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.
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, yea, shall be added 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 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 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 that day, [that] the Lord shall give thee rest from thy sorrow and vexation, [and from] thy hard servitude wherein thou didst serve them.
4 You will mock the king of Babylon, saying, “How your oppressive rule has been ended, and your insolence stopped!
And thou shalt take up this lamentation against the king of Babylon, How has the extortioner ceased, and the taskmaster ceased!
5 The Lord has broken the rod of the wicked, the rulers' scepter.
The Lord has broken the yoke of sinners, the yoke of princes.
6 You kept on furiously hitting foreign peoples without stopping, and aggressively ruled nations with unrestrained persecution.
Having smitten a nation in wrath, with an incurable plague, smiting a nation with a wrathful plague, which spared [them] not, he rested in quiet.
7 Now the whole earth rests peacefully, and everyone starts celebrating!
All the earth cries aloud with joy:
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!’
the trees also of Libanus rejoice against thee, and the cedar of Libanus, [saying], From the time that thou hast been laid low, no one has come up to cut us down.
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 provoked to meet thee: all the great ones that have ruled over the earth have risen up together against thee, they that have 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 shall answer and say to thee, Thou also hast been taken, even as we; and thou art numbered amongst 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)
Thy glory has come down to Hades, and thy great mirth: under thee they shall spread corruption, and the worm shall be thy covering. (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 has Lucifer, that rose in the morning, fallen from heaven! He that sent [orders] to all the nations is crushed to the earth.
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.
But thou saidst in thine 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 ascend to the high places above the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’
I will go up above the clouds: I will be like the Most High.
But now thou shalt go down to hell, even to the foundations of the earth. (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 thee shall wonder at thee, and say, This is the man that troubled the earth, that made kings to shake;
17 Is this the one who turned the world into a desert, destroyed cities, and never let his prisoners return home?’
that made the whole world desolate, and destroyed its cities; he loosed not those who were in captivity.
18 All the other kings of the nations lie in splendor in their great mausoleums.
All the kings of the nations lie in honour, [every] man in his 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 thou shalt 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 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.
As a garment defiled with blood shall not be pure, so neither shalt thou be pure; because thou hast destroyed my land, and hast slain my people: thou shalt not endure for ever, —[thou] an evil seed.
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 thy 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 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.
And I will rise up against them, saith the Lord of hosts, and I will destroy their name, and remnant, and seed: thus saith 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.”
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 Almighty has sworn an oath: It will be as I have planned. It will happen as I have decided.
Thus saith the Lord of hosts, As I have said, so it shall be: and as I have purposed, so [the matter] shall remain:
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.
[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 plan I have made regarding the whole earth; my hand stretches out to control 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 The Lord Almighty has made his plan, and who will block it? His hand stretches out, and who will push back against it?
For what the Holy God has purposed, who shall frustrate? and who shall turn back his uplifted hand?
28 The following message came in the year King Ahaz died.
In the year in which king Achaz died this word came.
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, all ye Philistines, because the yoke of him that smote 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 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 poor shall be fed by him, and poor men shall rest in peace: but he shall destroy thy seed with hunger, and shall destroy thy 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, ye 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 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.”
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.
