Isaiah 14

The Fall of the Oppressor

1The LORD will have compassion on Jacob and again choose Israel. He will settle them on their own land. Resident foreigners will join them and attach themselves to the house of Jacob. 2Peoples will bring them to their own place, and the house of Israel will possess those peoples as male and female slaves in the LORD’s land. They will capture their captors and rule over their oppressors. 3When the LORD gives you rest from pain, turmoil, and the harsh labor forced upon you, 4you will take up this taunt against Babylon’s king:
“How the oppressor has stopped!
How his extortion has ended!

5The LORD has broken the wicked’s staff,
the rulers’ rod, 6which struck peoples in fury
with blows that never stopped,
which ruled nations in anger
with unrelenting pursuit. 7All the earth rests, quiet at last;
it breaks into joyful song. 8Even the cypresses rejoice over you,
and Lebanon’s cedars:
‘Since you were laid low,
no woodcutter comes against us.’

9Sheol below stirs to meet you when you come.
It rouses the shades for you,
all the earth’s leaders;
it lifts from their thrones
all the kings of nations. 10They all answer you:
‘You too have become weak like us!
You have become one of us!’ 11Your pomp has been brought down to Sheol,
with the sound of your harps.
Maggots are spread beneath you;
worms are your covering. 12How you have fallen from heaven,
shining one, son of Dawn!
You are cut down to the earth,
you who laid nations low.

13You said in your heart,
‘I will ascend to heaven;
above God’s stars I will raise my throne.
I will sit on the mountain of assembly,
in the far reaches of Zaphon. 14I will ascend above the cloud heights;
I will make myself like the Most High.’ 15But down to Sheol you are brought,
to the deepest reaches of the Pit. 16Those who see you will stare and ponder:
‘Is this the man who made the earth tremble,
who shook kingdoms,

17who made the world a wilderness
and demolished its cities,
who would not release his prisoners to go home?’ 18All the kings of nations lie in honor,
each in his own tomb. 19But you are thrown away from your grave
like a despised branch,
clothed with the slain, pierced by swords,
who go down to the stones of the Pit—
like a corpse trampled underfoot. 20You will not join them in burial,
for you ruined your land and killed your people.
May evildoers’ offspring never be named again!

21Prepare a slaughtering place for his sons
because of their fathers’ guilt,
so they cannot rise and possess the land
and fill the world’s surface with cities.” 22“I will rise against them,” declares the LORD of hosts. “I will cut off from Babylon name and remnant, offspring and descendants,” declares the LORD. 23“I will make it a possession for hedgehogs and pools of water. I will sweep it with the broom of destruction,” declares the LORD of hosts. 24The LORD of hosts has sworn:
“As I have intended, so it will happen;
as I have planned, so it will stand:

25I will break Assyria in my land,
trample him on my mountains.
His yoke will leave them;
his burden will leave their shoulders.” 26This is the plan made for all the earth;
this is the hand stretched over all the nations. 27The LORD of hosts has planned it—who can thwart it?
His hand is stretched out—who can turn it back? 28This oracle came in the year King Ahaz died:

29Do not rejoice, all Philistia,
that the rod striking you is broken.
From the snake’s root a viper will come,
and its fruit will be a flying fiery serpent. 30The poorest of the poor will graze,
and the needy lie down safely.
But I will kill your root with famine;
it will slay your remnant. 31Wail, gate! Cry out, city!
Melt away, all Philistia!
Smoke comes from the north,
and none strays from its ranks. 32What answer should be given to a nation’s messengers?
“The LORD founded Zion,
and his people’s afflicted find refuge there.”