Isaiah 14:17

Destroyed the cities. A literal description of Babylonian conquests (see on vs. 4, 6). When God was about to create this world, Lucifer, the “king” of mystical Babylon (see on v. 4), wanted to be consulted. He thought he could improve upon the handiwork of God, and promised a higher sphere of existence to those who would follow him. But when he did secure control of this world he succeeded only in transforming it into an accursed, desolate waste. Eventually, all will see that Satan has made of the entire world a vast, bleak wilderness in striking contrast with its surpassing beauty as it came from the hand of God (Gen. 1:31). Desolation and death, not life and joy, are the inevitable results of Satan’s rule.

The house of his prisoners. The literal “king of Babylon” (see on v. 4) held his captive peoples in utter subjection. Compare the attitude of the king of Egypt (Ex. 5:2). Now the king of Babylon suffers the same fate he once inflicted upon others. Similarly, Lucifer, king of mystical Babylon, defiantly refuses to release the captives he holds in the prison house of death (Jude 9).