Isaiah 14
1 For the Lord will have mercy on Jacob, and will again make Israel his special people, and will put them in their land; and the man from a strange country will take his place among them and be joined to the family of Jacob.
Her time is drawing near, and her days will not be prolonged. For the Lord will take pity on Jacob, and he will still choose from Israel, and he will cause them to rest upon their own soil. And the new arrival will be joined to them, and he will adhere to the house of Jacob.
2 And the people will take them with them to their place: and the children of Israel will give them a heritage in the Lord's land as men-servants and women-servants, making them prisoners whose prisoners they were; and they will be rulers over their masters.
And the people will take them, and lead them to their place. And the house of Israel will possess them, in the land of the Lord, as men and women servants. And they will take captive those who had taken them captive. And they will subjugate their oppressors.
3 And it will be, in the day when the Lord gives you rest from your sorrow, and from your trouble, and from the hard yoke which they had put on you,
And this shall be in that day: when God will have given you rest from your labor, and from your oppression, and from the difficult servitude under which you served before,
4 That you will take up this bitter song against the king of Babylon, and say, How has the cruel overseer come to an end! He who was lifted up in pride is cut off;
you will accept this parable against the king of Babylon, and you will say: “How is it that the oppressor has ceased, along with his tribute?
5 The stick of the evil-doers, the rod of the rulers, is broken by the Lord;
The Lord has crushed the staff of the impious, the scepter of despots,
6 He whose rod was on the peoples with an unending wrath, ruling the nations in passion, with an uncontrolled rule.
which struck the people in wrath with an incurable wound, which subjugated the nations in fury, which persecuted with cruelty.
7 All the earth is at rest and is quiet: they are bursting into song.
All the earth has become quiet and still; it has been gladdened and has rejoiced.
8 Even the trees of the wood are glad over you, the trees of Lebanon, saying, From the time of your fall no wood-cutter has come up against us with an axe.
The evergreens, too, have rejoiced over you, and the cedars of Lebanon, saying: ‘Since you have slept, no one has ascended who would cut us down.’
9 The underworld is moved at your coming: the shades of the dead are awake before you, even the strong ones of the earth; all the kings of the world have got up from their seats. (Sheol h7585)
Hell below was stirred up to meet you at your advent; it has awakened the giants for you. All the leaders of the earth have risen from their thrones, all the leaders among the nations.” (Sheol h7585)
10 They all make answer and say to you, Have you become feeble like us? have you been made even as we are?
Everyone will respond and will say to you: “Now you are wounded, just as we were; you have become like us.
11 Your pride has gone down into the underworld, and the noise of your instruments of music; the worms are under you, and your body is covered with them. (Sheol h7585)
Your arrogance has been dragged down to Hell. Your body has fallen dead. The moths will be strewn beneath you, and the worms will be your covering. (Sheol h7585)
12 How great is your fall from heaven, O shining one, son of the morning! How are you cut down to the earth, low among the dead bodies!
How is it that you have fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, who used to rise like the sun? How is it that you have fallen to the earth, you who wounded the peoples?
13 For you said in your heart, I will go up to heaven, I will make my seat higher than the stars of God; I will take my place on the mountain of the meeting-place of the gods, in the inmost parts of the north.
And you said in your heart: ‘I will climb up to heaven. I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. I will be enthroned upon the mountain of the covenant, on the northern parts.
14 I will go higher than the clouds; I will be like the Most High.
I will ascend above the tops of the clouds. I will be like the Most High.’
Yet truly, you shall be dragged down to Hell, into the depths of the pit. (Sheol h7585)
16 Those who see you will be looking on you with care, they will be in deep thought, saying, Is this the troubler of the earth, the shaker of kingdoms?
Those who see you, will lean toward you, and will gaze upon you, saying: ‘Could this be the man who disturbed the earth, who shook kingdoms,
17 Who made the world a waste, overturning its towns; who did not let his prisoners loose from the prison-house.
who made the world into a desert and destroyed its cities, who would not even open a prison for his prisoners?’”
