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Israel's Taunt

¹ For the LORD will ^(C1)have compassion on Jacob (the captives in Babylon) and will again ^(C2)choose Israel, and will settle them in their own land. ^(C3)Foreigners (Gentiles) will join them as proselytes and will attach themselves to the house of Jacob (Israel). ^(VR1)2 The peoples will take them along and bring them to their own place (Judea), and the ^(C1)house of Israel will possess them as an inheritance in the land of the LORD ^(C2)as male and female servants; and they will take captive those whose captives they have been, and they will rule over their former oppressors. ^(VR1)

³ And it will be in the day when the LORD gives you ^(C1)rest from your pain and turmoil and from the harsh service in which you have been enslaved,⁴ that you will ^(C1)take up this taunt against the king of Babylon, and say,

"How ^(C2)the oppressor has ceased his insolence,
And how the fury has ceased!

⁵ "The LORD has broken the staff of the wicked,
The scepter of the tyrant rulers

^6 (C1)Which used to strike the peoples in anger with incessant blows,
Which subdued and ruled the nations in wrath with unrelenting persecution.

⁷ "The whole earth is at rest and is quiet;
They ^(C1)break into shouts of joy.

⁸ "Even the ^(C1)cypress trees rejoice over you kings of Babylon, even the cedars of Lebanon, saying,
'Since you were laid low, no woodcutter comes up against us.'

⁹ "^(F1)(C1)Sheol below is excited about you to meet you when you come you tyrant of Babylon;
It stirs up the spirits of the dead to greet you, all the leaders of the earth;
It raises all the kings of the nations from their thrones in astonishment at your fall.

¹⁰ "^(C1)All of them will respond tauntingly and say to you,
'You have become as weak as we are.
You have become like us.

¹¹ 'Your ^(C1)pomp and magnificence have been brought down to Sheol,
Along with the music of your harps;
The maggots which prey on the dead are spread out under you as a bed
And worms are your covering Babylonian rulers.'

¹² "How you have ^(C1)fallen from heaven,
O ^A.D., and is based on the supposition that Luke 10:18 is an explanation of Is 14:12, which many authorities believe is not true. "Lucifer," the light-bringer, is the Latin equivalent of the Greek word "Phosphoros," which is used as a title of Christ in 2 Pet 1:19 and corresponds to the name "radiant <i>and</i> brilliant Morning Star" in Rev 22:16, a name Jesus called Himself. This passage here in Is 14:12ff clearly applies to the king of Babylon.">(F1)^(C2)star of the morning light-bringer, son of the dawn!
You have been cut down to the ground,
You who have weakened the nations king of Babylon!

¹³ "But you said in your heart,
'I will ^(C1)ascend to heaven;
I will ^(C2)raise my throne above the stars of God;
I will sit on the mount of assembly
In the remote parts of the north.

¹⁴ 'I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;
I will ^(C1)make myself like the Most High.'

¹⁵ "But in fact you ^(C1)will be brought down to Sheol,
To the remote recesses of the pit (the region of the dead).

¹⁶ "Those who see you will gaze at you,
They will consider you, saying,
'Is this the man who made the earth tremble,
Who shook kingdoms,

¹⁷ Who made the world like a ^(C1)wilderness
And overthrew its cities,
Who ^(C2)did not permit his prisoners to return home?'

¹⁸ "All the kings of the nations, all of them lie dead in glorious array,
Each one in his own sepulcher.

¹⁹ "But you king of Babylon have been ^(C1)cast out of your tomb (denied burial)
Like a rejected branch,
Clothed with the slain who are pierced by the sword,
Who go down to the stones of the ^(C2)pit into which carcasses are thrown,
Like a dead body ^(C3)trampled underfoot.

²⁰ "You will not be united with them in burial,
Because you have destroyed your land,
You have slain your people.
May the ^(C1)descendants of evildoers never be named!

²¹ "Prepare a slaughtering place for his sons
Because of the ^(C1)wickedness the sin, the injustice, the wrongdoing of their fathers.
They must not rise and take possession of the earth,
And fill the face of the world with cities."

²² "I will rise up against them," says the LORD of hosts, "and will cut off from Babylon ^(C1)name and survivors, and ^(C2)son and grandson," declares the LORD.²³ "I will also make Babylon a possession of the ^(C1)hedgehog and of ^ORD intended (Is 14:24).">(F1)swamps of water, and I will sweep it away with the broom of ^(C2)destruction," declares the LORD of hosts.

Judgment on Assyria

²⁴ The LORD of hosts has sworn an oath, saying, "^(C1)Just as I have intended, so it has certainly happened, and just as I have planned, so it will stand—²⁵ to ^(C1)break the Assyrian in My land, and on My mountains I will trample him underfoot. Then the Assyrian's ^(F1)(C2)yoke will be removed from them (the people of Judah) and his burden removed from their shoulder.²⁶ "This is the ^(C1)plan of God decided for the whole earth regarded as conquered and put under tribute by Assyria; and this is the ^(C2)hand of God that is stretched out over all the nations.²⁷ "For ^(C1)the LORD of hosts has decided and planned, and who can annul it? His hand is stretched out, and who can turn it back?"

Judgment on Philistia

²⁸ In the ^(C1)year that King Ahaz of Judah died this mournful, inspired ^(C2)oracle (^(F1)a burden to be carried) came:

²⁹ "Do not rejoice, O ^(C1)Philistia, any of you,
Because the rod of Judah that ^(C2)struck you is broken;
For out of the serpent's root will come a ^(C3)viper King Hezekiah of Judah,
And its offspring will be a ^(C4)flying serpent. ^(VR1)

³⁰ "The firstborn of the ^(C1)helpless of Judah will feed on My meadows,
And the needy will lie down in safety;
But I will kill your root with ^(C2)famine,
And your survivors will be put to death.

³¹ "Howl, O ^(C1)gate; cry, O city!
Melt away, O ^(C2)Philistia, all of you;
For smoke comes out of the ^(C3)north,
And ^(C4)there is no straggler in his ranks and no one stands detached in Hezekiah's battalions.

³² "Then what answer will one give the ^(C1)messengers of the Philistine nation?
That ^(C2)the LORD has founded Zion,
And the ^(C3)afflicted of His people will seek and find refuge in it."