Isaiah 14
1 But the Lord will be merciful to the descendants of Jacob. Once again he will choose Israel and he will bring them back to live once more in their own land. Foreigners will come and join them there, and they will unite with the descendants of Jacob.
For the LORD will have mercy on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel, and set them in their own land: and the strangers shall be joined with them, and they shall join to the house of Jacob.
2 Nations will go with them and escort them to their own land. The foreigners who stay in the Lord's land will serve the Israelites. In this way the captors become their captives, and they rule over their former oppressors.
And the people shall take them, and bring them to their place: and the house of Israel shall possess them in the land of the LORD for servants and handmaids: and they shall take them captives, whose captives they were; and they shall rule over their oppressors.
3 At that time the Lord will give you relief from your pain and trouble, and from the hard labor you were forced to do.
And it shall come to pass in the day that the LORD shall give you rest from your sorrow, and from your fear, and from the hard bondage wherein you were made to serve,
4 You will mock the king of Babylon, saying, “How your oppressive rule has been ended, and your insolence stopped!
That you shall take up this proverb against the king of Babylon, and say, How has the oppressor ceased! the golden city ceased!
5 The Lord has broken the rod of the wicked, the rulers' scepter.
The LORD has broken the staff of the wicked, and the scepter of the rulers.
6 You kept on furiously hitting foreign peoples without stopping, and aggressively ruled nations with unrestrained persecution.
He who smote the people in wrath with a continual stroke, he that ruled the nations in anger, is persecuted, and none hinders.
7 Now the whole earth rests peacefully, and everyone starts celebrating!
The whole earth is at rest, and is quiet: they break forth into singing.
8 The cypress and cedar trees are glad you're gone. They sing, ‘Since you were cut down no woodcutters are coming to cut us down!’
Yes, the fir trees rejoice at you, and the cedars of Lebanon, saying, Since you are laid down, no feller is come up against us.
9 Those in the grave beneath are keen to meet you when you arrive. It wakes the spirits of the dead to welcome you, those of all the rulers of the earth. All the kings of the nations stand up from their thrones. (Sheol h7585)
Hell from beneath is moved for you to meet you at your coming: it stirs up the dead for you, even all the chief ones of the earth; it has raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations. (Sheol h7585)
10 They will all speak up and tell you, ‘So you too are as weak as we are—you've become just like us!
All they shall speak and say to you, Are you also become weak as we? are you become like to us?
11 Your pride is now buried with you in the grave, along with the harp music you loved. Maggots are the bed you lie on, and worms are your blanket.’ (Sheol h7585)
Your pomp is brought down to the grave, and the noise of your viols: the worm is spread under you, and the worms cover you. (Sheol h7585)
12 Morning star, son of the dawn, how you have fallen from heaven! Destroyer of nations, you have been cut down to the ground!
How are you fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how are you cut down to the ground, which did weaken the nations!
13 You said to yourself: ‘I will ascend to heaven. I will raise my throne above the stars of God. I will sit enthroned on the mountain of meeting, the summit of the northern mountain.
For you have said in your heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also on the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:
14 I will ascend to the high places above the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’
I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.
Yet you shall be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit. (Sheol h7585)
16 Those who see you will stare at you, examining you closely, asking, ‘Is this the man who shook the earth, who made kingdoms tremble?
They that see you shall narrowly look on you, and consider you, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms;
17 Is this the one who turned the world into a desert, destroyed cities, and never let his prisoners return home?’
That made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof; that opened not the house of his prisoners?
18 All the other kings of the nations lie in splendor in their great mausoleums.
All the kings of the nations, even all of them, lie in glory, every one in his own house.
19 But you are thrown out of your grave like a branch nobody wants, buried underneath the bodies of those killed by the sword. You are like a corpse trodden underfoot. You are tossed into a pit full of rocks—
But you are cast out of your grave like an abominable branch, and as the raiment of those that are slain, thrust through with a sword, that go down to the stones of the pit; as a carcass trodden under feet.
20 you will not be buried like those other kings because you destroyed your own land and killed your own people. The descendants of those who do evil will never survive.
You shall not be joined with them in burial, because you have destroyed your land, and slain your people: the seed of evildoers shall never be renowned.
21 Get ready to execute his sons because of their fathers' sins. Don't let them take over the earth; don't let them fill the whole world with their cities.
Prepare slaughter for his children for the iniquity of their fathers; that they do not rise, nor possess the land, nor fill the face of the world with cities.
22 I will come and attack them, declares the Lord Almighty. I will destroy everything: their reputation, those who remain, their children, and their descendants, says the Lord.
For I will rise up against them, says the LORD of hosts, and cut off from Babylon the name, and remnant, and son, and nephew, says the LORD.
23 I will make Babylon into a place for water birds and into marshland. I will sweep her away with the broom of destruction, declares the Lord Almighty.”
I will also make it a possession for the bittern, and pools of water: and I will sweep it with the besom of destruction, says the LORD of hosts.
24 The Lord Almighty has sworn an oath: It will be as I have planned. It will happen as I have decided.
The LORD of hosts has sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass; and as I have purposed, so shall it stand:
25 I will smash the Assyrians when they are in my country Israel; I will trample them underfoot on my mountains. I will remove their yoke from my people, and take away the burdens they place on my people's shoulders.
That I will break the Assyrian in my land, and on my mountains tread him under foot: then shall his yoke depart from off them, and his burden depart from off their shoulders.
26 This is the plan I have made regarding the whole earth; my hand stretches out to control all the nations.
This is the purpose that is purposed on the whole earth: and this is the hand that is stretched out on all the nations.
27 The Lord Almighty has made his plan, and who will block it? His hand stretches out, and who will push back against it?
For the LORD of hosts has purposed, and who shall cancel it? and his hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it back?
28 The following message came in the year King Ahaz died.
In the year that king Ahaz died was this burden.
29 All you Philistines, don't celebrate the fact that the rod that was hitting you is broken, because from the root of that snake will grow up a viper, its fruit will be a flying serpent.
Rejoice not you, whole Palestina, because the rod of him that smote you is broken: for out of the serpent’s root shall come forth a cockatrice, and his fruit shall be a fiery flying serpent.
30 The poor will have food, and the needy will live in safety, but you Philistines will die in a famine, and I will kill those who survive.
And the firstborn of the poor shall feed, and the needy shall lie down in safety: and I will kill your root with famine, and he shall slay your remnant.
31 Howl, gates! Weep, town! Melt away in feat, all you Philistines! For a cloud of smoke is approaching from the north—an army with no soldier hanging back.
Howl, O gate; cry, O city; you, whole Palestina, are dissolved: for there shall come from the north a smoke, and none shall be alone in his appointed times.
32 What will be the answer given to the messengers from that nation? “The Lord was the one who laid the foundations of Zion, and that's where his suffering people will be kept safe.”
What shall one then answer the messengers of the nation? That the LORD has founded Zion, and the poor of his people shall trust in it.
