Isaiah 14
1 For the Lord wil haue compassion of Iaakob, and wil yet chuse Israel, and cause them to rest in their owne lande: and the stranger shall ioyne him selfe vnto them, and they shall cleaue to the house of Iaakob.
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 And the people shall receiue them and bring them to their owne place, and the house of Israel shall possesse them in the land of the Lord, for seruants and handmaids: and they shall take them prisoners, whose captiues they were, and haue rule ouer their oppressours.
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 And in that day when the Lord shall giue thee rest from thy sorrow, and from thy feare, and from the sore bodage, wherein thou didest serue,
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 Then shalt thou take vp this prouerbe against the King of Babel, and say, Howe hath the oppressor ceased? and the gold thirsty Babel rested?
You will mock the king of Babylon, saying, “How your oppressive rule has been ended, and your insolence stopped!
5 The Lord hath broken the rodde of the wicked, and the scepter of the rulers:
The Lord has broken the rod of the wicked, the rulers' scepter.
6 Which smote the people in anger with a continuall plague, and ruled the nations in wrath: if any were persecuted, he did not let.
You kept on furiously hitting foreign peoples without stopping, and aggressively ruled nations with unrestrained persecution.
7 The whole worlde is at rest and is quiet: they sing for ioye.
Now the whole earth rests peacefully, and everyone starts celebrating!
8 Also the firre trees reioyced of thee, and the cedars of Lebanon, saying, Since thou art laid downe, no hewer came vp against vs.
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 Hel beneath is mooued for thee to meete thee at thy comming, raising vp the deade for thee, euen all the princes of the earth, and hath raised from their thrones all the Kinges of the nations. (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 All they shall crie, and saie vnto thee, Art thou become weake also as we? art thou become like vnto vs?
They will all speak up and tell you, ‘So you too are as weak as we are—you've become just like us!
11 Thy pompe is brought downe to ye graue, and the sounde of thy violes: the worme is spred vnder thee, and the wormes couer thee. (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 How art thou fallen from heauen, O Lucifer, sonne of the morning? and cutte downe to the grounde, which didest cast lottes vpon the nations?
Morning star, son of the dawn, how you have fallen from heaven! Destroyer of nations, you have been cut down to the ground!
13 Yet thou saidest in thine heart, I will ascende into heauen, and exalt my throne aboue beside the starres of God: I will sitte also vpon the mount of the Congregation in the sides of the North.
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 I wil ascend aboue ye height of the cloudes, and I will be like the most high.
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 They that see thee, shall looke vpon thee and consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, and that did shake the kingdomes?
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 He made the worlde as a wildernesse, and destroied the cities thereof, and opened not the house of his prisoners.
Is this the one who turned the world into a desert, destroyed cities, and never let his prisoners return home?’
18 All the Kings of the nations, euen they all sleepe in glorie, euery one in his owne house.
All the other kings of the nations lie in splendor in their great mausoleums.
19 But thou art cast out of thy graue like an abominable branch: like the raiment of those that are slaine, and thrust thorowe with a sword, which goe downe to the stones of the pit, as a carkeise troden vnder feete.
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 Thou shalt not be ioyned with them in the graue, because thou hast destroied thine owne lande, and slaine thy people: the seede of the wicked shall not be renoumed for euer.
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 Prepare a slaughter for his children, for the iniquitie of their fathers: let them not rise vp nor possesse the land, nor fil the face of the world with enemies.
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 For I wil rise vp against them (sayth the Lord of hostes) and will cut off from Babel the name and the remnant and the sonne, and the nephew, sayth the Lord:
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 And I wil make it a possession to ye hedgehogge, and pooles of water, and I will sweepe it with the besome of destruction, sayeth the Lord of hostes.
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 The Lord of hostes hath sworne, saying, Surely like as I haue purposed, so shall it come to passe, and as I haue consulted, it shall stand:
The Lord Almighty has sworn an oath: It will be as I have planned. It will happen as I have decided.
25 That I will breake to pieces Asshur in my land, and vpon my mountaines will I treade him vnder foote: so that his yoke shall depart from them, and his burden shall be taken from off their shoulder.
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 This is the counsell that is consulted vpon the whole worlde, and this is the hande stretched out ouer all the nations,
This is the plan I have made regarding the whole earth; my hand stretches out to control all the nations.
27 Because the Lord of hostes hath determined it, and who shall disanull it? and his hande is stretched out, and who shall turne it away?
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 the yeere that King Ahaz died, was this burden.
The following message came in the year King Ahaz died.
29 Reioyce not, (thou whole Palestina) because the rod of him that did beat thee, is broken for out of the serpents roote shall come forth a cockatrise, and the fruit therof shalbe a firy flying serpent.
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 For the first borne of the poore shall be fed, and the needie shall lie downe in safetie: and I will kill thy roote with famine, and it shall slay thy remnant.
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 Howle, O gate, crie, O citie: thou whole lande of Palestina art dissolued, for there shall come from the North a smoke, and none shalbe alone, at his time appointed.
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 What shall then one answere the messengers of the Gentiles? That the Lord hath stablished Zion, and the poore of his people shall trust in it.
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.”
