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
XIV
1For Jehovah will have compassion on Jacob,
And will yet choose Israel;
And he will settle them in their own land,
And the stranger shall be joined unto them;
And they shall cleave to the house of Jacob.
2And the people shall take them, and bring them into their own place;
And the house of Israel shall possess them in the land of Jehovah,
As servants, and as handmaids:
And they shall take them captives, whose captives they were;
And they shall rule over their oppressors.
3And it shall come to pass in that day, when Jehovah shall give thee rest from thine affliction, and from thy disquiet, and from the hard labour which was imposed upon thee, 4that thou shalt take up this parable against the king of Babylon; and shalt say:
How hath the oppressor ceased!
She that exacted gold ceased!
5 Jehovah hath broken the staff of the wicked,
The rod of the tyrants,
6Which smote the people in wrath,
With a smiting without intermission;
That ruled the nations in anger,
With an oppression without restraint
7The whole earth is at rest, it is quiet;
They have burst forth into a joyful shout:
8Even the fir-trees rejoice over thee,
And the cedars of Lebanon, saying:
Since thou art laid down,
No feller hath come up against us.
9Hades from beneath is moved because of thee,
To meet thee at thy coming:
It stirreth up for thee the shades of all the chieftains of the earth;
It maketh to rise from their thrones all the kings of the nations.
10All these shall speak, and say unto thee:
Art thou also become weak as we?
Art thou become like unto us?
11Thy pomp is brought down to Hades,
The sounding of thy viols:
Under thee is spread the worm,
And the maggot is thy covering.
12How art thou fallen from heaven,
O Lucifer, son of the morning! Cut down to the earth,
Thou that didst triumph over the nations!
13For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend the heavens;
Above the stars of God will I exalt my throne;
And I will sit upon the mount of the assembly, in the farthest regions of the North:
14I will ascend above the heights of the cloud;
I will be like the Most High.
15Yet thou shalt be brought down to Hades,
To the lowest depths of the pit.
16Those that see thee shall look attentively at thee;
They shall meditate upon thee;
Is this the man that made the earth to tremble?
That shook the kingdoms?
17That made the world like a wilderness,
And destroyed the cities thereof?
That loosed not his prisoners homeward?
18All the kings of the nations, all of them,
Lie down in splendour, each in his own sepulchre:
19But thou art cast away, deprived of thy grave,
As a branch that is abominated;
Covered with the slain, the pierced by the sword,
Who soon go down to the stones of the pit,
As a carcase trodden under foot.
20Thou shalt not be joined with them in burial;
Because thou hast destroyed thy country, hast slain thy people:
The seed of evil doers shall not be named for ever.
21Prepare slaughter for his children,
For the iniquity of their fathers;
Lest they rise, and possess the earth,.
And fill the face of the world with enemies.
22For I will rise up against them, saith Jehovah of hosts,
I will cut off from Babylon name and remnant;
And son and grandson, saith Jehovah.
23And I will make it a place of inheritance for the porcupine, and pools of water;
And I will sweep it away with the besom of destruction, saith Jehovah of hosts.
24 Jehovah of hosts hath sworn, saying,
Surely as I have devised, so shall it be;
And as I have purposed, so it shall stand:
25To crush the Assyrian in my land,
And upon my mountains will I trample him:
Then shall his yoke depart from off them,
And his burden shall be removed from off their shoulder.
26This is the purpose that is purposed upon the whole earth;
And this is the band which is stretched out over all the nations.
27For Jehovah of hosts hath purposed, and who shall disannul it?
And as to his hand that is stretched out, who shall turn it back?
28IN THE YEAR IN WHICH AHAZ THE KING DIED, THIS
ORACLE WAS DELIVERED.
29Rejoice not, O Philistia, through thy extent,
Because the rod which smote thee is broken:
For from the root of the serpent shall come forth a basilisk;
And his fruit shall be a flying serpent.
30And the first-born of the poor shall feed,
And the needy shall lie down in safety:
But I will kill thy root with famine,
And thy remnant shall he slay.
31Howl, O gate! cry out, O city!
O Philistia, thou art altogether agitated!
For from the North cometh a smoke;
And no one standeth aloof from among his troop.
32And what shall one answer the ambassadors of the nations?
That Jehovah hath founded Zion;
And the poor of his people shall take refuge in her.
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Translated by Rev John Jones (Ioan Tegid).Published at Oxford in 1830, second edition 1842.