Isaiah 14
1BUT the Lord will have mercy on Jacob, and will still make choice of Israel; and they shall rest in their own land; and the stranger shall be joined to them, and shall be added to the house of Jacob.
2The nations shall take them and bring them to their place; and the house of Jacob shall possess them; when they shall be multiplied in their land, for men servants and for maid servants. And they who captivated them shall be captives; and they who domineered over them shall be brought into subjection.
3And it shall come to pass in that day when the Lord shall give thee rest from thy sorrow and thy grief—from that hard servitude of thine, with which thou hast served them,
4that thou wilt take up this funeral song over the king of Babylon:
How the extortioner is laid to rest and a stop put to his demands!
5The Lord hath broken the yoke of the sinners—the yoke of the rulers.
6He smote a nation in wrath with an incurable wound; He smote a nation with a vengeful wound which did not spare.
7The confidant is gone to rest; the whole earth shouteth for joy;
8and the trees of Lebanon rejoice over thee—and the cedars of Lebanon say, Since thou hast gone to rest, no woodsman is come up against us.
9Hades from beneath was in uproar to meet thee; for thee were roused all the giants who had ruled the earth. Having roused from their thrones all the kings of nations,
10they will all accost thee saying: And art thou caught as we have been? And among us art thou enrolled?
11Is thy pomp come down to Hades—all thy great festivity? Beneath thee they will strew corruption for a bed; and worms shall be thy covering.
12How is Lucifer fallen from heaven! He who was harbinger of the morning—he who sent messages to all the nations, is trampled down into the earth.
13Thou indeed didst say in thy heart, I will ascend up into heaven; above the stars of heaven I will place my throne; I will seat myself on a lofty mountain—on the lofty mountains which face the north.
14I will ascend above the clouds; I will be like the Most High.
15But thou must now go down to the mansion of the dead—even down to the foundations of the earth.
16They who see thee will express their amazement at thee and say, Is this the man who troubled the earth? who shook kings?
17who made the world a desert? who, when he destroyed cities, never dismissed his captives?
18All the kings of the nations have been composed to rest with honour, every man in his own house.
19But thou shalt be cast out on the mountains, like an abominable corpse, with dying crowds, pierced with the sword, descending down to the mansion of the dead. [End of funeral song.]
20As a mantle stained with blood cannot be clean: for the same cause neither canst thou be clean. Because thou hast destroyed this land of Mine, and hast slain this My people; thou shalt not be of long continuance. Wicked seed,
21prepare thy sons for slaughter, for the sins of their fathers; that they may not rise and possess the land, and fill the world with wars.
22I will indeed rise up against them, saith the Lord of Hosts, and destroy their name and remnant and seed. Thus saith the Lord:
23I will lay Babylonia waste: that porcupines may inhabit it; and it shall be a desolation. And I will plunge it in the miry gulf of destruction.
24Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, As I have spoken so it shall be; and as I have determined, so it shall stand.
25I will destroy the Assyrians on this land of Mine; and on these mountains of Mine they shall be trodden down; and their yoke shall be removed from My people; and their reproach shall be taken from their shoulders.
26This is the counsel which the Lord hath taken against the whole empire, and this is the hand which is lifted high against all the nations.
27For who can disannul what the Holy God hath decreed? and His hand which is lifted high, who can turn aside?
28In the year in which king Achaz died, this Oracle was delivered:
29Rejoice not, foreign tribes, with one accord, because the yoke of him who smote you is broken; for from the seed of a serpent will come forth young asps, and their offspring will be flying serpents.
30For the needy will be fed by Him; and in peace the needy will repose. But with famine He will destroy thy seed—even the remnant of thy seed He will destroy.
31Raise the mournful cry, ye gates of cities. O foreign tribes! let harassed cities scream with one accord: for a smoke is coming from the north, which cannot be endured.
32What then will the kings of nations say in reply?—namely, that the Lord hath founded Sion, and by Him the poor of His people shall be saved.