Isaiæ 14
1 Prope est ut veniat tempus eius, et dies eius non elongabuntur. Miserebitur enim Dominus Iacob, et eliget adhuc de Israel, et requiescere eos faciet super humum suam: adiungetur advena ad eos, et adhaerebit domui Iacob.
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.
2 Et tenebunt eos populi, et adducent eos in locum suum: et possidebit eos domus Israel super terram Domini in servos et ancillas: et erunt capientes eos, qui se ceperant, et subiicient exactores suos.
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.
3 Et erit in die illa: cum requiem dederit tibi Deus a labore tuo, et a concussione tua, et a servitute dura, qua ante servisti:
At that time the Lord will give you relief from your pain and trouble, and from the hard labor you were forced to do.
4 sumes parabolam istam contra regem Babylonis, et dices: Quomodo cessavit exactor, quievit tributum?
You will mock the king of Babylon, saying, “How your oppressive rule has been ended, and your insolence stopped!
5 Contrivit Dominus baculum impiorum, virgam dominantium,
The Lord has broken the rod of the wicked, the rulers' scepter.
6 caedentem populos in indignatione, plaga insanabili, subiicientem in furore gentes, persequentem crudeliter.
You kept on furiously hitting foreign peoples without stopping, and aggressively ruled nations with unrestrained persecution.
7 Conquievit et siluit omnis terra, gavisa est et exultavit:
Now the whole earth rests peacefully, and everyone starts celebrating!
8 abietes quoque laetatae sunt super te, et cedri Libani: ex quo dormisti, non ascendet qui succidat nos.
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!’
9 Infernus subter conturbatus est in occursum adventus tui, suscitavit tibi gigantes. Omnes principes terrae surrexerunt de soliis suis, omnes principes nationum. (Sheol h7585)
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)
10 Universi respondebunt, et dicent tibi: Et tu vulneratus es sicut et nos, nostri similis effectus es.
They will all speak up and tell you, ‘So you too are as weak as we are—you've become just like us!
11 Detracta est ad inferos superbia tua, concidit cadaver tuum: subter te sternetur tinea, et operimentum tuum erunt vermes. (Sheol h7585)
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)
12 Quomodo cecidisti de caelo lucifer, qui mane oriebaris? corruisti in terram, qui vulnerabas gentes?
Morning star, son of the dawn, how you have fallen from heaven! Destroyer of nations, you have been cut down to the ground!
13 qui dicebas in corde tuo: In caelum conscendam, super astra Dei exaltabo solium meum, sedebo in monte testamenti, in lateribus Aquilonis,
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.
14 Ascendam super altitudinem nubium, similis ero Altissimo.
I will ascend to the high places above the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’
But you are dragged down to the grave, into the depths of the pit. (Sheol h7585)
16 qui te viderint, ad te inclinentur, teque prospiciant: Numquid iste est vir, qui conturbavit terram, qui concussit regna,
Those who see you will stare at you, examining you closely, asking, ‘Is this the man who shook the earth, who made kingdoms tremble?
17 qui posuit orbem desertum, et urbes eius destruxit, vinctis eius non aperuit carcerem?
Is this the one who turned the world into a desert, destroyed cities, and never let his prisoners return home?’
18 Omnes reges gentium universi dormierunt in gloria, vir in domo sua.
All the other kings of the nations lie in splendor in their great mausoleums.
19 Tu autem proiectus es de sepulchro tuo, quasi stirps inutilis pollutus, et obvolutus cum his, qui interfecti sunt gladio, et descenderunt ad fundamenta laci, quasi cadaver putridum.
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—
20 Non habebis consortium, neque cum eis in sepultura: tu enim terram tuam disperdidisti, tu populum tuum occidisti: non vocabitur in aeternum semen pessimorum.
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.
21 Praeparate filios eius occisioni in iniquitate patrum suorum: non consurgent, nec hereditabunt terram, neque implebunt faciem orbis civitatum.
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.
22 Et consurgam super eos, dicit Dominus exercituum: et perdam Babylonis nomen, et reliquias, et germen, et progeniem, dicit Dominus.
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.
23 Et ponam eam in possessionem ericii, et in paludes aquarum, et scopabo eam in scopa terens, dicit Dominus exercituum.
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.”
24 Iuravit Dominus exercituum, dicens: Si non, ut putavi, ita erit: et quo modo mente tractavi,
The Lord Almighty has sworn an oath: It will be as I have planned. It will happen as I have decided.
25 sic eveniet: Ut conteram Assyrium in terra mea, et in montibus meis conculcem eum: et auferetur ab eis iugum eius, et onus illius ab humero eorum tolletur.
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.
26 Hoc consilium, quod cogitavi super omnem terram, et haec est manus extenta super universas gentes.
This is the plan I have made regarding the whole earth; my hand stretches out to control all the nations.
27 Dominus enim exercituum decrevit: et quis poterit infirmare? et manus eius extenta: et quis avertet eam?
The Lord Almighty has made his plan, and who will block it? His hand stretches out, and who will push back against it?
28 In anno, quo mortuus est rex Achaz, factum est onus istud:
The following message came in the year King Ahaz died.
29 ne laetaris Philisthaea omnis tu, quoniam comminuta est virga percussoris tui: de radice enim colubri egredietur regulus, et semen eius absorbens volucrem.
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.
30 Et pascentur primogeniti pauperum, et pauperes fiducialiter requiescent: et interire faciam in fame radicem tuam, et reliquias tuas interficiam.
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.
31 Ulula porta, clama civitas: prostrata est Philisthaea omnis: ab Aquilone enim fumus veniet, et non est qui effugiet agmen eius.
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.
32 Et quid respondebitur nunciis gentis? Quia Dominus fundavit Sion, et in ipso sperabunt pauperes populi eius.
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.”
