God’s Restoration of Israel
1 For the Lord will have compassion on Jacob and will once again choose Israel and set them in their own land. The foreigner will join himself with them, and they will unite with the house of Jacob. 2 Nations will lead them and bring them back to their place. The house of Israel will possess them as servants and slaves in the land of the Lord. They will take as captives those whose captives they were, and they shall rule over their oppressors.
3 It will happen in the day that the Lord will give you rest from your sorrow, from your trouble, and from the hard labor into which you were forced. 4 You will mock the king of Babylon, saying,
“How the oppressor has ceased!
The golden city has ceased!”
5 The Lord has broken the rod of the wicked,
the scepter of the rulers,
6 who struck the peoples in anger
with continuous blows,
who ruled the nations in anger,
with a persecution that no one restrained.
7 The whole earth is at rest and is quiet.
They break out in song.
8 Yes, the cypress trees rejoice with you,
with the cedars of Lebanon, saying,
“Since you are humbled,
no lumberjack has come up against us.”
9 The grave from beneath has moved
for you to meet you at your coming.
It stirs up the departed spirits for you,
all the rulers of the earth.
It has raised up from their thrones,
all the kings of the nations.
10 They all will answer and ask you,
“Have you also become as weak as we are?
Have you become like us?”
11 Your pomp has been brought down to the grave,
with the sound of your stringed instruments.
Maggots are spread out under you,
and worms cover you.
12 How you have fallen from heaven,
shining one, son of the dawn!
How you are cut down to the ground,
who laid the nations low!
13 You said in your heart,
“I will ascend into heaven!
I will exalt my throne above the stars of God!
I will sit on the mountain of assembly, in the far north!
14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds!
I will make myself like the Most High!”
15 Yet you shall be brought down to the grave,
to the depths of the pit.
16 Those who see you will stare at you.
They will wonder at you, saying,
“Is this the man who made the earth tremble,
who shook kingdoms,
17 who made the world like a wilderness,
and overthrew its cities,
who did not release his prisoners to their home?”
18 All the kings of the nations lie down in glory,
each in his own tomb.
19 But you are cast out of your tomb
like an rejected branch,
clothed with the slain,
who are thrust through with the sword,
who go down to the stones of the pit,
like a dead body trodden under foot.
20 You will not join them in burial,
because you have destroyed your land
and killed your people.
The offspring of the wicked
will never again be mentioned.
21 Prepare for the slaughter of his sons
because of the sins of their fathers.
They will never rise up and possess the earth
or fill the world with cities.
22 “I will rise up against them,” says the Lord of Hosts,
“and cut off from Babylon name and remnant,
and son and son’s son,” says the Lord.
23 “I will also make it a possession
for the porcupine and pools of water.
I will sweep it with the broom of destruction,”
says the Lord of Hosts.
24 The Lord of Hosts has sworn,
“Surely, as I have thought,
so shall it happen,
and as I have purposed,
so shall it stand:
25 that I will break the Assyrian in my land,
and tread him under foot on my mountains.
Then his yoke will leave them,
and his burden leave their shoulders.
26 This is the plan that is determined
for the whole earth.
This is the hand that is stretched out
over all the nations.
27 For the Lord of Hosts has planned,
and who can stop it?
His hand is stretched out,
and who can turn it back?”
28 This burden was in the year that king Ahaz died.
29 Do not rejoice that the rod
that struck you is broken,
all of you Philistines,
for from the root of that serpent
a viper will emerge,
and his fruit will be a fiery flying serpent.
30 The firstborn of the poor will eat,
and the needy will lie down in safety,
and I will kill your root with famine,
and your remnant will be killed.
31 Howl, O gate! Cry out, O city!
You are melted away,
you Philistines, all of you,
for smoke comes out of the north,
and there is no straggler among his ranks.
32 What will they answer
the messengers of the nation?
That the Lord has founded Zion,
and in her the afflicted of his people will take refuge.