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 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;
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 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.
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 when Yahweh shall give thee rest from thy toil, and from thy disquiet, —and from the hard service which had been laid upon thee,
4 You will mock the king of Babylon, saying, “How your oppressive rule has been ended, and your insolence stopped!
that thou shalt take up this taunt over the king of Babylon, and shalt say: —How hath ceased the oppressor! Ceased the exactress!
5 The Lord has broken the rod of the wicked, the rulers' scepter.
Broke hath Yahweh the staff of the lawless, —The sceptre of despots;
6 You kept on furiously hitting foreign peoples without stopping, and aggressively ruled nations with unrestrained persecution.
Smiting peoples in passion With stroke unremitting, —Trampling, in anger, on nations, Persecution unhindered.
7 Now the whole earth rests peacefully, and everyone starts celebrating!
Quiet, at rest, the whole earth, —Men have burst into shouting!
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!’
Yea the pine-trees, make mirth at thee, Cedars of Lebanon, Since thou wast laid low, No feller hath 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)
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 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 of them, answer, and say to thee, —Thou too, made strengthless, as we! Unto us, art thou like!
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)
Brought down to Hades, thy pride. The hum of thy harps, Beneath thee, is spread out corruption, And, thy coverlet—worms! (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 hast thou fallen from heaven, O Shining One—Son of the Dawn! Hewn down to the earth, O crusher of 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.
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:
14 I will ascend to the high places above the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’
I will mount on the hills of the clouds, I will match the Most High!
Howbeit, to Hades, shalt thou be brought down, —To the Recesses 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 who see thee, upon thee, will gaze, Upon thee, will thoughtfully muse, —Is this the man who startled the earth? Who terrified kingdoms?
17 Is this the one who turned the world into a desert, destroyed cities, and never let his prisoners return home?’
Who made the world like a desert? And its cities, brake down? Its prisoners, he loosed not, Each one to his home?
18 All the other kings of the nations lie in splendor in their great mausoleums.
All the kings of the nations—they all, are lying in state Each one in his crypt;
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, art flung out from thy grave, Like a scion detested, Beshrouded with slain, the pierced of the sword, Like a carcase trod underfoot:
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 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!
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—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.
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.
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.
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 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.
24 The Lord Almighty has sworn an oath: It will be as I have planned. It will happen as I have decided.
Yahweh of hosts, hath sworn, saying, —Surely as I intended, so, hath it come to pass, And as I purposed, the same, shall 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 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.
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 upon all the earth, —And, this, the hand outstretched over 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, Yahweh of hosts, hath purposed, —And who shall frustrate? And, his, is the hand outstretched, And who shall turn it back?
28 The following message came in the year King Ahaz died.
In the year that King Ahaz died, came this oracle: —
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.
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.
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.
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.
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, 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.
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, 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.
