The Lord's People Will Come Home
1 The Lord will have mercy on Israel and will let them be his chosen people once again. He will bring them back to their own land, and foreigners will join them as part of Israel. 2 Other nations will lead them home, and Israel will make slaves of them in the land that belongs to the Lord. Israel will rule over those who once governed and mistreated them.
Death to the King of Babylonia!
3 The Lord will set you free from your sorrow, suffering, and slavery. 4 Then you will make fun of the King of Babylonia by singing this song:
That cruel monster is done for!
He won't attack us again.
5 The Lord has crushed the power
of those evil kings,
6 who were furious
and never stopped abusing
the people of other nations.
7 Now all the world is at peace;
its people are celebrating
with joyful songs.
8 King of Babylonia,
even the cypress trees
and the cedars of Lebanon
celebrate and say,
“Since you were put down,
no one comes along
to chop us down.”
9 The world of the dead
eagerly waits for you.
With great excitement,
the spirits of ancient rulers
hear about your coming.
10 Each one of them will say,
“Now you are just as weak
as any of us!
11 Your pride and your music
have ended here
in the world of the dead.
Worms are your blanket,
maggots are your bed.”
12 You, the bright morning star,
have fallen from the sky!
You brought down other nations;
now you are brought down.
13 You said to yourself,
“I'll climb to heaven
and place my throne
above the highest stars.
I'll sit there with the gods
far away in the north.
14 I'll be above the clouds,
just like God Most High.”
15 But now you are deep
in the world of the dead.
16 Those who see you will stare
and wonder, “Is this the man
who made the world tremble
and shook up kingdoms?
17 Did he capture every city
and make earth a desert?
Is he the one who refused
to let prisoners go home?”
18 When kings die, they are buried
in glorious tombs.
19 But you will be left unburied,
just another dead body
lying underfoot
like a broken branch.
You will be one of many
killed in battle and gone down
to the deep rocky pit.
20 You won't be buried with kings;
you ruined your country
and murdered your people.
You evil monster!
We hope that your family
will be forgotten forever.
21 We will slaughter your sons
to make them pay for the crimes
of their ancestors.
They won't take over the world
or build cities
anywhere on this earth.
22 The Lord All-Powerful has promised to attack Babylonia and destroy everyone there, so that none of them will ever be remembered again. 23 The Lord will sweep out the people, and the land will become a swamp for wild animals.
Assyria Will Be Punished
24 The Lord All-Powerful
has made this promise:
Everything I have planned
will happen just as I said.
25 I will wipe out every Assyrian
in my country,
and I will crush those
on my mountains.
I will free my people
from slavery
to the Assyrians.
26 I have planned this
for the whole world,
and my mighty arm
controls every nation.
27 I, the Lord All-Powerful,
have made these plans.
No one can stop me now!
The Philistines Will Be Punished
28 This message came from the Lord in the year King Ahaz died:
29 Philistines, don't be happy
just because the rod
that punished you
is broken.
That rod will become
a poisonous snake, and then
a flying fiery dragon.
30 The poor and needy will find
pastures for their sheep
and will live in safety.
But I will starve some of you,
and others will be killed.
31 Cry and weep in the gates
of your towns,
you Philistines!
Smoke blows in from the north,
and every soldier is ready.
32 If a messenger comes
from a distant nation,
you must say:
“The Lord built Zion.
Even the poorest of his people
will find safety there.”
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 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 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 ¶ That thou shalt take up this proverb against the king of Babylon, and say, How hath the oppressor ceased! the golden city ceased! 5 The LORD hath broken the staff of the wicked, and the sceptre of the rulers. 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 earth is at rest, and is quiet: they break forth into singing. 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 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 All they shall speak and say unto thee, Art thou also become weak as we? art thou become like unto us? 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 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 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 will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. 15 Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit. 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 That made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof; that opened not the house of his prisoners? 18 All the kings of the nations, even all of them, lie in glory, every one in his own house. 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 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 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 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 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 ¶ 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 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 purpose that is purposed upon the whole earth: and this is the hand that is stretched out upon all the nations. 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 that king Ahaz died was this burden.
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 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, 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 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.