Therefore hath hell enlarged her soul, and opened her mouth without any bounds, and their strong ones, and their people, and their high and glorious ones shall go down into it.

“Therefore, the nether-world has expanded Retribution corresponding to deed; they expanded themselves to swallow much food and drink, and they opened their mouth to swallow, so will the nether world expand itself to swallow. and opened Heb. פָּעֲרָה. without measure Without end; and why [did the grave open] without measure? Because these people had no measure or limit to their enjoyments. shall descend There the splendor of Jerusalem. And those who rejoice therein Heb. ועלז בה. [I.e., those who rejoiced in Jerusalem, or in all the Land of Israel, with the plenty they had there, will fall into Sheol, i.e., they will die.]”

“נפשה Her breath. נפש is the breath that comes out of the mouth; comp. נפשו his breath (Job 41:21). ופערה And opened; comp. פערו they opened (Job 29:23). לבלי חק Unusually. ועלז בה And all that rejoice in it. or, and rejoicing will be—to others—at his fall. According to R. Jonah, the phrase ועלז בה And rejoicing, or laughing will be in it, describes that kind of laughter which may sometimes be noticed in people at the moment of death.”

“Woe to you who rise up early in the morning to drunkenness. Here he charges them with their fault as regards the abuse of food: and first he charges the fault; second he threatens the punishment, at the words, therefore, captive. Concerning the first he does two things. First he charges gluttony as regards its species, second as regards its effect, at the words, and you do not regard the work of the Lord. Now the species of gluttony are five, which are contained in this verse: too hastily, sumptuously, too much, ardently, studiously. He says therefore first: woe to you who rise up early in the morning — as regards too hastily. Ecclesiastes 10: Woe to thee, O land, whose king is a child, and whose princes eat in the morning. Proverbs 23: When shall I awake, and find wine again? As regards ardently he says, to be pursued. As regards too much he says, even until evening. Proverbs 23: To whom is woe? To whom is a father's woe? To whom are quarrels? To whom are pits? To whom are wounds without cause? To whom is the gouging out of eyes? Is it not to those who tarry long over wine, and who apply themselves to draining the cups? That you may be inflamed with wine — unto luxury, and unto all vices. As regards studiously he says, harp and wine — sought after studiously, because with great zeal they prepare for themselves delight in foods. As regards sumptuously he says, in their feasts, in which great preparations are made and choice foods. Amos 6: you who eat the lamb from the flock, and the calves from the midst of the herd; who sing to the sound of the psaltery: as David they thought they had instruments of song, drinking wine in bowls, and anointed with the best ointment. Now the effect is thoughtlessness: and as regards this he says: and you do not regard the work of the Lord, which you ought to do; nor the works, which he himself has done. Proverbs 20: Wine is a luxurious thing, and drunkenness is riotous. Therefore, captive. Here he sets down the corresponding punishment; and first as regards the affection of the will: hence he says, therefore — as their knowledge is made captive through drunkenness, so shall they themselves be made captive. Hosea 4: My people has fallen silent, because it had not knowledge. But it seems that ignorance does not merit punishment, because it excuses fault. And it must be said that ignorance can denote merely a negation of knowledge; and thus it merits neither punishment nor pardon, as the ignorance of geometry in country-folk. It can also denote a privation of knowledge, such that it leaves behind the aptitude that was due in the subject; and thus it is clear that not to know those things which one is able and bound to know is culpable. Second, he sets down the punishment against the species of gluttony; and thus he sets down hunger and thirst, which correspond to that which is too hastily as regards its cause: because hunger is caused by the fact that someone delays too long in taking food; as if he were to say: you ate too quickly, but you delayed so much that you shall hunger. Again it corresponds to that species which is ardently as regards its own kind: for hunger is a desire for food: hence he says, and the nobles. And he sets down thirst against the multitude of the common people, who are accustomed to quench thirst at least with water; but against the nobles, who abounded in provisions, and were at times burdened with thirst, he sets down hunger. Lamentations 4: It was better for those slain by the sword than for those killed by hunger. Second, against the other species which is too much, he sets down the insatiability of those who take