Isaiah 14:1-11

New American Standard Bible

Israel’s Taunt against Babylon

14 When the Lord ^(A)has compassion on Jacob and again ^(B)chooses Israel, and settles them on their own land, then ^(C)strangers will join them and attach themselves to the house of Jacob. ²The peoples will take them along and bring them to their place, and the ^(D)house of Israel will make them their own possession in the land of the Lord ^(E)as male and female servants; and ^[a]they will take their captors captive and will rule over their oppressors.

³And it will be on the day when the Lord gives you ^(F)rest from your hardship, your turmoil, and from the harsh service in which you have been enslaved, ⁴that you will ^(G)take up this ^[b]taunt against the king of Babylon, and say,

“How ^(H)the oppressor has ceased,
And how the ^[c]onslaught has ceased!
⁵The Lord has broken the staff of the wicked,
The scepter of rulers,
⁶^(I)Which used to strike the peoples in fury with unceasing strokes,
Which ^[d]subdued the nations in anger with unrestrained persecution.
⁷The whole earth is at rest and is quiet;
They ^(J)break forth into shouts of joy.
⁸Even the ^(K)juniper trees rejoice over you, and the cedars of Lebanon, saying,
‘Since you have been laid low, no tree cutter comes up against us.’
⁹^(L)Sheol below is excited about you, to meet you when you come;
It stirs the ^[e]spirits of the dead for you, all the ^[f]leaders of the earth;
It raises all the kings of the nations from their thrones.
¹⁰^(M)They will all respond and say to you,
‘Even you have become weak as we,
You have become like us.
¹¹Your ^(N)pride and the music of your harps
Have been brought down to Sheol;
Maggots are spread out as your bed beneath you
And worms are your covering.’