Isaiah 14
1 For the LORD will have compassion on Jacob; once again He will choose Israel and settle them in their own land. The foreigner will join them and unite with the house of Jacob.
And the Lord will have mercy on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel, and they shall rest on their land: and the stranger shall be added to them, yes, shall be added to the house of Jacob.
2 The nations will escort Israel and bring it to its homeland. Then the house of Israel will possess the nations as menservants and maidservants in the LORD’s land. They will make captives of their captors and rule over their oppressors.
And the Gentiles shall take them, and bring them into their place: and they shall inherit them, and they shall be multiplied upon the land for servants and handmaidens: and they that took them captives shall become captives [to them]; and they that had lordship over them shall be under [their] rule.
3 On the day that the LORD gives you rest from your pain and torment, and from the hard labor into which you were forced,
And it shall come to pass in that day, [that] the Lord shall give you rest from your sorrow and vexation, [and from] your hard servitude wherein you did serve them.
4 you will sing this song of contempt against the king of Babylon: How the oppressor has ceased, and how his fury has ended!
And you shall take up this lamentation against the king of Babylon, How has the extortioner ceased, and the taskmaster ceased!
5 The LORD has broken the staff of the wicked, the scepter of the rulers.
The Lord has broken the yoke of sinners, the yoke of princes.
6 It struck the peoples in anger with unceasing blows; it subdued the nations in rage with relentless persecution.
Having struck a nation in wrath, with an incurable plague, striking a nation with a wrathful plague, which spared [them] not, he rested in quiet.
7 All the earth is at peace and at rest; they break out in song.
All the earth cries aloud with joy:
8 Even the cypresses and cedars of Lebanon exult over you: “Since you have been laid low, no woodcutter comes against us.”
the trees also of Libanus rejoice against you, and the cedar of Libanus, [saying], From the time that you have been laid low, no one has come up to cut us down.
9 Sheol beneath is eager to meet you upon your arrival. It stirs the spirits of the dead to greet you— all the rulers of the earth. It makes all the kings of the nations rise from their thrones. (Sheol h7585)
Hell from beneath is provoked to meet you: all the great ones that have ruled over the earth have risen up together against you, they that have raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations. (Sheol h7585)
10 They will all respond to you, saying, “You too have become weak, as we are; you have become like us!”
All shall answer and say to you, You also have been taken, even as we; and you are numbered amongst us.
11 Your pomp has been brought down to Sheol, along with the music of your harps. Maggots are your bed and worms your blanket. (Sheol h7585)
Your glory has come down to Hades, and your great mirth: under you they shall spread corruption, and the worm shall be your covering. (Sheol h7585)
12 How you have fallen from heaven, O day star, son of the dawn! You have been cut down to the ground, O destroyer of nations.
How has Lucifer, that rose in the morning, fallen from heaven! He that sent [orders] to all the nations is crushed to the earth.
13 You said in your heart: “I will ascend to the heavens; I will raise my throne above the stars of God. I will sit on the mount of assembly, in the far reaches of the north.
But you said in your heart, I will go up to heaven, I will set my throne above the stars of heaven: I will sit on a lofty mount, on the lofty mountains towards the north:
14 I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.”
I will go up above the clouds: I will be like the Most High.
But now you shall go down to hell, even to the foundations of the earth. (Sheol h7585)
16 Those who see you will stare; they will ponder your fate: “Is this the man who shook the earth and made the kingdoms tremble,
They that see you shall wonder at you, and say, This is the man that troubled the earth, that made kings to shake;
17 who turned the world into a desert and destroyed its cities, who refused to let the captives return to their homes?”
that made the whole world desolate, and destroyed its cities; he loosed not those who were in captivity.
18 All the kings of the nations lie in state, each in his own tomb.
All the kings of the nations lie in honour, [every] man in his house.
19 But you are cast out of your grave like a rejected branch, covered by those slain with the sword, and dumped into a rocky pit like a carcass trampled underfoot.
But you shall be cast forth on the mountains, as a loathed carcase, with many dead who have been pierced with swords, going down to the grave.
20 You will not join them in burial, since you have destroyed your land and slaughtered your own people. The offspring of the wicked will never again be mentioned.
As a garment defiled with blood shall not be pure, so neither shall you be pure; because you have destroyed my land, and have slain my people: you shall not endure for ever, —[you] an evil seed.
21 Prepare a place to slaughter his sons for the iniquities of their forefathers. They will never rise up to possess a land or cover the earth with their cities.
Prepare your children to be slain for the sins of their father; that they arise not, and inherit the earth, nor fill the earth with wars.
22 “I will rise up against them,” declares the LORD of Hosts. “I will cut off from Babylon her name and her remnant, her offspring and her posterity,”
And I will rise up against them, says the Lord of hosts, and I will destroy their name, and remnant, and seed: thus says the Lord.
23 “I will make her a place for owls and for swamplands; I will sweep her away with the broom of destruction,” declares the LORD of Hosts.
And I will make the region of Babylon desert, so that hedgehogs shall dwell [there], and it shall come to nothing: and I will make it a pit of clay for destruction.
24 The LORD of Hosts has sworn: “Surely, as I have planned, so will it be; as I have purposed, so will it stand.
Thus says the Lord of hosts, As I have said, so it shall be: and as I have purposed, so [the matter] shall remain:
25 I will break Assyria in My land; I will trample him on My mountain. His yoke will be taken off My people, and his burden removed from their shoulders.”
[even] to destroy the Assyrians upon my land, and upon my mountains: and they shall be for trampling; and their yoke shall be taken away from them, and their glory shall be taken away from their shoulders.
26 This is the plan devised for the whole earth, and this is the hand stretched out over all the nations.
This is the purpose which the Lord has purposed upon the whole earth: and this the hand that is uplifted against all the nations.
27 The LORD of Hosts has purposed, and who can thwart Him? His hand is outstretched, so who can turn it back?
For what the Holy God has purposed, who shall frustrate? and who shall turn back his uplifted hand?
28 In the year that King Ahaz died, this burden was received:
In the year in which king Achaz died this word came.
29 Do not rejoice, all you Philistines, that the rod that struck you is broken. For a viper will spring from the root of the snake, and a flying serpent from its egg.
Rejoice not, all you Philistines, because the yoke of him that struck you is broken: for out of the seed of the serpent shall come forth the young asps, and their young shall come forth flying serpents,
30 Then the firstborn of the poor will find pasture, and the needy will lie down in safety, but I will kill your root by famine, and your remnant will be slain.
And the poor shall be fed by him, and poor men shall rest in peace: but he shall destroy your seed with hunger, and shall destroy your remnant.
31 Wail, O gate! Cry out, O city! Melt away, all you Philistines! For a cloud of smoke comes from the north, and there are no stragglers in its ranks.
Howl, you gates of cities; let the cities be troubled and cry, [even] all the Philistines: for smoke is coming from the north, and there is no [possibility] of living.
32 What answer will be given to the envoys of that nation? “The LORD has founded Zion, where His afflicted people will find refuge.”
And what shall the kings of the nations answer? That the Lord has founded Sion, and by him the poor of the people shall be saved.
