CHAPTER 14
For
the LORD
will have compassion
on Jacob
and choose
Israel
once again.
He will settle them
on
their own land.
The foreigner
will join them
and be united
with
the house
of Jacob.
The nations
will escort Israel
and bring
it to
its homeland.
Then the house
of Israel
will possess the nations
as menservants
and maidservants
in
the LORD’s
land.
They will make
captives
of their captors
and rule
over their oppressors.
On the day that
the LORD
gives you rest
from
your pain
and torment,
and from the hard
labor
into which
you were forced,
you will sing
this
song of contempt
against
the king
of Babylon:
How
the oppressor
has ceased,
and how his fury
has ended!
It struck
the peoples
in anger
with unceasing
blows;
it subdued
the nations
in rage
with relentless
persecution.
Even
the cypresses
and cedars
of Lebanon
exult
over you:
“Since
you have been laid low,
no
woodcutter
comes
against us.”
Sheol
beneath
is eager
to meet you
upon your arrival.
It stirs
the spirits of the dead
to greet you—
all
the rulers
of the earth.
It makes all
the kings
of the nations
rise
from their thrones.
They will all
respond
and say
to you,
“You
too
have become weak
as
we are;
you have become like us!”
Your pomp
has been brought down
to Sheol,
with the music
of your harps.
Maggots
spread out
beneath you,
and worms
cover you.
How
you have fallen
from heaven,
O Morning Star,
son
of the dawn!
You have been cut down
to the ground,
O destroyer
of
nations.
You
said
in your heart:
“I will ascend
to the heavens;
I will raise
my throne
above
the stars
of God.
I will sit
on the mount
of assembly,
in the far reaches
of the north.
Those who see you
will stare;
they will ponder
your fate:
“Is this
the man
who shook
the earth
and made the kingdoms
tremble,
who turned
the world
into a desert
and destroyed
its cities,
who refused
to let
the captives
return to their homes?”
But you
are cast out
of your grave
like a rejected
branch,
covered
by those slain
with the sword,
and dumped
into
a rocky
pit,
like a carcass
trampled underfoot.
You will not
join
them in burial,
since
you have destroyed
your land
and slaughtered
your own people.
The offspring
of the wicked
will never again
be mentioned.
Prepare
a place to slaughter
his sons
for the iniquity
of their fathers.
They will never
rise up
to possess
a land
or cover
the earth
with their
cities.
“I will rise up
against them,”
declares
the LORD
of Hosts.
“I will cut off
from Babylon
her name
and her remnant,
her offspring
and her posterity,”
declares
the LORD.
“I will make her
a place
for owls
and swamplands;
I will sweep her away
with the broom
of destruction,”
declares
the LORD
of Hosts.
The LORD
of Hosts
has sworn:
“As
I have planned,
so
will it be;
as
I have purposed,
so will it stand.
I will break
Assyria
in My land;
I will trample him
on
My mountain.
His yoke
will be taken
off My people,
and his burden
removed
from
their shoulders.”
This
is the plan
devised
for
the whole
earth,
and this
is the hand
stretched out
over
all
the nations.
The LORD
of Hosts
has purposed,
and who
can thwart Him?
His hand
is outstretched,
so who
can turn it back?
Do not
rejoice,
all
you Philistines,
that
the rod
that struck you
is broken.
For
a viper
will spring
from the serpent’s
root,
and a flying
serpent
from its egg.
Then the firstborn
of the poor
will find pasture,
and the needy
will lie down
in safety,
but I will kill
your root
by famine,
and your remnant
will be slain.
Wail,
O gate!
Cry out,
O city!
Melt away,
all
you Philistines!
For
a cloud of smoke
comes
from the north,
and there are no
stragglers
in its ranks.
What
answer will be given
to the envoys
of that nation?
“The LORD
has founded
Zion,
where His afflicted
people
will find refuge.”