Isaiah, 14

1. When the LORD has pity on Jacob and again chooses Israel and settles them on their own soil, the aliens will join them and be counted with the house of Jacob.

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.

2. The house of Israel will take them and bring them along to its place, and possess them as male and female slaves on the Lord's soil, making captives of its captors and ruling over its oppressors.

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.

3. On the day the LORD relieves you of sorrow and unrest and the hard service in which you have been enslaved,

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,

4. you will take up this taunt-song against the king of Babylon: How the oppressor has reached his end! how the turmoil is stilled!

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

5. The LORD has broken the rod of the wicked, the staff of the tyrants

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

6. That struck the peoples in wrath relentless blows; That beat down the nations in anger, with oppression unchecked.

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

7. The whole earth rests peacefully, song breaks forth;

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

8. The very cypresses rejoice over you, and the cedars of Lebanon: "Now that you are laid to rest, there will be none to cut us down."

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."

9. The nether world below is all astir preparing for your coming; It awakens the shades to greet you, all the leaders of the earth; It has the kings of all nations rise from their thrones.

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.

10. All of them speak out and say to you, "You too have become weak like us, you are the same as we.

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.

11. Down to the nether world your pomp is brought, the music of your harps. The couch beneath you is the maggot, your covering, the worm."

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.

12. How have you fallen from the heavens, O morning star, son of the dawn! How are you cut down to the ground, you who mowed down the nations!

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?

13. You said in your heart: "I will scale the heavens; Above the stars of God I will set up my throne; I will take my seat on the Mount of Assembly, in the recesses of the North.

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.

14. I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will be like the Most High!"

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

15. Yet down to the nether world you go to the recesses of the pit!

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

16. When they see you they will stare, pondering over you: "Is this the man who made the earth tremble, and kingdoms quake?

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?

17. Who made the world a desert, razed its cities, and gave his captives no release?

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

18. All the kings of the nations lie in glory, each in his own tomb;

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

19. But you are cast forth without burial, loathsome and corrupt, Clothed as those slain at sword-point, a trampled corpse. Going down to the pavement of the pit,

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.

20. you will never be one with them in the grave." For you have ruined your land, you have slain your people! Let him not be named forever, that scion of an evil race!

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.

21. He shall pass through it hard-pressed and hungry, and in his hunger he shall become enraged, and curse his king and his gods. He shall look upward, but there shall be strict darkness without any dawn;

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.

22. He shall gaze at the earth, but there shall be distress and darkness, with the light blacked out by its clouds.

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

23. I will make it a haunt of hoot owls and a marshland; I will sweep it with the broom of destruction, says the LORD of hosts.

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

24. The LORD of hosts has sworn: As I have resolved, so shall it be; As I have proposed, so shall it stand:

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

25. Then his yoke shall be removed from them, and his burden from their shoulder.

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.'

26. This is the plan proposed for the whole earth, and this the hand outstretched over all nations.

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

27. The LORD of hosts has planned; who can thwart him? His hand is stretched out; who can turn it back?

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

28. In the year that King Ahaz died, there came this oracle:

28. In the year Ahaz died came this proclamation:

29. Rejoice not, O Philistia, not a man of you, that the rod which smote you is broken; For out of the serpent's root shall come an adder, its fruit shall be a flying saraph.

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.

30. In my pastures the poor shall eat, and the needy lie down in safety; But I will kill your root with famine that shall slay even your remnant.

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.

31. Howl, O gate; cry out, O city! Philistia, all of you melts away! For there comes a smoke from the north, without a straggler in the ranks.

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

32. What will one answer the messengers of the nation? "The LORD has established Zion, and in her the afflicted of his people find refuge."

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.