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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Isaiah 14: TEG
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Translated by Rev John Jones (Ioan Tegid).Published at Oxford in 1830, second edition 1842.
Isaiah 14
14
Restoration of Israel. 1But the Lord will take pity on Jacob and again choose Israel, and will settle them on their own land; foreigners will join them and attach themselves to the house of Jacob.#Is 56:3; 60:4; Ps 102:14; Jer 24:6; Zec 1:17. 2The nations will take them and bring them to their place, and the house of Israel will possess them#Possess them: Israel will make slaves of the nations who escort it back to its land. as male and female slaves on the Lord’s land; they will take captive their captors and rule over their oppressors.#Is 49:22–23; 60:14; 66:20.
Downfall of the King of Babylon. 3On the day when the Lord gives you rest from your sorrow and turmoil, from the hard service with which you served,#Ex 33:14; Jos 1:13; Jer 30:10. 4you will take up this taunt-song#This taunt-song, a satirical funeral lament, is a beautiful example of classical Hebrew poetry. According to the prose introduction and the prosaic conclusion (vv. 22–23), it is directed against the king of Babylon, though Babylon is mentioned nowhere in the song itself. If the reference to Babylon is accurate, the piece was composed long after the time of Isaiah, for Babylon was not a threat to Judah in the eighth century. Some have argued that Isaiah wrote it at the death of an Assyrian king and the references to Babylon were made by a later editor, but this is far from certain. against the king of Babylon:#Hb 2:6.
How the oppressor has come to an end!
how the turmoil has ended!
5The Lord has broken the rod of the wicked,
the staff of the tyrants#Is 10:24–27.
6That struck the peoples in wrath
with relentless blows;
That ruled the nations in anger,
with boundless persecution.#Is 10:5–7.
7The whole earth rests peacefully,
song breaks forth;
8The very cypresses rejoice over you,
the cedars of Lebanon:
“Now that you are laid to rest,
no one comes to cut us down.”#Is 37:24; 44:23; 55:12; Ez 31:16.
9Below, Sheol is all astir
preparing for your coming;
Awakening the shades to greet you,
all the leaders of the earth;
Making all the kings of the nations
rise from their thrones.
10All of them speak out
and say to you,
“You too have become weak like us,
you are just like us!
11Down to Sheol your pomp is brought,
the sound of your harps.
Maggots are the couch beneath you,
worms your blanket.”#Sir 10:11.
12How you have fallen from the heavens,
O Morning Star,#Morning Star: term addressed to the king of Babylon. The Vulgate translates as “Lucifer,” a name applied by the church Fathers to Satan. Son of the dawn: Heb., ben shahar, may reflect the name of a pagan deity. son of the dawn!
How you have been cut down to the earth,
you who conquered nations!#Jb 14:10.
13In your heart you said:
“I will scale the heavens;
Above the stars of God#God: not Elohim, the common word for God, but El, the name of the head of the pantheon in Canaanite mythology, a god who was early identified with the Lord in Israelite thought. Mount of Assembly: mountain where the council of the gods met, according to Canaanite mythology. Zaphon: the sacred mountain of Baal, originally the Jebel el-Aqra north of Ugarit, but other mountains have been identified with it, including Mount Zion in Jerusalem (Ps 48:3). The attempt to usurp the place of God (v. 14), coupled with the dramatic reversal (“above the stars of God” to “the depths of the pit”) occasioned the interpretation that saw here the rebellion and fall of Satan.
I will set up my throne;
I will take my seat on the Mount of Assembly,
on the heights of Zaphon.#Jer 51:53; Am 9:2.
14I will ascend above the tops of the clouds;
I will be like the Most High!”#Ez 28:2; Zep 2:15; 2 Thes 2:4.
15No! Down to Sheol you will be brought
to the depths of the pit!#Ez 28:8–9; 32:23; Mt 11:23; Acts 12:23.
16When they see you they will stare,
pondering over you:
“Is this the man who made the earth tremble,
who shook kingdoms?
