Isa 14 | HCSB | STEP | For the Lord will have compassion on Jacob and will choose Israel again . He will settle them on their own land . The foreigner will join them and be united with the house of Jacob .

‏ Isaiah 14

Israel’s Return

1 For the Lord will have compassion ^a on Jacob and will choose Israel again. ^b He will settle them on their own land. ^c The foreigner will join them and be united with the house of Jacob. ^d 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. ^e 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, ^f torment, and the hard labor ^g you were forced to do, 4 you will sing this song of contempt about the king of Babylon ^h and say:

How the oppressor has quieted down,
and how the raging ^{▼▼DSS; Hb uncertain} 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 All the earth is calm and at rest;
people shout with a ringing cry.
8 Even the cypresses and the cedars of Lebanon
rejoice over you: ^j
“Since you have been laid low,
no woodcutter has come against us.”

9 ^{▼▼Sheol: A Hebrew word for either the grave or the realm of the dead}Sheol below is eager to greet your coming.
He stirs up the spirits of the departed for you –
all the rulers ^{▼▼Lit rams} of the earth.
He makes 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, ^{▼▼Or Day Star, son of the dawn
,} ⁿ
how you have fallen from the heavens! ^o
You destroyer of nations,
you have been cut down to the ground.
13 You said to yourself:
“I will ascend to the heavens; ^p
I will set up my throne
above the stars of God. ^q
I will sit on the mount of the gods’ assembly,
in the remotest parts of the North. ^{▼▼Or of Zaphon
,} ^s
14 I will ascend above the highest clouds;
I will make myself like the ^{▼▼Most High: The Hebrew word is Elyon. It is often used with other names of God, such as El (God) or Yahweh (Lord); it is used to refer to God as the supreme being.}Most High.”
15 But you will be brought down to Sheol
into the deepest regions of the ^{▼▼Pit: Either the grave or the realm of the dead}Pit. ^v

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, ^w
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 remembered. ^x
21 Prepare a place of slaughter for his sons,
because of the iniquity ^y of their fathers.
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 ^{▼▼Hosts/hosts: Military forces consisting of God's angels, sometimes including the sun, moon, and stars, and occasionally, Israel}Hosts – “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 screech owls, ^{▼▼Or hedgehogs} and I will sweep her away with a broom of destruction.”
This is the declaration of the Lord of Hosts.

Assyria Will Be Destroyed

24 The Lord of Hosts has sworn:

As I have purposed, so it will be;
as I have planned it, so it will happen. ^ab
25 I will break Assyria ^ac 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 plan ^ad prepared
for the whole earth,
and this is the hand stretched out
against all the nations.
27 The Lord of Hosts Himself has planned it;
therefore, who can stand in its way?
It is His hand that is outstretched,
so who can turn it back?

An Oracle against Philistia

28 In the year that King Ahaz died, ^ae this ^{▼▼oracle: A prophetic speech of a threatening or menacing character, often against the nations}oracle came: ^ag

29 Don’t rejoice, all of you in Philistia,
because the rod of the one who struck you ^ah is broken.
For a viper will come from the root ^{▼▼Or stock} of a snake,
and from its egg comes a flying serpent. ^aj
30 Then the firstborn ^ak 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. ^{▼▼DSS, Syr, Tg; MT reads and he will kill}
31 Wail, you gates! ^am Cry out, city!
Tremble with fear, ^an all Philistia!
For a cloud of dust is coming from the north, ^ao
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: Originally a term for the fortified section of Jerusalem and then, by extension, used for the temple and the city of Jerusalem both in the present time and in the future}Zion, ^aq
and His afflicted people find refuge in her.