Isaiah 14:1–17:14

ISRAEL’S RETURN

14 For the Lord will have compassionl on Jacob and will choose Israel again.m He will settle them on their own land.n The resident alien will join them and be united with the house of Jacob.o 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.p 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,q torment, and the hard laborr you were forced to do, 4 you will sing this song of contempt about the king of Babylons and say:

How the oppressor has quieted down,

and how the ragingB 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:t

“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 rulersA 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,B,a

how you have fallen from the heavens!b

You destroyer of nations,

you have been cut down to the ground.

13 You said to yourself,

“I will ascend to the heavens;c

I will set up my throne

above the stars of God.d

I will sit on the mount of the gods’ assembly,

in the remotest parts of the North.C,e

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.f

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,g

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.h

21 Prepare a place of slaughter for his sons,

because of the iniquityi 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,A 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.j

25 I will break Assyriak 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 planl 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,m this pronouncement came:n

29 Don’t rejoice, all of you in Philistia,

because the rod of the one who struck youo is broken.

For a viper will come from the rootB of a snake,

and from its egg comes a flying serpent.p

30 Then the firstbornq 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!r Cry out, city!

Tremble with fear,a all Philistia!

For a cloud of dust is coming from the north,b

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,c

and his oppressed people find refuge in her.

A PRONOUNCEMENT AGAINST MOAB

15 A pronouncement concerning Moab:d

Ar in Moab is devastated,e

destroyed in a night.

Kir in Moab is devastated,

destroyed in a night.

2 Dibon went up to its temple

to weep at its high places.

Moab wails on Nebo and atC Medeba.

Every head is shaved;

every beard is chopped short.

3 In its streets they wear sackcloth;

on its rooftops and in its public squares everyone wails,

falling down and weeping.

4 Heshbon and Elealeh cry out;

their voices are heard as far away as Jahaz.f

Therefore the soldiers of Moab cry out,

and they tremble.

5 My heart cries out over Moab,

whose fugitives flee as far as Zoar,g

to Eglath-shelishiyah;

they go up the Ascent of Luhith weeping;

they raise a cry of destruction

on the road to Horonaim.

6 The Waters of Nimrimh are desolate;

the grass is withered, the foliage is gone,

and the vegetation has vanished.

7 So they carry their wealth and belongings

over the Wadi of the Willows.i

8 For their cry echoes

throughout the territory of Moab.

Their wailing reaches Eglaim;

their wailing reaches Beer-elim.

9 The Waters of DibonA are full of blood,j

but I will bring on Dibon even more than this—

a lion for those who escape from Moab,

and for the survivors in the land.k

16 Send lambs to the ruler of the land,l

from Sela in the desertm

to the mountain of Daughter Zion.

2 Like a bird fleeing,

forced from the nest,

the daughters of Moab

will be at the fords of the Arnon.

3 Give us counsel and make a decision.

Shelter us at noonday

with shade that is as dark as night.

Hide the refugees;n

do not betray the one who flees.

4 Let my refugees stay with you;

be a refuge for MoabB from the aggressor.

When the oppressor has gone,

destruction has ended,

and marauders have vanished from the land,

5 a throne will be established in love,o

and one will sit on it faithfullyC

in the tent of David,

judging and pursuing what is right,

quick to execute justice.

6 We have heard of Moab’s pridep—

how very proud he is—

his haughtiness, his pride, his arrogance,

and his empty boasting.

7 Therefore let Moab wail;

let every one of them wail for Moab.

You who are completely devastated, mourn

for the raisin cakesq of Kir-hareseth.r

8 For Heshbon’s terraced vineyards

and the grapevines of Sibmah have withered.

The rulers of the nations

have trampled its choice vines

that reached as far as Jazers

and spread to the desert.

Their shoots spread out

and reached the sea.t

9 So I join with Jazer

to weep for the vines of Sibmah;

I drench Heshbon and Elealeh with my tears.

Triumphant shouts have fallen silentA

over your summer fruit and your harvest.

10 Joy and rejoicinga have been removed from the orchard;

no one is singing or shouting for joy in the vineyards.b

No one tramples grapesB in the winepresses.

I have put an end to the shouting.

11 Therefore I moan like the sound of a lyre for Moab,c

as does my innermost being for Kir-heres.

12 When Moab appears

and tires himself out on the high placed

and comes to his sanctuary to pray,

it will do him no good.e

13 This is the message that the Lord previously announced about Moab. 14 And now the Lord says, “In three years, as a hired worker counts years,f Moab’s splendor will become an object of contempt, in spite of a very large population. And those who are left will be few and weak.”

A PRONOUNCEMENT AGAINST DAMASCUS

17 A pronouncementg concerning Damascus:h

Look, Damascus is no longer a city.

It has become a ruined heap.

2 The cities of Aroer are abandoned;

they will be places for flocks.

They will lie down without fear.

3 The fortress disappears from Ephraim,i

and a kingdom from Damascus.

The remnant of Aram will be

like the splendor of the Israelites.

This is the declaration of the Lord of Armies.

JUDGMENT AGAINST ISRAEL

4 On that day

the splendor of Jacob will fade,

and his healthy bodyC will become emaciated.j

5 It will be as if a reaper had gathered standing grain—

his arm harvesting the heads of grain—

and as if one had gleaned heads of grain

in Rephaim Valley.k

6 Only gleanings will be left in Israel,l

as if an olive tree had been beaten—

two or three olives at the very top of the tree,

four or five on its fruitful branches.

This is the declaration of the Lord,

the God of Israel.

7 On that day people will look to their Maker and will turn their eyes to the Holy One of Israel.m 8 They will not look to the altarsn they made with their hands or to the Asherahs and shrinesA,o they made with their fingers.

9 On that day their strong cities will be

like the abandoned woods and mountaintops

that were abandoned because of the Israelites;

there will be desolation.

10 For you have forgotten the God of your salvation,

and you have failed to remember

the rock of your strength;p

therefore you will plant beautiful plants

and set out cuttings from exotic vines.

11 On the day that you plant,

you will help them to grow,

and in the morning

you will help your seed to sprout,

but the harvest will vanish

on the day of disease and incurable pain.

JUDGMENT AGAINST THE NATIONS

12 Ah! The roar of many peoples—

they roar like the roaring of the seas.

The raging of the nations—

they rage like the rumble of rushing water.q

13 The nations rage like the rumble of a huge torrent.r

He rebukes them, and they flee far away,s

driven before the wind like chaff on the hillst

and like tumbleweeds before a gale.

14 In the evening—sudden terror!

Before morning—it is gone!

This is the fate of those who plunder us

and the lot of those who ravage us.