Isaiah 14
14
Chapter 14
God's people will return
1The Lord will once again be kind to Jacob's descendants. He will choose to help the Israelite people again, as his own people. He will put them back in their land. Foreign people will join them and they will become a part of Jacob's family. 2People of other nations will help Israel's people to return to their own country. When they are living again in the land that the Lord gave to them, foreign people will become their servants, both men and women. In that way, the people who made the Israelites prisoners will be prisoners themselves! The Israelites will rule over the people who had been cruel to them.
The king of Babylon will die
3At that time, the Lord will let you live safely, without trouble and without pain. You will no longer have to work for cruel people, as their slaves. 4Then you will laugh at the king of Babylon. You will say to him,
‘Now you cannot be cruel to us any more! Your power to cause trouble has finished! 5The Lord has destroyed the authority of wicked rulers like you.
6You used your power to attack people all the time. In your anger, you ruled over other nations, and you never stopped being cruel to them.
7But now there is peace in the whole world. People can live safely. Everyone is so happy that they are singing! 8Even the pine trees and the cedar trees in Lebanon are happy because your power has finished. They say to you, “Now God has knocked you down. So nobody will come again to cut us down!”
9The deep hole of death below the earth is ready to receive you! People there want to meet you. The spirits of those who ruled on the earth have heard that you are coming. They are standing up from their thrones. 10All of them will say to you, “Now you have become as weak as we are! You are weak like us!”
11Your great power has now come down low, into the deep hole of death. People no longer praise you with their harps. Now you will lie on a bed of maggots. #14:11 A maggot is like a small worm. Often maggots live in dead bodies which they eat. A blanket of worms will cover you.
12Look at you! You have fallen from heaven!
You shine like the bright morning star!
You have won against many nations,
but now you have come down very low!
13You said to yourself, “I will go up into heaven.
I will put my throne above the stars of God.
I will rule as king on the mountain in the far north,
where the gods of the nations meet together.
14I will go up above the tops of the clouds.
I will become like the Most High God.”
15But instead of that, you have come down into the deep hole of death.
You have fallen to the deepest place under the earth.
16In that deep place, people will look at you carefully. They will be very surprised. They will think, “This is the man who caused the earth to shake. He caused kingdoms to shake with fear. Is that really true? 17Is this really the man who made the world become like a desert? He destroyed its cities. He did not let his prisoners go back to their homes.”
18All the kings of all the nations lie down there, with all their valuable things. Each king lies in his own grave. 19But as for you, Babylon's king, they have thrown you out! You have no grave! You are like a branch that has broken off. You lie among the dead bodies of soldiers that their enemies have killed with their swords. They have thrown your body into a big hole in the rocks, and they have walked over it.
20They will not bury you with those other kings, because you destroyed your land and you killed your people. Nobody will ever remember the family of a wicked person like you.
21Prepare to kill this king's children, because of the sins of their ancestors. Then his children will not rule the world. They will not build cities everywhere.’
22This is what the Lord Almighty says, ‘I will attack Babylon and I will destroy it. I will leave nothing that people can remember. No people or their descendants will remain.’
23The Lord Almighty says, ‘I will make Babylon a place where wild animals live. There will be pools of bad water. I will sweep everything away, like someone who sweeps dirt away with a brush.’
A message about Assyria
24The Lord Almighty promises this: ‘It will happen exactly as I have decided. Yes, it will really happen like that. 25I will destroy the Assyrians who are in my land. I will knock them down on my mountains. They will no longer be cruel to my people. My people will not be their slaves any more. 26That is what I have decided for the whole earth. I am ready to show my power against all the nations.’
27Yes, the Lord Almighty has decided what he will do. Nobody can change it. He is ready to show his power. Nobody can stop it.
A message about Philistia
28In the year that King Ahaz died, God showed this message to Isaiah:
29Do not feel happy, you Philistine people. God has destroyed the king who was attacking you. That king hit you with a big stick, but a dangerous snake will follow! And that snake will give birth to an even more dangerous snake that moves very fast.
30The Lord will give food to the poorest of his people. The weak and helpless people will live safely. But you Philistine people will die from famine. I will destroy you all, so that nobody remains.
31Gate of the city, weep! #14:31 The gate in a city was the place where important people met. So the word ‘gate’ here may mean those important people. City, cry out in pain! You Philistine people should be very afraid! See that cloud of smoke in the north! It is the dust of an army that is marching towards you. Their soldiers are ready to fight, and none of them is afraid.
32When a foreign nation sends a message, what should we say? Say that the Lord has made Zion very strong. When his people have trouble, they will be safe there.
