Isaiah 14
Lexham English Bible
The Restoration of Israel
14 But Yahweh will have compassion on Jacob,
and he will again choose Israel
and set them on their land,
and the immigrant will join himself to them,
and they will attach themselves to the house of Jacob.
2 And the nations will take them
and bring them to their place,
and the house of Israel will take possession of them[a] in the land of Yahweh
as slaves and female slaves.
And this will happen:
they will take their captors captive
and rule over their oppressors.
The Downfall of the King of Babylon
3 And it shall happen on the day Yahweh gives you rest from your pain and turmoil and hard labor which you had to perform,[b]
4 that you will take this taunt against the king of Babylon,
and you will say:
“How the oppressor has ceased!
his insolence[c] has ceased.
5 Yahweh has broken the staff of the wicked,
the scepter of rulers,
6 that struck the peoples in wrath, a blow without ceasing,
that ruled the nations in anger
with unrestrained persecution.[d]
7 All of the earth rests and is quiet;
they break forth into singing.
8 Even the cypresses rejoice over you,
the cedars of Lebanon:
‘Since you were laid down,
no wood cutter comes up against us.’
9 Sheol below is getting excited over you,
to meet you when you come;[e]
it arouses the dead spirits for you,
all of the leaders of the earth.
It raises all of the kings of the nations from their thrones.
10 All of them will respond and say to you,
‘You yourself also were made weak like us!
You have become the same as us!’
11 Your pride is brought down to Sheol,
and the sound of your harps;
maggots[f] are spread out beneath you like a bed,
and your covering is worms.[g]
12 How you have fallen from heaven, morning star, son of dawn!
You are cut down to the ground, conqueror of nations!
13 And you yourself said in your heart,
‘I will ascend to heaven;
I will raise up my throne above the stars of God;
and I will sit on the mountain of assembly
on the summit of Zaphon;[h]
14 I will ascend to the high places of the clouds,[i]
I will make myself like the Most High.’
15 But you are brought down to Sheol,
to the depths of the pit.
16 Those who see you will stare at you,
they will look closely at you:
‘Is this the man who made the earth tremble,
who caused kingdoms to shake,
17 who made the world like the desert
and destroyed its cities,
who would not let his prisoners go home?’
18 All the kings of the nations, all of them, lie in glory,
each one in his house.
19 But as for you, you are thrown away from your grave,
like an abhorrent shoot,
clothed with the slain,
those pierced by the sword,
those who go down to the stones of the pit,
like a corpse that is trodden down.
20 You will not be united with them in burial
because you have destroyed your land,
you have killed your people.
The descendants[j] of evildoers will not be mentioned for eternity!
21 Prepare a place of slaughter for his sons
because of the sin of their ancestors.[k]
Let them not rise and take possession of the earth
or fill up the face of the world with cities.”
22 “And I will rise up against them,”
declares[l] Yahweh of hosts,
“and I will cut off name and a remnant from Babylon,
and offspring and posterity,”
declares[m] Yahweh.
23 “And I will make her a possession of the hedgehog,
and pools of water,
and I will sweep her away with the broom of destruction,”
declares[n] Yahweh of hosts.
Oracle of Judgment on Assyria
24 Yahweh of hosts has sworn, saying,
“Surely[o] just as I have intended, so it shall be.
And just as I have planned, it shall stand:
25 to break Assyria in my land,
and I will trample him down on my mountains;
and he shall remove his yoke from them,
and he shall remove his burden from his[p] shoulders.”[q]
26 This is the plan that is planned concerning all of the earth;
and this is the hand that is stretched out over all of the nations.
27 For Yahweh of hosts has planned, and who will frustrate it?
And his hand is stretched out, and who will turn it back?
Oracle of Judgment on Philistia
28 In the year of the death of king Ahaz there was this oracle:
29 You must not rejoice, all you Philistines,
that the rod that struck you is broken,
for a viper will come forth from the root of the snake,
and its fruit will be a flying serpent.
30 And the firstborn of the poor will graze,
and the needy will lie down in security;
but I will cause your root to die in famine,
and it will kill your remnant.
31 Wail, gate! Cry, city!
Melt,[r] Philistia, all of you!
For smoke is coming from the north,
and there is no straggler in his ranks.
