Isaiah 14

1 For the LORD will have compassion on Jacob; once again He will choose Israel and settle them in their own land. The foreigner will join them and unite with the house of Jacob.

2 The nations will escort Israel and bring it to its homeland. Then the house of Israel will possess the nations as menservants and maidservants in the LORD’s land. They will make captives of their captors and rule over their oppressors.

3 On the day that the LORD gives you rest from your pain and torment, and from the hard labor into which you were forced,

4 you will sing this song of contempt against the king of Babylon: How the oppressor has ceased, and how his fury has ended!

5 The LORD has broken the staff of the wicked, the scepter of the rulers.

6 It struck the peoples in anger with unceasing blows; it subdued the nations in rage with relentless persecution.

7 All the earth is at peace and at rest; they break out in song.

8 Even the cypresses and cedars of Lebanon exult over you: “Since you have been laid low, no woodcutter comes against us.”

9 Sheol beneath is eager to meet you upon your arrival. It stirs the spirits of the dead to greet you—all the rulers of the earth. It makes all the kings of the nations rise from their thrones.

10 They will all respond to you, saying, “You too have become weak, as we are; you have become like us!”

11 Your pomp has been brought down to Sheol, along with the music of your harps. Maggots are your bed and worms your blanket.

12 How you have fallen from heaven, O day star, son of the dawn! You have been cut down to the ground, O destroyer of nations.

13 You said in your heart: “I will ascend to the heavens; I will raise my throne above the stars of God. I will sit on the mount of assembly, in the far reaches of the north.

14 I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.”

15 But you will be brought down to Sheol, to the lowest depths of the Pit.

16 Those who see you will stare; they will ponder your fate: “Is this the man who shook the earth and made the kingdoms tremble,

17 who turned the world into a desert and destroyed its cities, who refused to let the captives return to their homes?”

18 All the kings of the nations lie in state, each in his own tomb.

19 But you are cast out of your grave like a rejected branch, covered by those slain with the sword, and dumped into a rocky pit like a carcass trampled underfoot.

20 You will not join them in burial, since you have destroyed your land and slaughtered your own people. The offspring of the wicked will never again be mentioned.

21 Prepare a place to slaughter his sons for the iniquities of their forefathers. They will never rise up to possess a land or cover the earth with their cities.

22 “I will rise up against them,” declares the LORD of Hosts. “I will cut off from Babylon her name and her remnant, her offspring and her posterity,” declares the LORD.

23 “I will make her a place for owls and for swamplands; I will sweep her away with the broom of destruction,” declares the LORD of Hosts.

24 The LORD of Hosts has sworn: “Surely, as I have planned, so will it be; as I have purposed, so will it stand.

25 I will break Assyria in My land; I will trample him on My mountain. His yoke will be taken off My people, and his burden removed from their shoulders.”

26 This is the plan devised for the whole earth, and this is the hand stretched out over all the nations.

27 The LORD of Hosts has purposed, and who can thwart Him? His hand is outstretched, so who can turn it back?

28 In the year that King Ahaz died, this burden was received:

29 Do not rejoice, all you Philistines, that the rod that struck you is broken. For a viper will spring from the root of the snake, and a flying serpent from its egg.

30 Then the firstborn of the poor will find pasture, and the needy will lie down in safety, but I will kill your root by famine, and your remnant will be slain.

31 Wail, O gate! Cry out, O city! Melt away, all you Philistines! For a cloud of smoke comes from the north, and there are no stragglers in its ranks.

32 What answer will be given to the envoys of that nation? “The LORD has founded Zion, where His afflicted people will find refuge.”

1 ¶ For the LORD will have mercy on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel, and set them in their own land: and the strangers shall be joined with them, and they shall cleave to the house of Jacob.

2 And the people shall take them, and bring them to their place: and the house of Israel shall possess them in the land of the LORD for servants and handmaids: and they shall take them captives, whose captives they were; and they shall rule over their oppressors.

3 And it shall come to pass in the day that the LORD shall give thee rest from thy sorrow, and from thy fear, and from the hard bondage wherein thou wast made to serve,

4 ¶ That thou shalt take up this proverb against the king of Babylon, and say, How hath the oppressor ceased! the golden city ceased!

5 The LORD hath broken the staff of the wicked, [and] the sceptre of the rulers.

6 He who smote the people in wrath with a continual stroke, he that ruled the nations in anger, is persecuted, [and] none hindereth.

7 The whole earth is at rest, [and] is quiet: they break forth into singing.

8 Yea, the fir trees rejoice at thee, [and] the cedars of Lebanon, [saying], Since thou art laid down, no feller is come up against us.

9 Hell from beneath is moved for thee to meet [thee] at thy coming: it stirreth up the dead for thee, [even] all the chief ones of the earth; it hath raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations.

10 All they shall speak and say unto thee, Art thou also become weak as we? art thou become like unto us?

11 Thy pomp is brought down to the grave, [and] the noise of thy viols: the worm is spread under thee, and the worms cover thee.