captive, in the captivity — hence he says: therefore Hell has enlarged, that is, death or the Devil, its soul, as regards its desire, opened its mouth, as regards its effect. And he speaks after a human manner, because Hell does not have a soul. Proverbs 27: Hell and destruction are never filled. Or Hell is said to mean Nebuchadnezzar. Habakkuk 2: Hell has enlarged its soul, and it is like death, and is not satisfied. Third, as regards the studious preparation of food, which arises from a certain haughtiness, he sets down the punishment of humiliation, at the words, and they shall go down. And he shows that they are to be humbled in three respects. First as regards captivity: hence he says, they shall go down, as though humbled, to it, namely to the Hell of captivity, its strong ones, as regards the powerful, and its exalted ones, as regards the rich and those eminent in other goods, in which they take pride, and its glorious ones, as regards the noble and famous. Jeremiah 39: and the king of Babylon killed all the nobles of Judah. He also put out the eyes of Zedekiah, and bound him in fetters, that he might be led into Babylon. And further in the same: and the remnant of the people who remained in the city, and the deserters who had fled over to him, and the rest of the common people who remained, Nebuzaradan the captain of the soldiers carried away to Babylon. Second, as regards the abasement of the captives: and man shall be bowed down, existing in captivity, as regards the exalted, and man shall be humbled, as regards the powerful, and the eyes of the lofty, as regards the glorious. Deuteronomy 28: among those nations also you shall not rest; neither shall there be rest for the sole of your foot. Third, as regards the exaltation of God who punishes. And he shall be exalted: he who before was despised shall appear on high, in just judgment, and God, holy in himself, shall be sanctified, that is, shall appear holy. Above, chapter 2: and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. Fourth, against the species which is sumptuously, he sets down the devouring of goods by enemies: and lambs shall feed, that is, shall be eaten by your enemies according to their own order, because the better ones first — as regards the animals; and as regards the produce of the earth, the deserts, that is your fields deserted by you, into fruitfulness, that is, the strangers made more fruitful. Deuteronomy 28: The Lord shall bring you, and your king whom you shall set over you, into a nation which you do not know, you and your fathers. Further in the same: the stranger who dwells with you in the land shall rise above you, and shall be higher. Mystically, the lambs, that is the saints, shall feed — they shall be refreshed with the doctrine of God the Father according to their order, that is, their capacity; the strangers are the Gentiles; and the deserts, left by the Jews, namely the sacred Scriptures, turned into fruitfulness, of spiritual understanding. Woe to you who draw. Here he charges the obstinacy of sinning: and first he charges the fault, second he threatens the punishment, at the words, because of this, as. Concerning the first he does two things. First he charges in general; second he explains in particular, at, who say. He says therefore first: woe to you who draw, that is, drag out iniquity with the cords of vanity, that is, with vain occasions, by which man is drawn to sins, while through increase the fault is prolonged. Proverbs 5: his own iniquities catch the wicked man, and he is bound fast with the cords of his own sins. And this is said as regards common sins; but as regards grave sins he adds: and sin as the cord of a cart, that is, by which a cart is bound and drawn, which is a greater thing. And he designates the gravity of sin by the cart. Below, chapter 58: loose the bonds of wickedness, undo the bundles that weigh down. Who say. Here he shows these vanities in particular, from which they were drawing sin upon themselves; and this in three respects. First as regards contempt of the judge; second as regards the excusing of sin, at the words, woe to you who say; third as regards presumption in sinning, at the words, woe to you who are wise. And here is the threefold cord, which is broken with difficulty: Ecclesiasticus 4. They despised the threat of the judge on account of two things: namely on account of the delay of the sentence: hence he says, let it hasten, and let the work of captivity, which you threaten, come quickly. Ecclesiastes 8: for because sentence is not pronounced quickly against evildoers, the sons of men commit evils without any fear. Second, on account of the removedness of the judge: hence he says, let it draw near: as if he were to say: he is in heaven, and cannot see; so let it become near. Ezekiel 9: for they said: the Lord has forsaken the earth, and the Lord does not see. Note, upon