TheSacredScripture.org: Isaiah 14

1 For Jehovah will have··compassion on Jacob, and will still choose Israel; and He will place them on their own ground; and the sojourner shall be joined to them, and they shall be attached to the house of Jacob.

2 And the peoples shall take them, and bring them into^▵ their own place; and the house of Israel shall inherit them on the ground of Jehovah, for servants, and for handmaids, and they shall be captives to their captives; and they shall have··dominion over^◦ their taskmasters.

3 And it shall be, in the day, that Jehovah has given thee rest, from the grieving, and from trembling, and from the hard service which thou wast compelled¹ to serve,

4 that thou shalt lift··up this proverb upon the king of Babylon, and shalt say, How^◦ the taskmaster has ceased! the exactress of gold ceased!

5 Jehovah has broken the rod of the wicked, the scepter of the rulers.

6 He smites the peoples in wrath, with a smiting without remission^◦²; He has··dominion over the nations in anger, persecuting without^◦ keeping··back.

7 All the earth is at rest, it is quiet; they burst··forth into singing··aloud.

8 Even the fir··trees are··glad for thee, the cedars of Lebanon, saying, From when thou hast lain··down, he who cuts··off has not come··up against us.

9 Hell from beneath trembles for thee to meet thee when thou comest; he stirs··up for thee the Rephaim, all the powerful ones³ of the earth; he raises··up from their thrones all the kings of the nations.

10 All of them shall answer and shall say unto^▵ thee, Hast thou, even thou^◦, become··weak as we? Hast thou become··similar unto^▵ us?

11 Thine excellency is brought··down into hell, the noise of thy psalteries; the maggot is··matted under thee, and the worm^◦ is thy covering.

12 How art thou fallen from the heavens, O Lucifer, son of the dawn! Thou art hewn··down to the earth, thou art overcome under the nations!

13 For thou didst say in thy heart, I will ascend the heavens; above the stars of God^◦ I will exalt my throne; and I will sit upon the mountain of the congregation^◦, on the flanks of the north;

14 I will ascend above the high··places of the thick··clouds; I will be··like the Most··High.

15 Surely thou shalt be brought··down to^▵ hell, to^▵ the flanks of the pit.

16 Those who see thee shall look··attentively at thee; they shall consider thee, saying, Is this the man^◦ who made· the earth ·tremble, who made· kingdoms ·quake;

17 who made⁴ the world as a wilderness, and broke··down the cities thereof; who opened not their prison house to his bound ones?⁵

18 All the kings of the nations, all of them, lie in glory, each··man^◦ in his own house;

19 but thou^◦ art cast out of the grave, like an abominable stem, like the clothing of those who are killed, thrust··through^◦ with the sword; like them that go··down to the stones of the pit, as a corpse trodden··down.

20 Thou shalt not be united with^◦ them in the grave, for thou hast destroyed thy land, thou hast killed thy people; the seed of evildoers shall not be proclaimed to eternity.

21 Prepare ye butchering for his sons, for the iniquity of their fathers, that⁶ they may not^▵ rise··up and possess the land, and fill the face of the world with cities.

22 And I will rise··up against them, says^◦ Jehovah of Armies; and I will cut··off from Babylon the name and what··is··left; and the son^▵, and the grandson, says^◦ Jehovah.

23 And I will set her for a possession of the osprey, and for ponds of water; and I will brush· her ·away with the brush of blotting··out, says^◦ Jehovah of Armies.

24 Jehovah of Armies has promised, saying, Surely as^◦ I have considered, so shall it be; and as^◦ I have counseled, it^◦ shall arise;

25 to break Assyria in My land, and to tread· him ·down on My mountains; and his yoke shall be removed from on them, and his burden^◦ shall be removed from on his shoulder.

26 This is the counsel, counseled on all the earth; and this the hand which is stretched out on all the nations.

27 For Jehovah of Armies has counseled, and who shall make· it ·of··none··effect? And His hand is stretched··out, and who shall turn· it ·back?

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

29 Be· not ·glad, Philistia, every one of thee, that the scepter of him who smites thee is broken; for from the root of the serpent shall come··out a basilisk, and his fruit shall be a flying seraph⁷.

30 And the firstborn of the poor shall pasture, and the needy shall lie··down^◦ securely; but I will cause thy root to die with famine; and what··is··left of you he will kill.

31 Howl, O gate! Cry out, O city! O Philistia, all of thee is dissolved; for from the north comes smoke; and none shall be··alone in his congregations.

32 And what shall be answered to the messengers of the nation? That Jehovah has founded Zion, and that in her shall the afflicted of His people have··confidence.

¹as in AC 6852

²or “a smiting which is incurable” (see AC 5798:4)

³as in AE 304:26 and 1029:11, but literally, “he-goats”

⁴literally, “set”

⁵“The bound have a similar signification in the Word as captives” (AE 811:30, citing this verse).

⁶as in AE 304:26

⁷a fiery serpent (see DP 340)

The Word of the Lord

Isaiah 14