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Isaiah 14
14
A Taunt for Babylon’s King
1But the Lord will have mercy on the descendants of Jacob. He will choose Israel as his special people once again. He will bring them back to settle once again in their own land. And people from many different nations will come and join them there and unite with the people of Israel.#14:1 Hebrew the house of Jacob. The names “Jacob” and “Israel” are often interchanged throughout the Old Testament, referring sometimes to the individual patriarch and sometimes to the nation. 2The nations of the world will help the people of Israel to return, and those who come to live in the Lord’s land will serve them. Those who captured Israel will themselves be captured, and Israel will rule over its enemies.
3In that wonderful day when the Lord gives his people rest from sorrow and fear, from slavery and chains, 4you will taunt the king of Babylon. You will say,
“The mighty man has been destroyed.
Yes, your insolence#14:4 As in Dead Sea Scrolls; the meaning of the Masoretic Text is uncertain. is ended.
5For the Lord has crushed your wicked power
and broken your evil rule.
6You struck the people with endless blows of rage
and held the nations in your angry grip
with unrelenting tyranny.
7But finally the earth is at rest and quiet.
Now it can sing again!
8Even the trees of the forest—
the cypress trees and the cedars of Lebanon—
sing out this joyous song:
‘Since you have been cut down,
no one will come now to cut us down!’
9“In the place of the dead#14:9 Hebrew Sheol; also in 14:15. there is excitement
over your arrival.
The spirits of world leaders and mighty kings long dead
stand up to see you.
10With one voice they all cry out,
‘Now you are as weak as we are!
11Your might and power were buried with you.#14:11 Hebrew were brought down to Sheol.
The sound of the harp in your palace has ceased.
Now maggots are your sheet,
and worms your blanket.’
12“How you are fallen from heaven,
O shining star, son of the morning!
You have been thrown down to the earth,
you who destroyed the nations of the world.
13For you said to yourself,
‘I will ascend to heaven and set my throne above God’s stars.
I will preside on the mountain of the gods
far away in the north.#14:13 Or on the heights of Zaphon.
14I will climb to the highest heavens
and be like the Most High.’
15Instead, you will be brought down to the place of the dead,
down to its lowest depths.
16Everyone there will stare at you and ask,
‘Can this be the one who shook the earth
and made the kingdoms of the world tremble?
17Is this the one who destroyed the world
and made it into a wasteland?
Is this the king who demolished the world’s greatest cities
and had no mercy on his prisoners?’
18“The kings of the nations lie in stately glory,
each in his own tomb,
19but you will be thrown out of your grave
like a worthless branch.
Like a corpse trampled underfoot,
you will be dumped into a mass grave
with those killed in battle.
You will descend to the pit.
20You will not be given a proper burial,
for you have destroyed your nation
and slaughtered your people.
The descendants of such an evil person
will never again receive honor.
21Kill this man’s children!
Let them die because of their father’s sins!
They must not rise and conquer the earth,
filling the world with their cities.”
22This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says:
“I, myself, have risen against Babylon!
I will destroy its children and its children’s children,”
says the Lord.
23“I will make Babylon a desolate place of owls,
filled with swamps and marshes.
I will sweep the land with the broom of destruction.
I, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, have spoken!”
A Message about Assyria
24The Lord of Heaven’s Armies has sworn this oath:
“It will all happen as I have planned.
It will be as I have decided.
25I will break the Assyrians when they are in Israel;
I will trample them on my mountains.
My people will no longer be their slaves
nor bow down under their heavy loads.
26I have a plan for the whole earth,
a hand of judgment upon all the nations.
27The Lord of Heaven’s Armies has spoken—
who can change his plans?
When his hand is raised,
who can stop him?”
A Message about Philistia
28This message came to me the year King Ahaz died:#14:28 King Ahaz died in 715 b.c.
29Do not rejoice, you Philistines,
that the rod that struck you is broken—
that the king who attacked you is dead.
For from that snake a more poisonous snake will be born,
a fiery serpent to destroy you!
30I will feed the poor in my pasture;
the needy will lie down in peace.
But as for you, I will wipe you out with famine
and destroy the few who remain.
31Wail at the gates! Weep in the cities!
Melt with fear, you Philistines!
A powerful army comes like smoke from the north.
Each soldier rushes forward eager to fight.
32What should we tell the Philistine messengers? Tell them,
“The Lord has built Jerusalem#14:32 Hebrew Zion.;
its walls will give refuge to his oppressed people.”
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Holy Bible, New Living Translation copyright 1996, 2004, 2007, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation.
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