Isaiah 14
14
Compassion for Jacob
1The LORD will have compassion on Jacob, will again choose Israel, and will give them rest in their own land. Immigrants will join them, and attach themselves to the house of Jacob. 2The peoples will take them and will bring them to their own place. The house of Israel will possess them as male and female slaves in the LORD’s land, making captives of their captors and ruling their oppressors.
Mockery of a tyrant
3When the LORD has given you rest from pain and trouble and from the hard labor that you perform, 4you will take up this taunt against the king of Babylon:
How the oppressor#14.4 Heb uncertain has ceased!
How the flood#14.4 DSS (1QIsaa), LXX, Syr, Tg; MT fury has receded!
5The LORD has broken the staff of the wicked,
the rod of tyrants 6that struck peoples in rage with ceaseless blows,
that ruled nations with anger,
with relentless aggression.
7All the earth rests quietly,
then it breaks into song.
8Even the cypresses rejoice over you,
the cedars of Lebanon:
“Since you were laid low,
no logger comes up against us!”
9The underworld#14.9 Heb Sheol beneath becomes restless to greet your arrival.
It awakens the ghosts,
all the leaders of earth;
it makes the kings of the nations rise from their thrones.
10All of them speak and say to you:
“Even you’ve become weak like we are!
You are the same as us!”
11Your majesty has been brought down to the underworld,#14.11 Heb Sheol
along with the sound of your harps.
Under you is a bed of maggots,
and worms are your blanket.
12How you’ve fallen from heaven,
morning star, son of dawn!
You are cut down to earth,
helpless on your back!
13You said to yourself, I will climb up to heaven;
above God’s stars, I will raise my throne.
I’ll sit on the mount of assembly,
on the heights of Zaphon.
14I’ll go up to the cloud tops;
I’ll be like the Most High!
15But down to the underworld#14.15 Heb Sheol you are brought,
to the depths of the pit.
16Those who see you will stare at you;
they will examine you closely:
“Is this the man who rattled the earth,
who shook kingdoms,
17who made the world a wasteland
and tore down its cities,
and wouldn’t let his prisoners go home?”
18All the kings of the nations lie down honored,
all of them, each in his own tomb.
19But you are cast away from your own grave
like a rejected branch,
covered by the dead
and those pierced by the sword—
who go down to the stony pit—
like a trampled corpse.
20You won’t join them in burial,
for you destroyed your own land;
you killed your own people.
Such evil offspring will never be mentioned again!
21Prepare a place to slaughter his sons for the guilt of their father. Don’t let them arise to take over the earth or fill the world with cities.
22I will arise against them, says the LORD of heavenly forces. I will cut off Babylon’s renown and remnant, offshoot and offspring. 23I will make it the home of herons, a swampland. I will sweep it away with the broom of destruction, says the LORD of heavenly forces.
Promise for oppressed Judah
24The LORD of heavenly forces has promised:
As I intended, so it will be;
and as I have planned, so it will happen:
25I will break Assyria in my land;
on my mountains I will trample it
and remove its yoke from my people;#14.25 Or them
his burden will be taken from their shoulders.
26This is the plan that has been made for all the earth;
this is the hand extended over all the nations.
27The LORD of heavenly forces has created a plan;
who can stop it?
God’s hand is extended;
who will stop it?
An oracle concerning the Philistines
28This oracle came in the year of King Ahaz’s death:
29Don’t rejoice, all you Philistines, that the rod that struck you is broken,
because from the snake’s root a viper will grow,
and it will produce a winged creature.
30The oldest offspring of the poor will graze;
their needy will lie down secure.
But he will starve your offspring to death,
and murder all who remain.
31Wail, gate! Cry out, city!
Melt in terror, all you Philistines!
Smoke is coming from the north;
there is no straggler in its ranks.#14.31 Heb uncertain
32What will one say to that nation’s messengers?
The LORD has founded Zion;
the oppressed among God’s people will find refuge there.
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2011 Common English Bible. All rights reserved.
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.