Isaiah 14
14
1But 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. 2Nations 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.
3At that time the Lord will give you relief from your pain and trouble, and from the hard labor you were forced to do. 4You will mock the king of Babylon, saying, “How your oppressive rule has been ended, and your insolence stopped! 5The Lord has broken the rod of the wicked, the rulers' scepter. 6You kept on furiously hitting foreign peoples without stopping, and aggressively ruled nations with unrestrained persecution. 7Now the whole earth rests peacefully, and everyone starts celebrating! 8The cypress and cedar trees are glad you're gone. They sing, ‘Since you were cut down no woodcutters are coming to cut us down!’
9Those 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.#14:9. These verses are poetic, and not to be taken literally. 10They will all speak up and tell you, ‘So you too are as weak as we are—you've become just like us! 11Your 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.’
12Morning star,#14:12. Literally, “shining one,” referring to the planet Venus whose rise in the sky promised the soon-coming dawn. In the Septuagint this was translated as “dawn bringer” which in Latin became “Lucifer,” (light bringer) which is the basis for the King James translation. son of the dawn, how you have fallen from heaven! Destroyer of nations, you have been cut down to the ground! 13You 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.#14:13. This fits with Babylonian mythology in which the gods were thought of as meeting on a mountain north of Babylon. 14I will ascend to the high places above the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’ 15But you are dragged down to the grave, into the depths of the pit. 16Those who see you will stare at you, examining you closely, asking, ‘Is this the man who shook the earth, who made kingdoms tremble? 17Is this the one who turned the world into a desert, destroyed cities, and never let his prisoners return home?’
18All the other kings of the nations lie in splendor in their great mausoleums. 19But 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— 20you will not be buried like those other kings#14:20. “Like those other kings”: supplied for clarity. because you destroyed your own land and killed your own people. The descendants of those who do evil will never survive. 21Get ready to execute his sons because of their fathers'#14:21. “Fathers” is plural to suggest that the guilt was not just the immediate father, but his ancestors as well. sins. Don't let them take over the earth; don't let them fill the whole world with their cities.
22I 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. 23I will make Babylon into a place for water birds#14:23. Some suggest a species of owl, others the bittern. and into marshland. I will sweep her away with the broom of destruction, declares the Lord Almighty.”
24The Lord Almighty has sworn an oath: It will be as I have planned. It will happen as I have decided. 25I 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. 26This is the plan I have made regarding the whole earth; my hand stretches out to control all the nations.
27The Lord Almighty has made his plan, and who will block it? His hand stretches out, and who will push back against it?
28The following message came in the year King Ahaz died. 29All 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. 30The poor will have food, and the needy will live in safety, but you Philistines will die in a famine, and I#14:30. “I”: Dead Sea Scroll reading. Traditional text, “he.” will kill those who survive. 31Howl, gates! Weep, town! Melt away in fear, all you Philistines! For a cloud of smoke is approaching from the north—an army with no soldier hanging back. 32What 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.”
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Dr. Jonathan Gallagher. Released under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 Unported License. Version 4.3. For corrections send email to jonathangallagherfbv@gmail.com
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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