that phrase, and sin as the cord of a cart, that sin is called, first, a cord; and this because it draws, first, toward the example of sin. Proverbs 7: immediately he follows her, like an ox led to the sacrifice, and he does not know that the fool is being drawn to bonds. Second, toward the habit of sinning. Jeremiah 2: a wild ass accustomed to the wilderness, in the desire of his soul drew in the wind of his love. Third, toward the ruin of eternal death. Proverbs 24: deliver those who are being led to death, and do not cease to free those who are drawn to destruction. Second, sin is called vanity; and this because, first, it fails from the imitation of divine truth. Wisdom 13: all men are vain, in whom there is not the knowledge of God. Second, it fails from the attainment of the hoped-for end. Ecclesiastes 2: but to the sinner he has given affliction and superfluous care, that he may add and gather, and hand it over to him who has pleased God. But this too is vanity, and a vain anxiety of mind. Third, it fails from the long duration of time. Ecclesiasticus 17: the son of man is not immortal, and they were pleased in the vanity of malice. Wisdom 5: all those things have passed away like a shadow, and like a messenger running ahead. Third, sin is called a bond; and this because, first, it binds the intellect, lest it see. Wisdom 17: for since the wicked were persuaded that they could dominate the holy nation, they, fettered with the chains of darkness and of a long night, shut up under roofs, were pleasing to everlasting providence. And while they think themselves hidden in their dark sins, they have been scattered by the dark veil of forgetfulness. Second, it binds the hand, lest it do good. Third, the feet, lest they advance. Concerning these two, Matthew 22: bind his feet and hands, and cast him into outer darkness. Fourth, sin is called a cart; and this because, first, it oppresses with the burden of servitude. Jeremiah 16: and there you shall serve strange gods day and night, who will not give you rest. Second, with fear of heart. Wisdom 17: for since wickedness is cowardly, it has been given over to the condemnation of all. Third, with the unquiet of conscience. Below, chapter 57: but the heart of the wicked is like a raging sea, which cannot rest.”

“Therefore hell hath enlarged herself,.... That is, the grave, to receive the dead which die with famine and thirst; signifying that the number of the dead would be so great, that the common burying places would not be sufficient to hold them; but additions must be made to them; or some vast prodigious pit must be dug, capable of receiving them; like Tophet, deep and large: or "hath enlarged her soul" (d); her desire after the dead, see Hab 2:5 being insatiable, and one of those things which are never satisfied, or have enough, Pro 30:15 wherefore it follows: and opened her mouth without measure; immensely wide; there being no boundary to its desires, nor any end of its cravings, or of filling it. And so the Targum renders it, "without end". Moreover, by "hell" may be meant the miserable estate and condition of the Jews upon the destruction of Jerusalem, when they were in the utmost distress and misery; see Gill on Luk 16:23. And their glory; their glorious ones, their nobles, as the Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic versions; and the Targum, their princes, rulers, civil and ecclesiastical; which were the glory of the nation: and their multitude; meaning the common people; or rather their great and honourable ones, as the Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic versions render the word; and in which sense it may be used in the preceding verse Isa 5:13; since not of the poor, but of the rich, the context speaks; even of such who indulged themselves in luxury and pleasure: and their pomp; the Septuagint version, "their rich ones"; such who live in pomp and splendour: but the word (e) signifies noise and tumult; and so the Targum renders it; and it designs noisy and tumultuous ones, who sing and roar, halloo and make a noise at feasts; and who may be called , "sons of tumult", or "tumultuous ones"; Jer 48:45 wherefore it follows: and he that rejoiceth, that is, at their feasts, shall descend into it; into hell, or the grave: or, "he that rejoiceth in it", that is, in the land or city; so the Targum, "he that is strong among them;'' so Jarchi and Kimchi interpret it. (d) "dilatavit suam animam", V. L. Munster, Montanus, Cocceius. (e) "et strepitus ejus", Montanus, Forerius.”

“hell--the grave; Hebrew, sheol; Greek, hades; "the unseen world of spirits." Not here, "the place of torment." Poetically, it is represented as enlarging itself immensely, in order to receive the countless hosts of Jews, which should perish (Num 16:30). their--that is, of the Jewish people. he that rejoiceth--the drunken reveller in Jerusalem.”

