Isaiah 14
14
1The Lord will show tender love toward Jacob’s people.
Once again he will choose Israel.
He’ll give them homes in their own land.
Outsiders will join them.
They and the people of Jacob will become one people.
2Nations will help Israel
return to their own land.
Israel will possess other nations.
They will serve Israel as male and female servants in the Lord’s land.
The Israelites will make prisoners of those who had held them as prisoners.
Israel will rule over those who had crushed them.
3The Lord will put an end to Israel’s suffering and trouble. They will no longer be forced to do hard labor. At that time, 4they will make fun of the king of Babylon. They will say,
“See how the one who crushed others has fallen!
See how his anger has come to an end!
5The Lord has taken away the authority of evil people.
He has broken the power of rulers.
6When they became angry, they struck down nations.
Their blows never stopped.
In their anger they brought nations under their control.
They attacked them again and again.
7All the lands now enjoy peace and rest.
They break out into singing.
8Even the juniper trees show how happy they are.
The cedar trees of Lebanon celebrate too.
They say, ‘Babylon, you have fallen.
Now no one comes and cuts us down.’
9“King of Babylon, many people in the place of the dead are really excited.
They’re excited about meeting you when you go down there.
The spirits of the dead get up to welcome you.
At one time all of them were leaders in the world.
They were kings over the nations.
They get up from their thrones.
10All of them call out to you.
They say,
‘You have become weak, just as we are.
You have become like us.’
11Your grand show of power has been brought down to the grave.
The noise of your harps has come down here along with your power.
Maggots are spread out under you.
Worms cover you.
12“King of Babylon, you thought you were the bright morning star.
But now you have fallen from heaven!
You once brought down nations.
But now you have been thrown down to the earth!
13You said in your heart,
‘I will go up to the heavens.
I’ll raise my throne
above the stars of God.
I’ll sit as king on the mountain where the gods meet.
I’ll set up my throne on the highest slopes of Mount Zaphon.
14I will rise above the tops of the clouds.
I’ll make myself like the Most High God.’
15But now you have been brought down to the place of the dead.
You have been thrown into the deepest part of the pit.
16“Those who see you stare at you.
They think about what has happened to you.
They say to themselves,
‘Is this the man who shook the earth?
Is he the one who made kingdoms tremble with fear?
17Did he turn the world into a desert?
Did he destroy its cities?
Did he refuse to let his prisoners go home?’
18“All the kings of the nations are buried with honor.
Each of them lies in his own tomb.
19But you have been thrown out of your tomb.
You are like a branch that is cut off and thrown away.
You are covered with the bodies
of those who have been killed by swords.
You have been tossed into a stony pit along with them.
You are like a dead body that people have walked on.
20You won’t be buried like other kings.
That’s because you have destroyed your land.
You have killed your people.
“Let the children of that evil man be killed.
Let none of them be left to carry on the family name.
21So prepare a place to kill his children.
Kill them because of the sins of the rulers
who lived before them.
They must not rise to power.
They must not rule over the world.
They must not cover the earth with their cities.”
22“I will rise up against them,”
announces the Lord who rules over all.
“I will destroy Babylon.
It will not be remembered anymore.
No one will be left alive there.
I will destroy its people and their children after them,”
announces the Lord.
23“I will turn it into a place where nothing but owls can live.
I will turn it into a swamp.
I will sweep through it like a broom and destroy everything,”
announces the Lord who rules over all.
24The Lord who rules over all has made a promise. He has said,
“You can be sure that what I have planned will happen.
What I have decided will take place.
25I will crush the Assyrians in my land.
On my mountains I will walk all over them.
The yokes they put on my people will be removed.
The heavy load they put on their shoulders will be taken away.”
26That’s how the Lord carries out his plan all over the world.
That’s how he reaches out his powerful hand to punish all the nations.
27The Lord who rules over all has planned it.
Who can stop him?
He has reached out his powerful hand.
Who can keep him from using it?
A Prophecy Against the Philistines
28This prophecy came to me from the Lord in the year King Ahaz died. The Lord said,
29“The rod of Assyria has struck all of you Philistines.
But do not be glad that it is broken.
That rod is like a snake that will produce an even more poisonous snake.
It will produce a darting, poisonous serpent.
30Even the poorest people in Israel will have plenty to eat.
Those who are in need will lie down in safety.
But I will destroy your families.
They will die of hunger.
I will kill any of them who are still left alive.
31“Cities of Philistia, cry out for help! Scream in pain!
All you Philistines, melt away in fear!
An army is coming from the north in a cloud of dust.
No one in its ranks is falling behind.
32What answer should be given
to the messengers from that nation?
Tell them, ‘The Lord has made Zion secure.
His suffering people will find safety there.’ ”
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Isaiah 14: NIrV
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Holy Bible, New International Reader’s Version®, NIrV®
Copyright © 1995, 1996, 1998, 2014 by Biblica, Inc.®
Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Isaiah 14
14
Israel’s Return
1For the Lord will have compassion#1Kg 3:26 on Jacob and will choose Israel again.#Dt 7:7; Ps 102:13; Zch 1:17 He will settle them on their own land.#Dt 12:10; 2Sm 7:1 The resident alien will join them and be united with the house of Jacob.#Dt 14:21,29; Zch 8:22–23; Eph 2:12–14 2The nations will escort Israel and bring it to its homeland. Then the house of Israel will possess them as male and female slaves in the Lord’s land.#Is 9:7; 45:14–25; 49:22–26; 60:9; 61:5; 66:19–24 They will make captives of their captors and will rule over their oppressors.
