There is plenty of figurative language in Isaiah - especially when actual historical events are being described! Isaiah 14:4-23 is a taunt (verse 4), which is normally a way of presenting things before they happen, but that doesn’t mean the figurative language is not a way of describing actual events in advance of their occurrence.

Verse 11 simply describes all that can be seen of the King of Babylon’s physical remains on earth after death. I’m not sure why Andrew has included it in his comment.

The passage is not conclusive proof of an intermediate state - just a piece of evidence which, along with other evidence, suggests some belief in post mortem existence.

I’m a bit puzzled about Andrew being puzzled over Isaiah 66:24. The OT cross-references suggest a figurative rather than literal “worm” here, which may be a reference to human personality, but the meaning seems clear - extinction of life is not what is being described.

The same is true of the NT cross-references (Mark 9:44,46,48). If you try to take the verses as literal and historical (ie having been fulfilled in the past in a strictly literal sense), you run into problems with having to take “where their worm dies not and the fire is not quenched” as figurative!

Enarchay has still done a good study - which I’d like to keep a copy of. I just don’t think it takes into account some fairly important counter-arguments.

I’m a believer in the intermediate state, by the way, in case you hadn’t gleaned that!