - Hebrew, 'To sheol' (compare Isaiah 14:9).
To the sides of the pit - The word 'pit,' here, is evidently synonymous with "hell" or "hades," represented as a deep, dark region under ground. The dead were often buried in caves, and the descent was often dark and dreary, to the vaults where they reposed. Hence, it is always represented as going down; or, as the "inferior" regions. The 'sides of the pit' here stand opposed to the 'sides of the north.' He had sought to "ascend" to the one; he should be "brought down" to the other. The reference here is, doubtless, to the land of shades; to the dark and dismal regions where the departed dead are supposed to dwell - to "sheol." So the parallelism proves. But the image or figure is taken from the custom of burying, where, in a deep natural cavern, or a sepulchre excavated from a rock, the dead were ranged around the "sides" of the cavern in niches or recesses excavated for that purpose (see the note at Isaiah 14:9).
Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell,.... Into a very low and miserable condition; see Matthew 11:23 instead of ascending to heaven: or "to the grave"; though, inasmuch as afterwards a burial is denied him, the word may be taken for the infernal pit, and so is, as much as can be, opposed to heaven; and this will be true of antichrist, when the beast and false prophet will be cast alive into the lake of fire, Revelation 19:20,
to the sides of the pit; instead of being on the mount of the congregation in the sides of the north; another word for hell, the pit of corruption, and the bottomless pit. The Targum is,
"to the ends of the lake of the house of perdition;''
the place of everlasting destruction.
to hell--to Sheol (Isaiah 14:6), thou who hast said, "I will ascend into heaven" (Matthew 11:23).
sides of the pit--antithetical to the "sides of the north" (Isaiah 14:13). Thus the reference is to the sides of the sepulcher round which the dead were arranged in niches. But MAURER here, as in Isaiah 14:13, translates, "the extreme," or innermost parts of the sepulchre: as in Ezekiel 32:23 (compare 1-Samuel 24:3).
*More commentary available at chapter level.