Isaiah 14

Contemporary English Version

The Lord's People Will Come Home

14 The Lord will have mercy on Israel and will let them be his chosen people once again. He will bring them back to their own land, and foreigners will join them as part of Israel. ²Other nations will lead them home, and Israel will make slaves of them in the land that belongs to the Lord. Israel will rule over those who once governed and mistreated them.

Death to the King of Babylonia!

³The Lord will set you free from your sorrow, suffering, and slavery. ⁴Then you will make fun of the King of Babylonia by singing this song:

That cruel monster is done for!
    He won't attack us again.^[a]
⁵The Lord has crushed the power
    of those evil kings,
⁶who were furious
and never stopped abusing
    the people of other nations.

⁷Now all the world is at peace;
its people are celebrating
    with joyful songs.
⁸King of Babylonia,
    even the cypress trees
and the cedars of Lebanon
    celebrate and say,
“Since you were put down,
no one comes along
    to chop us down.”

⁹The world of the dead
    eagerly waits for you.
With great excitement,
the spirits of ancient rulers
    hear about your coming.
¹⁰Each one of them will say,
“Now you are just as weak
    as any of us!
¹¹Your pride and your music
have ended here
    in the world of the dead.
Worms are your blanket,
    maggots are your bed.”

¹²^(A) You, the bright morning star,
    have fallen from the sky!
You brought down other nations;
    now you are brought down.
¹³^(B) You said to yourself,
    “I'll climb to heaven
and place my throne
    above the highest stars.
I'll sit there with the gods
    far away in the north.
¹⁴I'll be above the clouds,
    just like God Most High.”

¹⁵But now you are deep
    in the world of the dead.
¹⁶Those who see you will stare
    and wonder, “Is this the man
who made the world tremble
    and shook up kingdoms?
¹⁷Did he capture every city
    and make earth a desert?
Is he the one who refused
    to let prisoners go home?”

¹⁸When kings die, they are buried
    in glorious tombs.
¹⁹But you will be left unburied,
just another dead body
    lying underfoot
    like a broken branch.
You will be one of many
killed in battle and gone down
    to the deep rocky pit.^[b]
²⁰You won't be buried with kings;
you ruined your country
    and murdered your people.

You evil monster!
We hope that your family
    will be forgotten forever.
²¹We will slaughter your sons
to make them pay for the crimes
    of their ancestors.
They won't take over the world
or build cities
    anywhere on this earth.

²²The Lord All-Powerful has promised to attack Babylonia and destroy everyone there, so that none of them will ever be remembered again. ²³The Lord will sweep out the people, and the land will become a swamp for wild animals.

Assyria Will Be Punished

²⁴^(C) The Lord All-Powerful
    has made this promise:
Everything I have planned
    will happen just as I said.
²⁵I will wipe out every Assyrian
    in my country,
and I will crush those
    on my mountains.
I will free my people
from slavery
    to the Assyrians.
²⁶I have planned this
    for the whole world,
and my mighty arm
    controls every nation.
²⁷I, the Lord All-Powerful,
have made these plans.
    No one can stop me now!

The Philistines Will Be Punished

²⁸^(D) This message came from the Lord in the year King Ahaz died:^[c]

²⁹^(E) Philistines, don't be happy
    just because the rod
that punished you
    is broken.
That rod will become
a poisonous snake, and then
    a flying fiery dragon.

³⁰The poor and needy will find
pastures for their sheep
and will live in safety.
But I will starve some of you,
and others will be killed.

³¹Cry and weep in the gates
of your towns,
    you Philistines!
Smoke blows in from the north,^[d]
    and every soldier is ready.
³²If a messenger comes
from a distant nation,
    you must say:
“The Lord built Zion.
Even the poorest of his people
    will find safety there.”