“The threat of punishment commences again with "therefore;" it has not yet satisfied itself, and therefore grasps deeper still. "Therefore the under-world opens its jaws wide, and stretches open its mouth immeasurably wide; and the glory of Jerusalem descends, and its tumult, and noise, and those who rejoice within it." The verbs which follow lâcēn (therefore) are prophetic preterites, as in Isa 5:13. The feminine suffixes attached to what the lower world swallows up do not refer to sheol (though this is construed more frequently, no doubt, as a feminine than as a masculine, as it is in Job 26:6), but, as expressed in the translation, to Jerusalem itself, which is also necessarily required by the last clause, "those who rejoice within it." The withdrawal of the tone from ועלז to the penultimate (cf., Châphētz in Psa 18:20; Psa 22:9) is intentionally omitted, to cause the rolling and swallowing up to be heard as it were. A mouth is ascribed to the under-world, also a nephesh, i.e., a greedy soul, in which sense nephesh is then applied metonymically sometimes to a thirst for blood (Psa 27:12), and sometimes to simple greediness (Isa 56:11), and even, as in the present passage and Hab 2:5, to the throat or swallow which the soul opens "without measure," when its craving knows no bounds (Psychol. p. 204). It has become a common thing now to drop entirely the notion which formerly prevailed, that the noun sheol was derived from the verb shâal in the sense in which it was generally employed, viz., to ask or demand; but Caspari, who has revived it again, is certainly so far correct, that the derivation of the word which the prophet had in his mind was this and no other. The word sheol (an infinitive form, like pekōd) signifies primarily the irresistible and inexorable demand made upon every earthly thing; and then secondarily, in a local sense, the place of the abode of shades, to which everything on the surface of the earth is summoned; or essentially the divinely appointed curse which demands and swallows up everything upon the earth. We simply maintain, however, that the word sheol, as generally sued, was associated in thought with shâal, to ask or demand. Originally, no doubt, it may have been derived from the primary and more material idea of the verb שׁאל, possibly from the meaning "to be hollow," which is also assumed to be the primary meaning of שׁעל. (Note: The meaning "to be hollow" is not very firmly established, however; as the primary meaning of שׁעל, and the analogy sometimes adduced of hell = hollow (Hlle = Hhle), is a deceptive one, as Hlle (hell), to which Luther always gives the more correct form Helle, does not mean a hollow, but a hidden place (or a place which renders invisible: from hln, to conceal), Lat. celans (see Jtting, Bibl. Wrterbuch, 1864, pp. 85, 86). It is much more probable that the meaning of sheol is not the hollow place, but the depression or depth, from של, which corresponds precisely to the Greek χαλᾶν so far as its primary meaning is concerned (compare the talmudic shilshêl, to let down; shilshul, sinking or depression, Erubin 83b; shul, the foundation, fundus): see Hupfeld on Psa 6:6. Luzzatto on this passage also explains sheol as signifying depth, and compares the talmudic hishchil = hēshil, to let down (or, according to others, to draw up - two meanings which may easily be combined in the same word, starting from its radical idea, which indicates in a general a loosening of the previous connection). Frst has also given up the meaning cavitas, a hollow, and endeavours to find a more correct explanation of the primary signification of shâ'al (see at Isa 40:12).) At any rate, this derivation answers to the view that generally prevailed in ancient times. According to the prevalent idea, Hades was in the interior of the earth. And there was nothing really absurd in this, since it is quite within the power and freedom of the omnipresent God to manifest Himself wherever and however He may please. As He reveals Himself above the earth, i.e., in heaven, among blessed spirits in the light of His love; so did He reveal Himself underneath the earth, viz., in Sheōl, in the darkness and fire of His wrath. And with the exception of Enoch and Elijah, with their marvellous departure from this life, the way of every mortal ended there, until the time when Jesus Christ, having first paid the λὐτρον, i.e., having shed His blood, which covers our guilt and turns the wrath of God into love, descended into Hades and ascended into heaven, and from that time forth has changed the death of all believers from a descent into Hades into an ascension to heaven. But even under the Old Testament the believer may have known, that whoever hid himself on this side the grave in Jehovah the living One, would retain his eternal germ of life even in Sheōl in the midst of the shades, and would taste the love of God even in the midst of wrath. It was this postulate of faith which lay at the foundation of the fact, that even under the Old Testament the broader and more comprehensive idea of Sheōl began to be contracted into the more limited notion of hell (see Psychol. p. 415). This is the case in the passage before us, where Isaiah predicts of everything of which Jerusalem was proud, and in which it revelled, including the persons who rejoice din these things, a descent into Hades; just as the Korahite author of Ps 49 wrote (Psa 49:14) that the beauty of the wicked would be given up to Hades to be consumed, without having hereafter any place in the upper world, when the upright should have dominion over them in the morning. Hades even here is almost equivalent to the New Testament gehenna.”