Isaiah, 14

1. Yahweh will have pity on Jacob, he will choose Israel once more and resettle them on their native soil. Foreigners will join them, attaching themselves to the House of Jacob.

1. For the LORD will have mercy on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel, and set them in their own land: and the strangers shall be joined with them, and they shall cleave to the house of Jacob.

2. Peoples will take them and escort them home, and the House of Israel will take them as slaves, men and women on Yahweh's soil. They will enslave those who enslaved them and will master their oppressors.

2. And the people shall take them, and bring them to their place: and the house of Israel shall possess them in the land of the LORD for servants and handmaids: and they shall take them captives, whose captives they were; and they shall rule over their oppressors.

3. When that day comes, and Yahweh gives you rest from your suffering and torment and the grim servitude to which you have been subjected,

3. And it shall come to pass in the day that the LORD shall give thee rest from thy sorrow, and from thy fear, and from the hard bondage wherein thou wast made to serve,

4. you will recite this satire on the king of Babylon and say: 'How did the tyrant end? How did his arrogance end?

4. That thou shalt take up this proverb against the king of Babylon, and say, How hath the oppressor ceased! the golden city ceased!

5. Yahweh has broken the staff of the wicked, the sceptre of rulers,

5. The LORD hath broken the staff of the wicked, [and] the sceptre of the rulers.

6. furiously lashing peoples with continual blows, angrily hammering nations, pursuing without respite.

6. He who smote the people in wrath with a continual stroke, he that ruled the nations in anger, is persecuted, [and] none hindereth.

7. The whole world is at rest and calm, shouts of joy resounding,

7. The whole earth is at rest, [and] is quiet: they break forth into singing.

8. the cypresses, the cedars of Lebanon, rejoice aloud at your fate, "Now that you have been laid low, no one comes up to fell us."

8. Yea, the fir trees rejoice at thee, [and] the cedars of Lebanon, [saying], Since thou art laid down, no feller is come up against us.

9. 'On your account, Sheol below is astir to greet your arrival. He has roused the ghosts to greet you, all the rulers of the world. He has made all the kings of the nations get up from their thrones.

9. Hell from beneath is moved for thee to meet [thee] at thy coming: it stirreth up the dead for thee, [even] all the chief ones of the earth; it hath raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations.

10. They will all greet you with the words, "So, you too are now as weak as we are! You, too, have become like us.

10. All they shall speak and say unto thee, Art thou also become weak as we? art thou become like unto us?

11. Your pride has been flung down to Sheol with the music of your lyres; under you a mattress of maggots, over you a blanket of worms.

11. Thy pomp is brought down to the grave, [and] the noise of thy viols: the worm is spread under thee, and the worms cover thee.

12. How did you come to fall from the heavens, Daystar, son of Dawn? How did you come to be thrown to the ground, conqueror of nations?

12. How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! [how] art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!

13. You who used to think to yourself: I shall scale the heavens; higher than the stars of God I shall set my throne. I shall sit on the Mount of Assembly far away to the north.

13. For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:

14. I shall climb high above the clouds, I shall rival the Most High."

14. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.

15. Now you have been flung down to Sheol, into the depths of the abyss!

15. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.

16. 'When they see you, they will scrutinise you and consider what you have become, "Is this the man who made the world tremble, who overthrew kingdoms?

16. They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, [and] consider thee, [saying, Is] this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms;

17. He made the world a desert, he levelled cities and never freed his prisoners to go home."

17. [That] made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof; [that] opened not the house of his prisoners?

18. All other kings of nations, all of them, lie honourably, each in his own tomb;

18. All the kings of the nations, [even] all of them, lie in glory, every one in his own house.

19. but you have been thrown away, unburied, like a loathsome branch, covered with heaps of the slain pierced by the sword who fall on the rocks of the abyss like trampled carrion.

19. But thou art cast out of thy grave like an abominable branch, [and as] the raiment of those that are slain, thrust through with a sword, that go down to the stones of the pit; as a carcase trodden under feet.

20. 'You will not rejoin them in the grave, for you have brought your country to ruin and destroyed your people. The offspring of the wicked leave no name behind them.

20. Thou shalt not be joined with them in burial, because thou hast destroyed thy land, [and] slain thy people: the seed of evildoers shall never be renowned.

21. Make ready to slaughter his sons for the guilt of their father! Never again must they rise to conquer the world and cover the face of the earth with their cities.

21. Prepare slaughter for his children for the iniquity of their fathers; that they do not rise, nor possess the land, nor fill the face of the world with cities.

22. 'I will rise against them, declares Yahweh Sabaoth, and deprive Babylon of name, remnant, offspring and posterity, declares Yahweh.

22. For I will rise up against them, saith the LORD of hosts, and cut off from Babylon the name, and remnant, and son, and nephew, saith the LORD.

23. I shall turn it into the haunt of hedgehogs, a swamp. I shall sweep it with the broom of destruction, declares Yahweh Sabaoth.'

23. I will also make it a possession for the bittern, and pools of water: and I will sweep it with the besom of destruction, saith the LORD of hosts.

24. Yahweh Sabaoth has sworn it, 'Yes, what I have planned will take place, what I have decided will be so:

24. The LORD of hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass; and as I have purposed, [so] shall it stand:

25. 'I shall break Assyria in my country, I shall trample on him on my mountains. Then his yoke will slip off them, his burden will slip from their shoulders.'

25. That I will break the Assyrian in my land, and upon my mountains tread him under foot: then shall his yoke depart from off them, and his burden depart from off their shoulders.

26. This is the decision taken in defiance of the whole world; this, the hand outstretched in defiance of all nations.

26. This [is] the purpose that is purposed upon the whole earth: and this [is] the hand that is stretched out upon all the nations.

27. Once Yahweh Sabaoth has decided, who will stop him? Once he stretches out his hand, who can withdraw it?

27. For the LORD of hosts hath purposed, and who shall disannul [it]? and his hand [is] stretched out, and who shall turn it back?

28. In the year Ahaz died came this proclamation:

28. In the year that king Ahaz died was this burden.

29. All Philistia, do not rejoice because the rod which used to beat you is now broken, for the serpent stock will produce a viper, its offspring will be a flying dragon.

29. Rejoice not thou, whole Palestina, because the rod of him that smote thee is broken: for out of the serpent's root shall come forth a cockatrice, and his fruit [shall be] a fiery flying serpent.

30. While the first-born of the poor are grazing and the destitute are resting in safety, I shall make your stock die of hunger and then slaughter what remains of you.

30. And the firstborn of the poor shall feed, and the needy shall lie down in safety: and I will kill thy root with famine, and he shall slay thy remnant.

31. Howl, gate! Shriek, city! Totter, all Philistia! For a smoke is coming from the north, and there are no deserters in those battalions.

31. Howl, O gate; cry, O city; thou, whole Palestina, [art] dissolved: for there shall come from the north a smoke, and none [shall be] alone in his appointed times.

32. What reply will be given then to the messengers of that nation? - That Yahweh founded Zion and there the poor of his people will find refuge.

32. What shall [one] then answer the messengers of the nation? That the LORD hath founded Zion, and the poor of his people shall trust in it.