The Lord has promised that ’the loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be made low’ (2 Nephi 12:17). Isaiah is going to describe how the great king of Babylon will be humbled in death. He is also describing how Satan will be humbled when he is cast out at the beginning of the Millenium. In a rare glimpse into the world of spirit prison (hell), we see that the once mighty but wicked men of the earth (now in spirit prison) are interested to see the new arrival of the king of Babylon. They chide him, ’Art thou also become weak as we?’ (v. 10) His spirit has been cast into hell with the wicked, his body (of king of literal Babylon) lies decomposing in the earth, ’the worm is spread under thee, and the worms cover thee’ (v. 10).
“This section of the poem predicts Satan’s being restricted to the spirit world of hell during the millennial years of peace on earth, and describes the reaction of hell’s inhabitants when it is announced that he is assigned there. That he will have influence there is shown by the Prophet Joseph Smith‘s statement that ’when we have power to put all enemies under our feet in this world, and a knowledge to triumph over all evil spirits in the world to come, then we are saved’ (TPJS, p. 297). Alma 34:34Alma 34:35Alma 34:34Alma 34:35Alma 34:34-35 also shows that the spirit of the devil will have power to possess the unrepentant in the spirit world. When he is bound in the spirit world, ‘the chief ones of the earth’-those leaders who were influential in the devil’s kingdom while they lived upon the earth—will assemble to greet him. When they see him, they will be amazed at his having lost his power.” (Monte S. Nyman, Great are the Words of Isaiah [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1980], 85 as taken from Commentaries on Isaiah in the Book of Mormon, ed. by K. Douglas Bassett, [American Fork, UT: Covenant Publishing Co., 2003], 211)