Isaiah 14–16

Mercy on Jacob

14For the Lord ^awill have mercy on Jacob, and ^bwill still choose Israel, and settle them in their own land. ^cThe strangers will be joined with them, and they will cling to the house of Jacob. ²Then people will take them ^dand bring them to their place, and the house of Israel will possess them for servants and maids in the land of the Lord; they will take them captive whose captives they were, ^eand rule over their oppressors.

Fall of the King of Babylon

³It shall come to pass in the day the Lord gives you rest from your sorrow, and from your fear and the hard bondage in which you were made to serve, ⁴that you ^fwill take up this proverb against the king of Babylon, and say:

“How the oppressor has ceased,

The ^ggolden ¹city ceased!

⁵The Lord has broken ^hthe staff of the wicked,

The scepter of the rulers;

⁶He who struck the people in wrath with a continual stroke,

He who ruled the nations in anger,

Is persecuted and no one hinders.

⁷The whole earth is at rest and quiet;

They break forth into singing.

⁸ⁱIndeed the cypress trees rejoice over you,

And the cedars of Lebanon,

Saying, ‘Since you ²were cut down,

No woodsman has come up against us.’

⁹“Hell ^j3from beneath is excited about you,

To meet you at your coming;

It stirs up the dead for you,

All the chief ones of the earth;

It has raised up from their thrones

All the kings of the nations.

¹⁰They all shall ^kspeak and say to you:

‘Have you also become as weak as we?

Have you become like us?

¹¹Your pomp is brought down to Sheol,

And the sound of your stringed instruments;

The maggot is spread under you,

And worms cover you.’

The Fall of Lucifer

¹²“How ^lyou are fallen from heaven,

O ⁴Lucifer, son of the morning!

How you are cut down to the ground,

You who weakened the nations!

¹³For you have said in your heart:

^m‘I will ascend into heaven,

ⁿI will exalt my throne above the stars of God;

I will also sit on the ^omount of the congregation

^pOn the farthest sides of the north;

¹⁴I will ascend above the heights of the clouds,

^qI will be like the Most High.’

¹⁵Yet you ^rshall be brought down to Sheol,

To the ⁵lowest depths of the Pit.

¹⁶“Those who see you will gaze at you,

And consider you, saying:

‘Is this the man who made the earth tremble,

Who shook kingdoms,

¹⁷Who made the world as a wilderness

And destroyed its cities,

Who ⁶did not open the house of his prisoners?’

¹⁸“All the kings of the nations,

All of them, sleep in glory,

Everyone in his own house;

¹⁹But you are cast out of your grave

Like an ⁷abominable branch,

Like the garment of those who are slain,

⁸Thrust through with a sword,

Who go down to the stones of the pit,

Like a corpse trodden underfoot.

²⁰You will not be joined with them in burial,

Because you have destroyed your land

And slain your people.

^sThe brood of evildoers shall never be named.

²¹Prepare slaughter for his children

^tBecause of the iniquity of their fathers,

Lest they rise up and possess the land,

And fill the face of the world with cities.”

Babylon Destroyed

²²“For I will rise up against them,” says the Lord of hosts,

“And cut off from Babylon ^uthe name and ^vremnant,

^wAnd offspring and posterity,” says the Lord.

²³“I will also make it a possession for the ^xporcupine,

And marshes of muddy water;

I will sweep it with the broom of destruction,” says the Lord of hosts.

Assyria Destroyed

²⁴The Lord of hosts has sworn, saying,

“Surely, as I have thought, so it shall come to pass,

And as I have purposed, so it shall ^ystand:

²⁵That I will break the ^zAssyrian in My land,

And on My mountains tread him underfoot.

Then ^ahis yoke shall be removed from them,

And his burden removed from their shoulders.

²⁶This is the ^bpurpose that is purposed against the whole earth,

And this is the hand that is stretched out over all the nations.

²⁷For the Lord of hosts has ^cpurposed,

And who will annul it?

His hand is stretched out,

And who will turn it back?”

Philistia Destroyed

²⁸This is the ⁹burden which came in the year that ^dKing Ahaz died.

²⁹“Do not rejoice, all you of Philistia,

^eBecause the rod that struck you is broken;

For out of the serpent’s roots will come forth a viper,

^fAnd its offspring will be a fiery flying serpent.

