Isaiah 14:4

this proverb The Hebrew word (mâshâl) is used in a variety of senses. Originally signifying a similitude, it came naturally to denote a popular proverb or gnomic saying, and finally acquired the sense of a satire or taunt-song, as here (Habakkuk 2:6; Numbers 21:27). In ancient Israel wit seems to have passed into sarcasm as readily as in more recent times. The poem which follows might with equal propriety be described as a dirge (qînah, θρῆνος in LXX.), commencing as it does with the characteristic word "êkh, and exhibiting the peculiarity of the elegiac measure (the line is broken by a cæsura in such a manner that the second member is shorter than the first. See on ch. Isaiah 1:21). Such ironical elegies are common in the prophets of the exile. Another striking example will meet us in ch. 47.

The line may be rendered:

How is the oppressor stilled, stilled the insolent rage!

The translation golden cityis an attempt to render the received text, but can hardly be justified. All the ancient versions read instead of madhçbâh, marhçbâh, a word which combines the ideas of restlessness and insolence (see ch. Isaiah 3:5).