The LORD has broken the staff of the wicked, the scepter of rulers,
5. The Lord hath broken the staff of the wicked. He answers the question which has just been put; for he did not intend that believers should doubt that it would happen, but rather that they should be amazed at such wonderful works of God; for the question had a tendency to arouse their minds to more earnest attention.
The kings of Babylon, successively, were the great enemies and oppressors of God's people, and therefore the destruction of Babylon, the fall of the king, and the ruin of his family, are here particularly taken notice of and triumphed in. In the day that God has given Israel rest they shall take up this proverb against the king of Babylon.
Commenting on Isaiah 14:4-23
The Lord hath broken the staff of the wicked,.... This is an answer to the above question, how the exactor and his tribute came to cease; this was not by man, but by the Lord himself; for though he made use of Cyrus, the work was his own, he broke the power of the wicked kings of Babylon: and the sceptre of the rulers; that...