Albert Barnes Commentary Isaiah 26:14

"[They are] dead, they shall not live; [they are] deceased, they shall not rise: therefore hast thou visited and destroyed them, and made all remembrance of them to perish." — Isaiah 26:14 (ASV)

They are dead - That is, the kings and tyrants to whom reference is made in Isaiah 26:13. The principal enemies of the Jews, who had oppressed them, were slain when Babylon was taken by Cyrus (see the notes at Isaiah 13 and Isaiah 14).

They shall not live - They shall not live again, and be permitted to harass and enslave us.

They are deceased - Hebrew, רפאים repâ'iym - a name given to the shades or spirits of the dead, from an idea that they were weak and powerless (see the notes at Isaiah 14:9-10; Proverbs 2:18; Proverbs 9:18; Proverbs 21:16). The sense here is that they had died and gone to the land of shades, and were now no longer able to reach or injure the people of God.

Therefore - Or rather, “for”; the word לכן lākên being used evidently in the sense of because, as in Genesis 38:26; Numbers 11:31; Numbers 14:13; Psalms 42:7; Psalms 45:3. The declaration that follows is given as the reason why they were dead, and incapable of injuring or annoying them again.

Have you visited ... - (see the note at Isaiah 24:22). The word ‘visit’ here is used in the sense of to punish.

And made all their memory to perish - You have blotted out their name; you have caused their renown to cease.