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.
For YHWH loves Jacob, And has fixed again on Israel, And given them rest on their own land, And the sojourner has been joined to them, And they have been admitted 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 peoples have taken them, And have brought them to their place, And the house of Israel has inherited them, On the land of YHWH, For menservants and for maidservants, And they have been captors of their captors, And have ruled over their exactors.
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 has come to pass, In the day of YHWH’s giving rest to you, From your grief, and from your trouble, And from the sharp bondage, That has been served on you,
4 you will sing this song of contempt against the king of Babylon: How the oppressor has ceased, and how his fury has ended!
That you have taken up this allegory Concerning the king of Babylon, and said, “How the exactor has ceased,
5 The LORD has broken the staff of the wicked, the scepter of the rulers.
The golden one has ceased. YHWH has broken the staff of the wicked, The scepter of rulers.
6 It struck the peoples in anger with unceasing blows; it subdued the nations in rage with relentless persecution.
He who is striking peoples in wrath, A striking without intermission, He who is ruling nations in anger, Pursuing without restraint!
7 All the earth is at peace and at rest; they break out in song.
At rest—all the earth has been quiet, They have broken forth [into] singing.
8 Even the cypresses and cedars of Lebanon exult over you: “Since you have been laid low, no woodcutter comes against us.”
Even firs have rejoiced over you, Cedars of Lebanon, [saying], Since you have lain down, The hewer does not come up against us.
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)
Sheol beneath has been troubled at you, To meet your coming in, It is waking up Rephaim for you, All chief ones of earth, It has raised up from their thrones All kings of 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 of them answer and say to you, Even you have become weak like us! You have become like to 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 excellence has been brought down to Sheol, The noise of your stringed instruments, The worm has been spread out under you, Indeed, the worm is covering you. (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 you have fallen from the heavens, O shining one, son of the dawn! You have been cut down to earth, O weakener of nations.
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.
And you said in your heart: I go up into the heavens, I raise my throne above the stars of God, And I sit on the mountain of meeting in the sides of the north.
14 I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.”
I go up above the heights of a thick cloud, I am like to the Most High.
Only—you are brought down to Sheol, To the sides of the pit. (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,
Your beholders look to you, they attend to you, Is this the man causing the earth to tremble, Shaking kingdoms?
17 who turned the world into a desert and destroyed its cities, who refused to let the captives return to their homes?”
He has made the world as a wilderness, And he has broken down his cities, He did not open the house of his bound ones.
18 All the kings of the nations lie in state, each in his own tomb.
All kings of nations—all of them, Have lain down in glory, each 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.
And you have been cast out of your grave, As an abominable branch, raiment of the slain, Thrust through ones of the sword, Going down to the sons of the pit, As a carcass trodden down.
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.
You are not united with them in burial, For you have destroyed your land, You have slain your people, The seed of evildoers is not named for all time.
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 slaughter for his sons; Because of the iniquity of their fathers, They do not rise, nor have possessed the land, Nor filled the face of the world [with] cities.
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 have risen up against them,” A declaration of YHWH of Hosts, “And have cut off, in reference to Babylon, Name and remnant, and continuator and successor,” A declaration of YHWH.
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 have made it for a possession of a hedgehog, And ponds of waters, And swept it with the broom of destruction,” A declaration of YHWH of Hosts!
24 The LORD of Hosts has sworn: “Surely, as I have planned, so will it be; as I have purposed, so will it stand.
YHWH of Hosts has sworn, saying, “As I thought—so has it not been? And as I counseled—it stands;
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.”
To break Asshur in My land, And I tread him down on My mountain, And his yoke has turned from off them, Indeed, his burden turns aside from off their shoulder.
26 This is the plan devised for the whole earth, and this is the hand stretched out over all the nations.
This [is] the counsel that is counseled for all the earth, And this [is] the hand that is stretched out for 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 YHWH of Hosts has purposed, And who makes void? And His hand that is stretched out, Who turns it back?”
28 In the year that King Ahaz died, this burden was received:
In the year of the death of King Ahaz was this burden:
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.
“Do not rejoice, Philistia, all of you, That the rod of your striker has been broken, For from the root of a serpent comes out a viper, And its fruit [is] a flying, burning serpent.
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 firstborn of the poor have delighted, And the needy lie down in confidence, And I have put to death your root with famine, And it slays 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, O gate; cry, O city, You are melted, Philistia, all of you, For smoke has come from the north, And there is none alone in his set places.”
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 does one answer the messengers of a nation? That YHWH has founded Zion, And the poor of His people take refuge in it!
