Isaiah 14

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.’
¹²How you have ^(O)fallen from heaven,
You ^[g]^(P)star of the morning, son of the dawn!
You have been cut down to the earth,
You who defeated the nations!
¹³But you said in your heart,
‘I will ^(Q)ascend to heaven;
I will ^(R)raise my throne above the stars of God,
And I will sit on the mount of assembly
In the recesses of the north.
¹⁴I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;
^(S)I will make myself like the Most High.’
¹⁵Nevertheless you ^(T)will be brought down to Sheol,
To the recesses of the pit.
¹⁶Those who see you will stare at you,
They will ^[h]closely examine you, saying,
‘Is this the man who made the earth tremble,
Who shook kingdoms,
¹⁷Who made the world like a ^(U)wilderness
And overthrew its cities,
Who ^(V)did not ^[i]allow his prisoners to go home?’
¹⁸All the kings of the nations lie in glory,
Each in his own ^[j]tomb.
¹⁹But you have been ^(W)hurled out of your tomb
Like ^[k]a rejected branch,
^[l]Clothed with those killed who have been pierced with a sword,
Who go down to the stones of the ^(X)pit
Like a ^(Y)trampled corpse.
²⁰You will not be united with them in burial,
Because you have ruined your country,
You have killed your people.
May the ^(Z)descendants of evildoers never be mentioned.
²¹Prepare a place of slaughter for his sons
Because of the ^(AA)wrongdoing of their fathers.
They must not arise and take possession of the earth,
And fill the surface of the world with cities.”

²²“I will rise up against them,” declares the Lord of armies, “and eliminate from Babylon ^(AB)name and survivors, ^(AC)offspring and descendants,” declares the Lord. ²³“I will also make it the property of the ^(AD)hedgehog and swamps of water, and I will sweep it away with the broom of ^(AE)destruction,” declares the Lord of armies.

Judgment on Assyria

²⁴The Lord of armies has sworn, saying, “Certainly, ^(AF)just as I have intended, so it has happened, and just as I have planned, so it will stand, ²⁵to ^(AG)break Assyria in My land, and I will trample him on My mountains. Then his ^(AH)yoke will be removed from them, and his burden removed from their shoulders. ²⁶This is the ^(AI)plan ^[m]devised against the entire earth; and this is the ^(AJ)hand that is stretched out against all the nations. ²⁷For ^(AK)the Lord of armies has planned, and who can frustrate it? And as for His stretched-out hand, who can turn it back?”

Judgment on Philistia

²⁸In the ^(AL)year that King Ahaz died, this ^(AM)pronouncement came:

²⁹“Do not rejoice, ^(AN)Philistia, all of you,
Because the rod that ^(AO)struck you is broken;
For from the serpent’s root a ^(AP)viper will come out,
And its fruit will be a ^(AQ)winged serpent.
³⁰^[n]Those who are most ^(AR)helpless will eat,
And the poor will lie down in security;
I will kill your root with ^(AS)famine,
And it will kill your survivors.
³¹Wail, you ^(AT)gate; cry, you city;
^[o]Melt away, ^(AU)Philistia, all of you!
For smoke comes from the ^(AV)north,
And ^(AW)there is no straggler in his ranks.
³²What answer will one give the ^(AX)messengers of the nation?
That ^(AY)the Lord has founded Zion,
And ^(AZ)the poor of His people will take refuge in it.”