< Isaiah 14 >
1 For Yahweh will have compassion on Jacob, And will yet choose Israel, And will give them rest upon their own soil, —And the sojourner, shall join himself, unto them, And they shall attach themselves unto 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 And peoples shall take them, and bring them into their own place, And the house of Israel shall possess themselves of them upon the soil of Yahweh for servants and for handmaids, —Thus shall they be taking captive their captors, And shall tread down 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 And it shall come to pass, in the day when Yahweh shall give thee rest from thy toil, and from thy disquiet, —and from the hard service which had been laid upon thee,
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 thou shalt take up this taunt over the king of Babylon, and shalt say: —How hath ceased the oppressor! Ceased the exactress!
And you shall take up this lamentation against the king of Babylon, How has the extortioner ceased, and the taskmaster ceased!
5 Broke hath Yahweh the staff of the lawless, —The sceptre of despots;
The Lord has broken the yoke of sinners, the yoke of princes.
6 Smiting peoples in passion With stroke unremitting, —Trampling, in anger, on nations, Persecution unhindered.
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 Quiet, at rest, the whole earth, —Men have burst into shouting!
All the earth cries aloud with joy:
8 Yea the pine-trees, make mirth at thee, Cedars of Lebanon, Since thou wast laid low, No feller hath come up 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 Hades beneath, is excited about thee To meet thine arrival, —Rousing up, for thee Shades, All the he-goats of earth! Maketh rise from their thrones, All the kings of the nations. (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 All of them, answer, and say to thee, —Thou too, made strengthless, as we! Unto us, art thou like!
All shall answer and say to you, You also have been taken, even as we; and you are numbered amongst us.
11 Brought down to Hades, thy pride. The hum of thy harps, Beneath thee, is spread out corruption, And, thy coverlet—worms! (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 hast thou fallen from heaven, O Shining One—Son of the Dawn! Hewn down to the earth, O crusher 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 Yet, thou, didst say in thy heart—The heavens, will I ascend, Above the stars of GOD, will I lift up my throne, —That I may sit in the Mount of Assembly In the Recesses 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 mount on the hills of the clouds, I will match the Most High!
I will go up above the clouds: I will be like the Most High.
15 Howbeit, to Hades, shalt thou be brought down, —To the Recesses of the Pit! (Sheol )
But now you shall go down to hell, even to the foundations of the earth. (Sheol )
16 They who see thee, upon thee, will gaze, Upon thee, will thoughtfully muse, —Is this the man who startled the earth? Who terrified 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 like a desert? And its cities, brake down? Its prisoners, he loosed not, Each one to his home?
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—they all, are lying in state Each one in his crypt;
All the kings of the nations lie in honour, [every] man in his house.
19 But, thou, art flung out from thy grave, Like a scion detested, Beshrouded with slain, the pierced of the sword, Like a carcase trod 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 As for them who go down to the stones of the Pit, Thou shalt not be united with them in burial; For thy land, thou didst ruin Thy people, didst slay, —Unnamed to times age-abiding, Be the seed of the wicked!
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—for his sons—shambles. For the iniquity of their fathers, —They shall not rise nor possess the earth, Nor fill the face of the world with 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. Then. against them, Declareth Yahweh of hosts, —And will cut off from Babylon Record and remnant And scion and seed, Declareth Yahweh.
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 will make her a possession for the bittern, And marshes of water, —And will sweep it with the besom of destruction, Declareth Yahweh 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 Yahweh of hosts, hath sworn, saying, —Surely as I intended, so, hath it come to pass, And as I purposed, the same, shall 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 That I will break in pieces the Assyrian in my land, Yea upon my mountains, will I tread him underfoot, —So shall be removed from off them his yoke, And his burden, from off their shoulder shall be removed.
[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 that is purposed upon all the earth, —And, this, the hand outstretched 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 For, Yahweh of hosts, hath purposed, —And who shall frustrate? And, his, is the hand outstretched, And who shall 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, came this oracle: —
In the year in which king Achaz died this word came.
29 Do not rejoice, Philistia, any of thee, In that the rod of him that smote thee, is broken, —For, out of the root of the serpent, shall come forth, a viper, And his fruit be a fiery dragon that flieth.
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 shall feed the firstborn of the poor, And the needy, in confidence lie down, —And I will kill with famine thy root, And thy residue, shall 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 Howl—O gate, Make outcry—O city, Dispersed art thou Philistia, all of thee, —For out of the north, a smoke cometh in, With no straggler in his 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, then, shall one answer the messengers of a nation? That Yahweh, hath founded Zion, And in her, shall seek refuge the oppressed 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.