18 All the kings of the earth are at rest in glory, every man in his house,
All the kings of the nations throughout the whole world have slept in glory, each man in his own house.
19 But you, like a birth before its time, are stretched out with no resting-place in the earth; clothed with the bodies of the dead who have been put to the sword, who go down to the lowest parts of the underworld; a dead body, crushed under foot.
But you have been rejected from your grave, like a useless polluted plant, and you have been bound up with those who were slain by the sword, and who descended to the bottom of the pit, like a rotting carcass.
20 As for your fathers, you will not be united with them in their resting-place, because you have been the cause of destruction to your land, and of death to your people; the seed of the evil-doer will have no place in the memory of man.
You will not be associated with them, even in the grave. For you have destroyed your own land; you have slain your own people. The offspring of the wicked ones will not be called upon for eternity.
21 Make ready a place of death for his children, because of the evil-doing of their father; so that they may not come up and take the earth for their heritage, covering the face of the world with waste places.
Prepare his sons for the slaughter, according to the iniquity of their fathers. They will not rise up, nor inherit the earth, nor fill the face of the world with cities.
22 For I will come up against them, says the Lord of armies, cutting off from Babylon name and offspring, son and son's son, says the Lord.
But I will rise up against them, says the Lord of hosts. And I will perish the name of Babylon and its remnants: both the plant and its progeny, says the Lord.
23 And I will make you a heritage for the hedgehog, and pools of water: and I will go through it with the brush of destruction, says the Lord of armies.
And I will appoint it as a possession for the hedgehog, with swamps of water. And I will sweep it out and wear it away with a brush, says the Lord of hosts.
24 The Lord has taken an oath, saying, My design will certainly come about, and my purpose will be effected:
The Lord of hosts has sworn, saying: Surely, just as I have considered it, so shall it be, and in the same manner as I have drawn it through my mind,
25 To let the Assyrian be broken in my land, and crushed under foot on my mountains: there will his yoke be taken away from them, and his rule over them come to an end.
so shall it occur. So shall I crush the Assyrian in my land, and I will trample him upon my mountains, and his yoke will be taken away from them, and his burden will be removed from their shoulder.
26 This is the purpose for all the earth: and this is the hand stretched out over all nations.
This is the plan that I have decided, concerning the entire earth, and this is the hand which is extended over all the nations.
27 For it is the purpose of the Lord of armies, and who will make it of no effect? when his hand is stretched out, by whom may it be turned back?
For the Lord of hosts has decreed it, and who is able to weaken it? And his hand is extended, so who can avert it?
28 In the year of the death of King Ahaz this word came to the prophet:
In the year in which king Ahaz died, this burden was given:
29 Be not glad, O Philistia, all of you, because the rod which was on you is broken: for out of the snake's root will come a poison-snake, and its fruit will be a winged poison-snake.
You should not rejoice, all you of Philistia, that the rod of him who struck you has been crushed. For from the root of the serpent will go forth a king snake, and his offspring will engulf that which flies.
30 And the poorest of the land will have food, and those in need will be given a safe resting-place: but your seed will come to an end for need of food, and the rest of you will be put to the sword.
And the firstborn of the poor will be pastured, and the poor will rest in faithfulness. And I will cause your root to pass away by famine, and I will put to death your remnant.
31 Send out a cry, O door! Make sounds of sorrow, O town! All your land has come to nothing, O Philistia; for there comes a smoke out of the north, and everyone keeps his place in the line.
Wail, O gate! Cry out, O city! All of Philistia has been prostrated. For a smoke will arrive from the north, and there is no one who will escape his army.
32 What answer, then, will my people give to the representatives of the nation? That the Lord is the builder of Zion, and she will be a safe place for the poor of his people.
And what will be the response to this news among the nations? It will be that the Lord has established Zion, and that the poor of his people will hope in him.
