Jamieson, Fausset and Brown on Isaiah 43:14

14. sent--namely, the Medes and Persians (Is 10:5, 6; 13:3).

brought down--"made to go down" to the sea (Is 42:10), in order to escape the impending destruction of Babylon.

nobles--rather, "fugitives," namely, the foreigners who sojourned in populous Babylon (Is 13:14), distinct from the Chaldeans [Maurer].

whose cry is in the ships--exulting in their ships with the joyous sailors--cry, boastingly; their joy heretofore in their ships contrasts sadly with their present panic in fleeing to them (Is 22:2; Zep 2:15). Babylon was on the Euphrates, which was joined to the Tigris by a canal, and flowed into the Persian Gulf. Thus it was famed for ships and commerce until the Persian monarchs, to prevent revolt or invasion, obstructed navigation by dams across the Tigris and Euphrates.