32 And what will one answer the messengers of the nation?
That Yahweh has founded Zion,
and the needy of his people will take refuge in it.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 14:2 That is, the nations
- Isaiah 14:3 Literally “was worked by you”
- Isaiah 14:4 The meaning of the word is uncertain; others translate it as “fury,” “hostility,” or even “golden city”
- Isaiah 14:6 Literally “persecution without withholding”
- Isaiah 14:9 Literally “your entrance”
- Isaiah 14:11 Hebrew “maggot”
- Isaiah 14:11 Hebrew “worm”
- Isaiah 14:13 Or “of the north”
- Isaiah 14:14 Hebrew “cloud”
- Isaiah 14:20 Hebrew “descendant”
- Isaiah 14:21 Or “fathers”
- Isaiah 14:22 Literally “declaration of”
- Isaiah 14:22 Literally “declaration of”
- Isaiah 14:23 Literally “declaration of”
- Isaiah 14:24 The oath formula begins literally “If not”
- Isaiah 14:25 That is, their
- Isaiah 14:25 Hebrew “shoulder”
- Isaiah 14:31 With fear or despair
Isaiah 14
Christian Standard Bible
Israel’s Return
14 For the Lord will have compassion(A) on Jacob and will choose Israel again.(B) He will settle them on their own land.(C) The resident alien will join them and be united with the house of Jacob.(D) 2 The nations will escort Israel and bring it to its homeland. Then the house of Israel will possess them as male and female slaves in the Lord’s land.(E) They will make captives of their captors and will rule over their oppressors.
Downfall of the King of Babylon
3 When the Lord gives you rest from your pain,(F) torment, and the hard labor(G) you were forced to do, 4 you will sing this song of contempt about the king of Babylon(H) and say:
How the oppressor has quieted down,
and how the raging[a] has become quiet!
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 The whole earth is calm and at rest;
people shout with a ringing cry.
8 Even the cypresses and the cedars of Lebanon
rejoice over you:(I)
“Since you have been laid low,
no lumberjack has come against us.”
9 Sheol below is eager to greet your coming,
stirring up the spirits of the departed for you—
all the rulers[b] of the earth—
making all the kings of the nations
rise from their thrones.
10 They all respond to you, saying,
“You too have become as weak as we are;
you have become like us!
11 Your splendor has been brought down to Sheol,
along with the music of your harps.
Maggots are spread out under you,
and worms cover you.”
12 Shining morning star,[c](J)
how you have fallen from the heavens!(K)
You destroyer of nations,
you have been cut down to the ground.
13 You said to yourself,
“I will ascend to the heavens;(L)
I will set up my throne
above the stars of God.(M)
I will sit on the mount of the gods’ assembly,
in the remotest parts of the North.[d](N)
14 I will ascend above the highest clouds;
I will make myself like the Most High.”
15 But you will be brought down to Sheol
into the deepest regions of the Pit.(O)
16 Those who see you will stare at you;
they will look closely at you:
“Is this the man who caused the earth to tremble,
who shook the kingdoms,
17 who turned the world into a wilderness,(P)
who destroyed its cities
and would not release the prisoners to return home?”
18 All the kings of the nations
lie in splendor, each in his own tomb.
19 But you are thrown out without a grave,
like a worthless branch,
covered by those slain with the sword
and dumped into a rocky pit like a trampled corpse.
20 You will not join them in burial,
because you destroyed your land
and slaughtered your own people.
The offspring of evildoers
will never be mentioned again.(Q)
21 Prepare a place of slaughter for his sons,
because of the iniquity(R) of their ancestors.
They will never rise up to possess a land
or fill the surface of the earth with cities.
22 “I will rise up against them”—this is the declaration of the Lord of Armies—“and I will cut off from Babylon her reputation, remnant, offspring, and posterity”—this is the Lord’s declaration. 23 “I will make her a swampland and a region for herons,[e] and I will sweep her away with the broom of destruction.”
This is the declaration of the Lord of Armies.
Assyria Will Be Destroyed
24 The Lord of Armies has sworn:
As I have purposed, so it will be;
as I have planned it, so it will happen.(S)
25 I will break Assyria(T) in my land;
I will tread him down on my mountain.
Then his yoke will be taken from them,
and his burden will be removed from their shoulders.
26 This is the plan(U) prepared
for the whole earth,
and this is the hand stretched out
against all the nations.
27 The Lord of Armies himself has planned it;
therefore, who can stand in its way?
It is his hand that is outstretched,
so who can turn it back?
A Pronouncement against Philistia
28 In the year that King Ahaz died,(V) this pronouncement came:(W)
29 Don’t rejoice, all of you in Philistia,
because the rod of the one who struck you(X) is broken.
For a viper will come from the root[f] of a snake,
and from its egg comes a flying serpent.(Y)
30 Then the firstborn(Z) of the poor will be well fed,
and the impoverished will lie down in safety,
but I will kill your root with hunger,
and your remnant will be slain.
31 Wail, you gates!(AA) Cry out, city!
Tremble with fear,(AB) all Philistia!
For a cloud of dust is coming from the north,(AC)
and there is no one missing from the invader’s ranks.
32 What answer will be given to the messengers from that nation?
The Lord has founded Zion,(AD)
and his oppressed people find refuge in her.
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