12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! [how] art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!

13 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:

14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.

15 Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.

16 They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, [and] consider thee, [saying, Is] this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms;

17 [That] made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof; [that] opened not the house of his prisoners?

18 All the kings of the nations, [even] all of them, lie in glory, every one in his own house.

19 But thou art cast out of thy grave like an abominable branch, [and as] the raiment of those that are slain, thrust through with a sword, that go down to the stones of the pit; as a carcase trodden under feet.

20 Thou shalt not be joined with them in burial, because thou hast destroyed thy land, [and] slain thy people: the seed of evildoers shall never be renowned.

21 Prepare slaughter for his children for the iniquity of their fathers; that they do not rise, nor possess the land, nor fill the face of the world with cities.

22 For I will rise up against them, saith the LORD of hosts, and cut off from Babylon the name, and remnant, and son, and nephew, saith the LORD.

23 I will also make it a possession for the bittern, and pools of water: and I will sweep it with the besom of destruction, saith the LORD of hosts.

24 ¶ The LORD of hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass; and as I have purposed, [so] shall it stand:

25 That I will break the Assyrian in my land, and upon my mountains tread him under foot: then shall his yoke depart from off them, and his burden depart from off their shoulders.

26 This [is] the purpose that is purposed upon the whole earth: and this [is] the hand that is stretched out upon all the nations.

27 For the LORD of hosts hath purposed, and who shall disannul [it]? and his hand [is] stretched out, and who shall turn it back?

28 In the year that king Ahaz died was this burden.

29 Rejoice not thou, whole Palestina, because the rod of him that smote thee is broken: for out of the serpent's root shall come forth a cockatrice, and his fruit [shall be] a fiery flying serpent.

30 And the firstborn of the poor shall feed, and the needy shall lie down in safety: and I will kill thy root with famine, and he shall slay thy remnant.

31 Howl, O gate; cry, O city; thou, whole Palestina, [art] dissolved: for there shall come from the north a smoke, and none [shall be] alone in his appointed times.

32 What shall [one] then answer the messengers of the nation? That the LORD hath founded Zion, and the poor of his people shall trust in it.

3 And in that day when the LORD shall give thee rest from thy mourning and from thy suffering, and from the hard service wherein thou hast been,

4 Then shalt thou speak such a proverb against the king of Babylon, saying, How is the driver finished, and the interest is ended?

5 The LORD hath broken the rod of the wicked, the rod of the rulers,

6 Which smote the nations in fury without ceasing, and ruled with fury over the heathen, and persecuted without mercy.

7 Now therefore let all the earth rest, and be still, and rejoice.

8 The fir trees also rejoice over thee, and the cedars of Lebanon, saying, Because thou liest, no man cometh up to cut us off.

9 The hell that was below trembled at thy coming. She hath raised up the dead unto thee, all the goats of the earth, and hath caused all the kings of the heathen to rise from their seats,

10 And they shall all speak one to another, and say unto thee, Thou also art smitten, as we are smitten; and it shall be unto thee as it is unto us.

11 Thy glory is gone down to hell with the sound of thy harps. Moths shall be thy bed, and worms thy covering.

12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O beautiful morning star! How art thou fallen to the earth, who didst weaken the heathen!

13 Thou hast thought in thine heart, saying, I will ascend into heaven, and will exalt my throne above the stars of God;

14 I will sit upon the mount of the congregation on the side toward the north: I will pass over the high clouds, and be like unto the most High.

15 yea, to hell thou goest, to the side of the pit.

16 He that beholdeth thee shall look upon thee, and behold thee, and say, Is this the man that made the world to tremble, and the kingdoms to shake?

17 Who made the earth a desolation, and brake in pieces the cities that were therein, and delivered not his captives?

18 Though all the kings of the heathen lie together with honour, every one in his own house;

19 But thou art rejected from thy grave as a despised branch, as the garment of them that are slain with the sword, which go down to the heaps of stones of hell, as a trodden down corpse.

20 Thou shalt not be buried like them: for thou hast destroyed thy land, and slain thy people: for the seed of the wicked shall never be remembered.

21 Let his children be slain for the iniquity of their fathers, that they rise not up, nor inherit the land, nor fill the earth with cities.

22 And I will come upon them, saith the LORD of hosts, and will cut off from Babylon their remnant, and their nephews, and their seed, saith the LORD,

23 And I will make them an inheritance to the hedgehogs, and a lake of waters, and will sweep them with a broom of destruction, saith the LORD of hosts.

24 The LORD of hosts hath sworn, saying, What is the matter? let it go as I think, and let it stand as I have it in mind,

25 And Assyria shall be broken in my land, and I will tread him down upon my mountains, that his yoke may be taken from them, and his burden from off their neck.

26 This is the stroke which he hath over all the earth, and this is the stretched out hand over all the nations.

27 For the LORD of hosts hath decreed it: who shall withstand it? And his hand is stretched out; who shall turn it?