The Restoration of Israel

¹ But Yahweh will have compassion on Jacob, and he will again choose Israel and set them on their land, and the immigrant will join himself to them, and they will attach themselves to the house of Jacob.

² And the nations will take them and bring them to their place, and the house of Israel will take possession of them¹ in the land of Yahweh as slaves and female slaves. And this will happen: they will take their captors captive and rule over their oppressors.

1. That is, the nations

The Downfall of the King of Babylon

³ And it shall happen on the day Yahweh gives you rest from your pain and turmoil and hard labor which ⌞you had to perform⌟,¹

1. Literally “was worked by you”

⁴ that you will take this taunt against the king of Babylon, and you will say: “How the oppressor has ceased! his insolence¹ has ceased.

1. The meaning of the word is uncertain; others translate it as “fury,” “hostility,” or even “golden city”

⁵ Yahweh has broken the staff of the wicked, the scepter of rulers,

⁶ that struck the peoples in wrath, a blow without ceasing, that ruled the nations in anger ⌞with unrestrained persecution⌟.¹

1. Literally “persecution without withholding”

⁷ All of the earth rests and is quiet; they break forth into singing.

⁸ Even the cypresses rejoice over you, the cedars of Lebanon: ‘Since you were laid down, no wood cutter comes up against us.’

⁹ Sheol below is getting excited over you, to meet ⌞you when you come⌟;¹ it arouses the dead spirits for you, all of the leaders of the earth. It raises all of the kings of the nations from their thrones.

1. Literally “your entrance”

¹⁰ All of them will respond and say to you, ‘You yourself also were made weak like us! You have become the same as us!’

¹¹ Your pride is brought down to Sheol, and the sound of your harps; maggots¹ are spread out beneath you like a bed, and your covering is worms.²

1. Hebrew “maggot”
2. Hebrew “worm”

¹² How you have fallen from heaven, morning star, son of dawn! You are cut down to the ground, conqueror of nations!

¹³ And you yourself said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; I will raise up my throne above the stars of God; and I will sit on the mountain of assembly on the summit of Zaphon;¹

1. Or “of the north”

¹⁴ I will ascend to the high places of the clouds,¹ I will make myself like the Most High.’

1. Hebrew “cloud”

¹⁵ But you are brought down to Sheol, to the depths of the pit.

¹⁶ Those who see you will stare at you, they will look closely at you: ‘Is this the man who made the earth tremble, who caused kingdoms to shake,

¹⁷ who made the world like the desert and destroyed its cities, who would not let his prisoners go home?’

¹⁸ All the kings of the nations, all of them, lie in glory, each one in his house.

¹⁹ But as for you, you are thrown away from your grave, like an abhorrent shoot, clothed with the slain, those pierced by the sword, those who go down to the stones of the pit, like a corpse that is trodden down.

²⁰ You will not be united with them in burial because you have destroyed your land, you have killed your people. The descendants¹ of evildoers will not be mentioned for eternity!

1. Hebrew “descendant”

²¹ Prepare a place of slaughter for his sons because of the sin of their ancestors.¹ Let them not rise and take possession of the earth or fill up the face of the world with cities.”

1. Or “fathers”

²² “And I will rise up against them,” ⌞declares⌟¹ Yahweh of hosts, “and I will cut off name and a remnant from Babylon, and offspring and posterity,” ⌞declares⌟² Yahweh.

1. Literally “declaration of”
2. Literally “declaration of”

²³ “And I will make her a possession of the hedgehog, and pools of water, and I will sweep her away with the broom of destruction,” ⌞declares⌟¹ Yahweh of hosts.

1. Literally “declaration of”

Oracle of Judgment on Assyria

²⁴ Yahweh of hosts has sworn, saying, “⌞Surely⌟¹ just as I have intended, so it shall be. And just as I have planned, it shall stand:

1. The oath formula begins literally “If not”

²⁵ to break Assyria in my land, and I will trample him down on my mountains; and he shall remove his yoke from them, and he shall remove his burden from his¹ shoulders.”²

1. That is, their
2. Hebrew “shoulder”

²⁶ This is the plan that is planned concerning all of the earth; and this is the hand that is stretched out over all of the nations.

²⁷ For Yahweh of hosts has planned, and who will frustrate it? And his hand is stretched out, and who will turn it back?

Oracle of Judgment on Philistia

²⁸ In the year of the death of king Ahaz there was this oracle:

²⁹ You must not rejoice, all you Philistines, that the rod that struck you is broken, for a viper will come forth from the root of the snake, and its fruit will be a flying serpent.

³⁰ And the firstborn of the poor will graze, and the needy will lie down in security; but I will cause your root to die in famine, and it will kill your remnant.

³¹ Wail, gate! Cry, city! Melt,¹ Philistia, all of you! For smoke is coming from the north, and there is no straggler in his ranks.

1. With fear or despair

³² And what will one answer the messengers of the nation? That Yahweh has founded Zion, and the needy of his people will take refuge in it.