³⁰The firstborn of the poor will feed,

And the needy will lie down in safety;

I will kill your roots with famine,

And it will slay your remnant.

³¹Wail, O gate! Cry, O city!

All you of Philistia are dissolved;

For smoke will come from the north,

And no one will be alone in his ¹appointed times.”

³²What will they answer the messengers of the nation?

That ^gthe Lord has founded Zion,

And ^hthe poor of His people shall take refuge in it.

Proclamation Against Moab

15The ^aburden ¹against Moab.

Because in the night ^bAr of ^cMoab is laid waste

And destroyed,

Because in the night Kir of Moab is laid waste

And destroyed,

²He has gone up to the ²temple and Dibon,

To the high places to weep.

Moab will wail over Nebo and over Medeba;

^dOn all their heads will be baldness,

And every beard cut off.

³In their streets they will clothe themselves with sackcloth;

On the tops of their houses

And in their streets

Everyone will wail, ^eweeping bitterly.

⁴Heshbon and Elealeh will cry out,

Their voice shall be heard as far as ^fJahaz;

Therefore the ³armed soldiers of Moab will cry out;

His life will be burdensome to him.

⁵“My ^gheart will cry out for Moab;

His fugitives shall flee to Zoar,

Like ⁴a three-year-old heifer.

For ^hby the Ascent of Luhith

They will go up with weeping;

For in the way of Horonaim

They will raise up a cry of destruction,

⁶For the waters ⁱof Nimrim will be desolate,

For the green grass has withered away;

The grass fails, there is nothing green.

⁷Therefore the abundance they have gained,

And what they have laid up,

They will carry away to the Brook of the Willows.

⁸For the cry has gone all around the borders of Moab,

Its wailing to Eglaim

And its wailing to Beer Elim.

⁹For the waters of ⁵Dimon will be full of blood;

Because I will bring more upon Dimon,

^jLions upon him who escapes from Moab,

And on the remnant of the land.”

Moab Destroyed

16Send ^athe lamb to the ruler of the land,

^bFrom ¹Sela to the wilderness,

To the mount of the daughter of Zion.

²For it shall be as a ^cwandering bird thrown out of the nest;

So shall be the daughters of Moab at the fords of the ^dArnon.

³“Take counsel, execute judgment;

Make your shadow like the night in the middle of the day;

Hide the outcasts,

Do not betray him who escapes.

⁴Let My outcasts dwell with you, O Moab;

Be a shelter to them from the face of the ²spoiler.

For the extortioner is at an end,

Devastation ceases,

The oppressors are consumed out of the land.

⁵In mercy ^ethe throne will be established;

And One will sit on it in truth, in the tabernacle of David,

^fJudging and seeking justice and hastening ^grighteousness.”

⁶We have heard of the ^hpride of Moab—

He is very proud—

Of his haughtiness and his pride and his wrath;

ⁱBut his ³lies shall not be so.

⁷Therefore Moab shall ^jwail for Moab;

Everyone shall wail.

For the foundations ^kof Kir Hareseth you shall mourn;

Surely they are stricken.

⁸For ^lthe fields of Heshbon languish,

And ^mthe vine of Sibmah;

The lords of the nations have broken down its choice plants,

Which have reached to Jazer

And wandered through the wilderness.

Her branches are stretched out,

They are gone over the ⁿsea.

⁹Therefore I will bewail the vine of Sibmah,

With the weeping of Jazer;

I will drench you with my tears,

^oO Heshbon and Elealeh;

For ⁴battle cries have fallen

Over your summer fruits and your harvest.

^10pGladness is taken away,

And joy from the plentiful field;

In the vineyards there will be no singing,

Nor will there be shouting;

No treaders will tread out wine in the presses;

I have made their shouting cease.

¹¹Therefore ^qmy ⁵heart shall resound like a harp for Moab,

And my inner being for ⁶Kir Heres.

¹²And it shall come to pass,

When it is seen that Moab is weary on ^rthe high place,

That he will come to his sanctuary to pray;

But he will not prevail.

¹³This is the word which the Lord has spoken concerning Moab since that time. ¹⁴But now the Lord has spoken, saying, “Within three years, ^sas the years of a hired man, the glory of Moab will be despised with all that great multitude, and the remnant will be very small and feeble.”