Albert Barnes Commentary Isaiah 14:31

"Howl, O gate; cry, O city; thou art melted away, O Philistia, all of thee; for there cometh a smoke out of the north, and there is no straggler in his ranks." — Isaiah 14:31 (ASV)

Howl, O gate - That is, you who throng the gate. The gates of a city were the chief places of concourse.

Cry, O city - The prophet here focuses attention on some principal city of Philistia, and calls upon it to be alarmed in view of the judgments that were about to come upon the whole land.

Art dissolved - The word ‘dissolved’ (מוג mûg) is applied to that which melts, or which wastes away gradually, and then to that which faints or disappears. It means here that the kingdom of Philistia would disappear or be destroyed. It probably conveys the idea of its fainting or becoming feeble from fear or apprehension.

From the north a smoke - From the regions of Judah, which lay north and east of Philistia. The ‘smoke’ here probably refers to a cloud of dust that would be seen to rise in that direction, made by an invading army.

And none shall be alone in his appointed times - There has been a great variety of interpretation regarding this passage. Lowth renders it, ‘And there shall not be a straggler among his forces.’ The Hebrew is, as in the margin, ‘And not solitary in his assemblies.’ The Septuagint renders it, Καί οὐκ ἔσται τοῦ εῖναι Kai ouk estai tou einai - ‘And it is not to be endured.’ The Chaldee, ‘And there shall be none who shall retard him in his times.’ The Arabic, ‘Neither is there anyone who can stand in his footsteps.’ The Vulgate, ‘Neither is there anyone who can escape his army.’ Aben Ezra renders it, ‘No one of the Philistines shall dare to remain in their palaces, as when a smoke comes into a house all are driven out.’

Probably the correct idea is given by Lowth, and the same interpretation is given by Gesenius, Rosenmuller, Dathe, and Michaelis.

According to this view, no one in the invading army of Hezekiah shall come by himself; no one shall be weary or be a straggler. The army shall advance in close military array and in dense columns. This is represented as the cause of the cloud or smoke that the prophet saw rising—the cloud of dust made by the close ranks of the invading host .