Albert Barnes Commentary Isaiah 14:20

"Thou shalt not be joined with them in burial, because thou hast destroyed thy land, thou hast slain thy people; the seed of evil-doers shall not be named for ever." — Isaiah 14:20 (ASV)

You shall not be joined with them in burial - That is, even with those who are slain with the sword in battle, and to whom is granted the privilege of a decent burial.

You have destroyed your land - You have been a cruel, harsh, and oppressive prince.

The seed of evil-doers - The posterity of the wicked.

Shall never be renowned - Hebrew, ‘Shall never be called,’ or ‘named’ (לא־יקרא lo' - yîqārē'); that is, shall never be distinguished, celebrated, or honored.

This is a general proposition; however, the prophet here possibly intends to apply it to the king about whom he is speaking—as having descended from wicked ancestors—or, more probably, it is a new circumstance, more fully explained in the following verse: that his posterity would be cut off from the honor of succeeding him on the throne, and that they, as well as he, would be loaded with disgrace.

The design is to affirm the fact that the Babylonian dynasty would end with him, and that his posterity would be reduced from the honors which they had hoped to inherit.

At the same time, this general proposition applies not only to the posterity of the king of Babylon but to all. It is a great truth pertaining to the divine administration that the descendants of wicked people shall be dishonored. So it is with the posterity of a traitor, a pirate, a drunkard, a man of profligacy. They are involved in disgrace, poverty, and calamity as the result of their ancestor’s sin.