Downfall of the King of Babylon
3When the Lord gives you rest from your pain,#Gn 3:16; Is 14:3; Jr 44:19 torment, and the hard labor#Ex 1:14 you were forced to do, 4you will sing this song of contempt about the king of Babylon#Mc 2:4; Hab 2:6 and say:
How the oppressor has quieted down,
and how the raging#14:4 DSS; Hb uncertain has become quiet!
5The Lord has broken the staff of the wicked,
the scepter of the rulers.
6It struck the peoples in anger
with unceasing blows.
It subdued the nations in rage
with relentless persecution.
7The whole earth is calm and at rest;
people shout with a ringing cry.
8Even the cypresses and the cedars of Lebanon
rejoice over you:#Ps 104:16; Is 55:12; Ezk 31:16
“Since you have been laid low,
no lumberjack has come against us.”
9Sheol below is eager to greet your coming,
stirring up the spirits of the departed for you —
all the rulers#14:9 Lit rams of the earth —
making all the kings of the nations
rise from their thrones.
10They all respond to you, saying,
“You too have become as weak as we are;
you have become like us!
11Your splendor has been brought down to Sheol,
along with the music of your harps.
Maggots are spread out under you,
and worms cover you.”
12Shining morning star,#14:12 Or Day Star, son of the dawn#2Pt 1:19; Rv 2:28; 22:16
how you have fallen from the heavens!#Is 34:4; Lk 10:18; Rv 8:10; 9:1
You destroyer of nations,
you have been cut down to the ground.
13You said to yourself,
“I will ascend to the heavens;#Jr 51:53; Ezk 28:2; Am 9:2
I will set up my throne
above the stars of God.#Dn 5:22–23; 8:10; 2Th 2:4
I will sit on the mount of the gods’ assembly,
in the remotest parts of the North.#14:13 Or of Zaphon#Ps 48:2
14I will ascend above the highest clouds;
I will make myself like the Most High.”
15But you will be brought down to Sheol
into the deepest regions of the Pit.#Ps 28:1; Is 38:18; Ezk 28:8; Mt 11:23; Lk 10:15
16Those who see you will stare at you;
they will look closely at you:
“Is this the man who caused the earth to tremble,
who shook the kingdoms,
17who turned the world into a wilderness,#Jl 1:19–20; 2:3,22; 3:19
who destroyed its cities
and would not release the prisoners to return home?”
18All the kings of the nations
lie in splendor, each in his own tomb.
19But you are thrown out without a grave,
like a worthless branch,
covered by those slain with the sword
and dumped into a rocky pit like a trampled corpse.
20You will not join them in burial,
because you destroyed your land
and slaughtered your own people.
The offspring of evildoers
will never be mentioned again.#Jb 18:16,19; Ps 21:10; 37:28; Is 1:4; 31:2
21Prepare a place of slaughter for his sons,
because of the iniquity#Is 13:11 of their ancestors.
They will never rise up to possess a land
or fill the surface of the earth with cities.
22“I will rise up against them” — this is the declaration of the Lord of Armies — “and I will cut off from Babylon her reputation, remnant, offspring, and posterity” — this is the Lord’s declaration. 23“I will make her a swampland and a region for herons,#14:23 Or hedgehogs; Hb obscure and I will sweep her away with the broom of destruction.”
This is the declaration of the Lord of Armies.
Assyria Will Be Destroyed
24The Lord of Armies has sworn:
As I have purposed, so it will be;
as I have planned it, so it will happen.#Pr 16:4; Is 46:11; Jr 23:20; 30:24; 51:29; Zch 1:6; Eph 1:11; Rv 17:17
25I will break Assyria#Is 8:7; 10:5–15,27 in my land;
I will tread him down on my mountain.
Then his yoke will be taken from them,
and his burden will be removed from their shoulders.
26This is the plan#Is 5:19 prepared
for the whole earth,
and this is the hand stretched out
against all the nations.
27The Lord of Armies himself has planned it;
therefore, who can stand in its way?
It is his hand that is outstretched,
so who can turn it back?
A Pronouncement against Philistia
28In the year that King Ahaz died,#2Kg 16:20; 2Ch 28:27; Is 6:1 this pronouncement came:#Is 13:1
29Don’t rejoice, all of you in Philistia,
because the rod of the one who struck you#1Sm 17:50; 18:25–30; 19:8; 23:1–5; 2Sm 5:17–25; 8:1 is broken.
For a viper will come from the root#14:29 Or stock of a snake,
and from its egg comes a flying serpent.#Ex 4:2–3; 7:10–12; Is 30:6
30Then the firstborn#Ex 4:22 of the poor will be well fed,
and the impoverished will lie down in safety,
but I will kill your root with hunger,
and your remnant will be slain.
31Wail, you gates!#Is 3:26; 24:12; 45:2 Cry out, city!
Tremble with fear,#Jos 2:9,24 all Philistia!
For a cloud of dust is coming from the north,#Is 41:25; Jr 1:13–14; 4:6; 6:1; 47:2; 50:3,9,41
and there is no one missing from the invader’s ranks.
32What answer will be given to the messengers from that nation?
The Lord has founded Zion,#Ps 87:1,5; 102:16; Is 28:16; 44:28; 54:11
and his oppressed people find refuge in her.
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