17Who made the world a wilderness,
razed its cities,
and gave captives no release?”
18All the kings of the nations lie in glory,
each in his own tomb;#Jb 3:14–15.
19But you are cast forth without burial,
like loathsome carrion,
Covered with the slain, with those struck by the sword,
a trampled corpse,
Going down to the very stones of the pit.#Is 66:24.
20You will never be together with them in the grave,
For you have ruined your land,
you have slain your people!
Let him never be named,
that offshoot of evil!
21Make ready to slaughter his sons
for the guilt of their fathers;#Ex 20:5; Mt 23:35.
Lest they rise and possess the earth,
and fill the breadth of the world with cities.#Cities: if the text is correct, it presumably refers to cities as expressions of human pride, authority, and oppression (cf. Gn 11:1–9; Na 3:1–4).
22I will rise up against them, says the Lord of hosts, and cut off from Babylon name and remnant, progeny and offspring, says the Lord.#Jer 51:62; Jb 18:19. 23I will make it a haunt of hoot owls and a marshland; I will sweep it with the broom of destruction, oracle of the Lord of hosts.
God’s Plan for Assyria#The motif of God’s plan or work is a recurring thread running through Isaiah’s oracles. The plans of Judah’s enemies will not come to pass (7:5–7; 8:9–10; 10:7), but God’s plan for his work of disciplining his own people (5:12, 19; 28:21), and then for punishing the foreign agents God used to administer that discipline (10:12) will come to pass.
24The Lord of hosts has sworn:
As I have resolved,
so shall it be;
As I have planned,
so shall it stand:
25To break the Assyrian in my land
and trample him on my mountains;
Then his yoke shall be removed from them,
and his burden from their shoulder.#Is 9:3; 10:27a.
26This is the plan proposed for the whole earth,
and this the hand outstretched over all the nations.#Hand outstretched over all the nations: as it was once outstretched over Israel (9:11, 16, 20; 5:25).
27The Lord of hosts has planned;
who can thwart him?
His hand is stretched out;
who can turn it back?#Is 23:8–9; Jb 40:8; Jer 4:28.
Philistia.#This oracle seems to reflect the political situation soon after the death of Ahaz in 715 B.C., when Ashdod and the other Philistine cities were trying to create a united front to rebel against Assyria. Ahaz had refused to join the rebels in 735 B.C. and remained loyal to Assyria during the rest of his reign, but the Philistines may have had higher hopes for his son Hezekiah. Judah, however, did not join in Ashdod’s disastrous revolt in 713–711 B.C. (cf. 20:1). 28In the year that King Ahaz died,#The year that King Ahaz died: 715 B.C. there came this oracle:
29#The occasion for this oracle is usually taken to be the death of an Assyrian king; the Philistines were vassals of Assyria, whereas no victories of Ahaz over the Philistines are recorded. The chronological notice (in the year that King Ahaz died) may be incorrect, for no Assyrian king died around 715, the date usually assigned for the death of Ahaz. Flying saraph: a winged cobra, often portrayed in Egyptian art and on Israelite seals. The Hebrew saraph means “to burn” and perhaps is applied to the cobra because of the burning sensation of its bite. Do not rejoice, Philistia, not one of you,
that the rod which struck you is broken;
For out of the serpent’s root shall come an adder,
its offspring shall be a flying saraph.
30In my pastures the poor shall graze,
and the needy lie down in safety;
But I will kill your root with famine
that shall slay even your remnant.
31Howl, O gate; cry out, O city!
Philistia, all of you melts away!
For there comes a smoke from the north,#Smoke from the north: the dust raised from the approach of the Assyrian army.
without a straggler in its ranks.
32What will one answer the messengers of the nations?#Messengers of the nations: envoys from Philistia, and from Egypt and Ethiopia, the real powers behind the Philistine revolt (20:1–6; cf. 18:1–2).
“The Lord has established Zion,
and in her the afflicted of his people find refuge.”
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