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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MissionAssist 2018
Isaiah 14
14
The Return from Exile
1The LORD will once again be merciful to his people Israel and choose them as his own. He will let them live in their own land again, and foreigners will come and live there with them. 2Many nations will help the people of Israel to return to the land which the LORD gave them, and there the nations will serve Israel as slaves. Those who once captured Israel will now be captured by Israel, and the people of Israel will rule over those who once oppressed them.
The King of Babylonia in the World of the Dead
3The LORD will give the people of Israel relief from their pain and suffering, and from the hard work they were forced to do. 4When he does this, they are to mock the king of Babylonia and say:
“The cruel king has fallen! He will never oppress anyone again! 5The LORD has ended the power of the evil rulers 6who angrily oppressed the peoples and never stopped persecuting the nations they had conquered. 7Now at last the whole world enjoys rest and peace, and everyone sings for joy. 8The cypress trees and the cedars of Lebanon rejoice over the fallen king, because there is no one to cut them down, now that he is gone!
9“The world of the dead is getting ready to welcome the king of Babylonia. The ghosts of those who were powerful on earth are stirring about. The ghosts of kings are rising from their thrones. 10They all call out to him, ‘Now you are as weak as we are! You are one of us! 11You used to be honoured with the music of harps, but now here you are in the world of the dead. You lie on a bed of maggots and are covered with a blanket of worms.’
12 #
Rev 8.10; 9.1 “King of Babylonia, bright morning star, you have fallen from heaven! In the past you conquered nations, but now you have been thrown to the ground. 13#Mt 11.23; Lk 10.15You were determined to climb up to heaven and to place your throne above the highest stars. You thought you would sit like a king on that mountain in the north where the gods assemble. 14You said you would climb to the tops of the clouds and be like the Almighty. 15But instead, you have been brought down to the deepest part of the world of the dead.
16“The dead will stare and gape at you. They will ask, ‘Is this the man who shook the earth and made kingdoms tremble? 17Is this the man who destroyed cities and turned the world into a desert? Is this the man who never freed his prisoners or let them go home?’ 18All the kings of the earth lie in their magnificent tombs, 19but you have no tomb, and your corpse is thrown out to rot. It is covered by the bodies of soldiers killed in battle, thrown with them into a rocky pit, and trampled down. 20Because you ruined your country and killed your own people, you will not be buried like other kings. None of your evil family will survive. 21Let the slaughter begin! The sons of this king will die because of their ancestors' sins. None of them will ever rule the earth or cover it with cities.”
God will Destroy Babylon
22The LORD Almighty says, “I will attack Babylon and bring it to ruin. I will leave nothing — no children, no survivors at all. I, the LORD, have spoken. 23I will turn Babylon into a marsh, and owls will live there. I will sweep Babylon with a broom that will sweep everything away. I, the LORD Almighty, have spoken.”
God will Destroy the Assyrians
24 #
Is 10.5–34; Nah 1.1—3.19; Zeph 2.13–15 The LORD Almighty has sworn an oath: “What I have planned will happen. What I have determined to do will be done. 25I will destroy the Assyrians in my land of Israel and trample upon them on my mountains. I will free my people from the Assyrian yoke and from the burdens they have had to bear. 26This is my plan for the world, and my arm is stretched out to punish the nations.” 27The LORD Almighty is determined to do this; he has stretched out his arm to punish, and no one can stop him.
God will Destroy the Philistines
28 #
2 Kgs 16.20; 2 Chr 28.27 This is a message that was proclaimed in the year that King Ahaz died.
29 #
Jer 47.1–7; Ezek 25.15–17; Joel 3.4–8; Amos 1.6–8; Zeph 2.4–7; Zech 9.5–7 People of Philistia, the rod that beat you is broken, but you have no reason to be glad. When one snake dies, a worse one comes in its place. A snake's egg hatches a flying dragon. 30The LORD will be a shepherd to the poor of his people and will let them live in safety. But he will send a terrible famine on you Philistines, and it will not leave any of you alive.
31Howl and cry for help, all you Philistine cities! Be terrified, all of you! A cloud of dust is coming from the north — it is an army with no cowards in its ranks.
32How shall we answer the messengers that come to us from Philistia? We will tell them that the LORD has established Zion and that his suffering people will find safety there.
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Good News Bible. Scripture taken from the Good News Bible (r) (Today's English Version Second Edition, UK/British Edition). Copyright © 1992 British & Foreign Bible Society. Used by permission.