Israel Will Return Home

14 The Lord will show mercy to the people of Jacob, and he will again choose the people of Israel. He will settle them in their own land. Then non-Israelite people will join the Israelites and will become a part of the family of Jacob. 2 Nations will take the Israelites back to their land. Then those men and women from the other nations will become slaves to Israel in the Lord’s land. In the past the Israelites were their slaves, but now the Israelites will defeat those nations and rule over them.

The King of Babylon Will Fall

3 The Lord will take away the Israelites’ hard work and will comfort them. They will no longer have to work hard as slaves. 4 On that day Israel will sing this song about the king of Babylon:

The cruel king who ruled us is finished;

his angry rule is finished!

5  The Lord has broken the scepter of evil rulers

and taken away their power.

6  The king of Babylon struck people in anger

again and again.

He ruled nations in anger

and continued to hurt them.

7  But now, the whole world rests and is quiet.

Now the people begin to sing.

8  Even the pine trees are happy,

and the cedar trees of Lebanon rejoice.

They say, “The king has fallen,

so no one will ever cut us down again.”

9  The place of the dead is excited

to meet you when you come.

It wakes the spirits of the dead,

the leaders of the world.

It makes kings of all nations

stand up from their thrones to greet you.

10  All these leaders will make fun of you

and will say,

“Now you are weak, as we are.

Now you are just like us.”

11  Your pride has been sent down to the place of the dead.

The music from your harps goes with it.

Flies are spread out like your bed beneath you,

and worms cover your body like a blanket.

12  King of Babylon, morning star, you have fallen from heaven,

even though you were as bright as the rising sun!

In the past all the nations on earth bowed down before you,

but now you have been cut down.

13  You told yourself,

“I will go up to heaven.

I will put my throne

above God’s stars.

I will sit on the mountain of the gods,

on the slopes of the sacred mountain.

14  I will go up above the tops of the clouds.

I will be like God Most High.”

15  But you were brought down to the grave,

to the deep places where the dead are.

16  Those who see you stare at you.

They think about what has happened to you

and say, “Is this the same man who caused great fear on earth,

who shook the kingdoms,

17  who turned the world into a desert,

who destroyed its cities,

who captured people in war

and would not let them go home?”

18  Every king of the earth has been buried with honor,

each in his own grave.

19  But you are thrown out of your grave,

like an unwanted branch.

You are covered by bodies

that died in battle,

by bodies to be buried in a rocky pit.

You are like a dead body other soldiers walk on.

20  You will not be buried with those bodies,

because you ruined your own country

and killed your own people.

The children of evil people

will never be mentioned again.

21  Prepare to kill his children,

because their father is guilty.

They will never again take control of the earth;

they will never again fill the world with their cities.

22  The Lord All-Powerful says this:

“I will fight against those people;

I will destroy Babylon and its people,

its children and their descendants,” says the Lord.

23  “I will make Babylon fit only for owls

and for swamps.

I will sweep Babylon as with a broom of destruction,”

says the Lord All-Powerful.

God Will Punish Assyria

24 The Lord All-Powerful has made this promise:

“These things will happen exactly as I planned them;

they will happen exactly as I set them up.

25  I will destroy the king of Assyria in my country;

I will trample him on my mountains.

He placed a heavy load on my people,

but that weight will be removed.

26  “This is what I plan to do for all the earth.

And this is the hand that I have raised over all nations.”

27  When the Lord All-Powerful makes a plan,

no one can stop it.

When the Lord raises his hand to punish people,

no one can stop it.

God’s Message to Philistia

28 This message was given in the year that King Ahaz died:

29  Country of Philistia, don’t be happy

that the king who struck you is now dead.

He is like a snake that will give birth to another dangerous snake.

The new king will be like a quick, dangerous snake to bite you.

30  Even the poorest of my people will be able to eat safely,

and people in need will be able to lie down in safety.

But I will kill your family with hunger,

and all your people who are left will die.

31  People near the city gates, cry out!

Philistines, be frightened,

because a cloud of dust comes from the north.

It is an army, full of men ready to fight.

32  What shall we tell the messengers from Philistia?

Say that the Lord has made Jerusalem strong

and that his poor people will go there for safety.