< 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.
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 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 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 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 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 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;
And you shall take up this lamentation against the king of Babylon, How has the extortioner ceased, and the taskmaster ceased!
5 The stick of the evil-doers, the rod of the rulers, is broken by the Lord;
The Lord has broken the yoke of sinners, the yoke of princes.
6 He whose rod was on the peoples with an unending wrath, ruling the nations in passion, with an uncontrolled rule.
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 rest and is quiet: they are bursting into song.
All the earth cries aloud with joy:
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 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 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 )
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 )
10 They all make answer and say to you, Have you become feeble like us? have you been made even as we are?
All shall answer and say to you, You also have been taken, even as we; and you are numbered among 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 )
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 )
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 has Lucifer, that rose in the morning, fallen from heaven! He that sent [orders] to all the nations is crushed to the earth.
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.
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 toward the north:
14 I will go higher than the clouds; I will be like the Most High.
I will go up above the clouds: I will be like the Most High.
15 But you will come down to the underworld, even to its inmost parts. (Sheol )
But now you shall go down to hell, even to the foundations of the earth. (Sheol )
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?
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 made the world a waste, overturning its towns; who did not let his prisoners loose from the prison-house.
that made the whole world desolate, and destroyed its cities; he loosed not those who were in captivity.
18 All the kings of the earth are at rest in glory, every man in his house,
All the kings of the nations lie in honor, [every] man in his 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 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 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.
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 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 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 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.
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 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 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 has taken an oath, saying, My design will certainly come about, and my purpose will be effected:
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 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.
[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 purpose for all the earth: and this is the hand stretched out over all 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 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 what the Holy God has purposed, who shall frustrate? and who shall turn back his uplifted hand?
28 In the year of the death of King Ahaz this word came to the prophet:
In the year in which king Achaz died this word came.
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.
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 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 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 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.
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, 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 shall the kings of the nations answer? That the Lord has founded Sion, and by him the poor of the people shall be saved.