NIV
Isaiah 14
- 1<pb/><t>The LORD will have compassion on Jacob;</t> <t>once again he will choose Israel</t> <t>and will settle them in their own land.</t> <t>Foreigners will join them</t> <t>and unite with the descendants of Jacob.</t>
- 2<t>Nations will take them</t> <t>and bring them to their own place.</t> <t>And Israel will take possession of the nations</t> <t>and make them male and female servants in the LORD’s land.</t> <t>They will make captives of their captors</t> <t>and rule over their oppressors.</t>
- 3<pb/>On the day the LORD gives you relief from your suffering and turmoil and from the harsh labor forced on you,
- 4you will take up this taunt against the king of Babylon: <pb/><t>How the oppressor has come to an end!</t> <t>How his fury<f>[36]</f> has ended!</t>
- 5<t>The LORD has broken the rod of the wicked,</t> <t>the scepter of the rulers,</t>
- 6<t>which in anger struck down peoples</t> <t>with unceasing blows,</t> <t>and in fury subdued nations</t> <t>with relentless aggression.</t>
- 7<t>All the lands are at rest and at peace;</t> <t>they break into singing.</t>
- 8<t>Even the junipers and the cedars of Lebanon</t> <t>gloat over you and say,</t> <t>“Now that you have been laid low,</t> <t>no one comes to cut us down.” <pb/></t>
- 9<t>The realm of the dead below is all astir</t> <t>to meet you at your coming;</t> <t>it rouses the spirits of the departed to greet you—</t> <t>all those who were leaders in the world;</t> <t>it makes them rise from their thrones—</t> <t>all those who were kings over the nations.</t>
- 10<t>They will all respond,</t> <t>they will say to you,</t> <t>“You also have become weak, as we are;</t> <t>you have become like us.”</t>
- 11<t>All your pomp has been brought down to the grave,</t> <t>along with the noise of your harps;</t> <t>maggots are spread out beneath you</t> <t>and worms cover you. <pb/></t>
- 12<t>How you have fallen from heaven,</t> <t>morning star, son of the dawn!</t> <t>You have been cast down to the earth,</t> <t>you who once laid low the nations!</t>
- 13<t>You said in your heart,</t> <t>“I will ascend to the heavens;</t> <t>I will raise my throne</t> <t>above the stars of God;</t> <t>I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly,</t> <t>on the utmost heights of Mount Zaphon.<f>[37]</f></t>
- 14<t>I will ascend above the tops of the clouds;</t> <t>I will make myself like the Most High.”</t>
- 15<t>But you are brought down to the realm of the dead,</t> <t>to the depths of the pit. <pb/></t>
- 16<t>Those who see you stare at you,</t> <t>they ponder your fate:</t> <t>“Is this the man who shook the earth</t> <t>and made kingdoms tremble,</t>
- 17<t>the man who made the world a wilderness,</t> <t>who overthrew its cities</t> <t>and would not let his captives go home?” <pb/></t>
- 18<t>All the kings of the nations lie in state,</t> <t>each in his own tomb.</t>
- 19<t>But you are cast out of your tomb</t> <t>like a rejected branch;</t> <t>you are covered with the slain,</t> <t>with those pierced by the sword,</t> <t>those who descend to the stones of the pit.</t> <t>Like a corpse trampled underfoot,</t>
- 20<t>you will not join them in burial,</t> <t>for you have destroyed your land</t> <t>and killed your people. <pb/>Let the offspring of the wicked</t> <t>never be mentioned again.</t>
- 21<t>Prepare a place to slaughter his children</t> <t>for the sins of their ancestors;</t> <t>they are not to rise to inherit the land</t> <t>and cover the earth with their cities. <pb/></t>
- 22<t>“I will rise up against them,”</t> <t>declares the LORD Almighty.</t> <t>“I will wipe out Babylon’s name and survivors,</t> <t>her offspring and descendants,”</t> <t>declares the LORD.</t>
- 23<t>“I will turn her into a place for owls</t> <t>and into swampland;</t> <t>I will sweep her with the broom of destruction,”</t> <t>declares the LORD Almighty.</t>
- 24<pb/>The LORD Almighty has sworn, <pb/><t>“Surely, as I have planned, so it will be,</t> <t>and as I have purposed, so it will happen.</t>
- 25<t>I will crush the Assyrian in my land;</t> <t>on my mountains I will trample him down.</t> <t>His yoke will be taken from my people,</t> <t>and his burden removed from their shoulders.” <pb/></t>
- 26<t>This is the plan determined for the whole world;</t> <t>this is the hand stretched out over all nations.</t>
- 27<t>For the LORD Almighty has purposed, and who can thwart him?</t> <t>His hand is stretched out, and who can turn it back?</t>
- 28<pb/>This prophecy came in the year King Ahaz died:
- 29<pb/><t>Do not rejoice, all you Philistines,</t> <t>that the rod that struck you is broken;</t> <t>from the root of that snake will spring up a viper,</t> <t>its fruit will be a darting, venomous serpent.</t>
- 30<t>The poorest of the poor will find pasture,</t> <t>and the needy will lie down in safety.</t> <t>But your root I will destroy by famine;</t> <t>it will slay your survivors. <pb/></t>
- 31<t>Wail, you gate! Howl, you city!</t> <t>Melt away, all you Philistines!</t> <t>A cloud of smoke comes from the north,</t> <t>and there is not a straggler in its ranks.</t>
- 32<t>What answer shall be given</t> <t>to the envoys of that nation?</t> <t>“The LORD has established Zion,</t> <t>and in her his afflicted people will find refuge.”</t>