Restoration for Israel

1For YHWH will have compassion on Jacob, and again He will choose Israel, and He will settle them in their own land, and the sojourner will join them with them, and attach themselves to the house of Jacob. 2And the peoples will take them and bring them to their place, and the house of Israel will possess them in the land of YHWH as menservants and as maidservants, and they will become captives to their captors, and they will rule over their oppressors.

The Fall of the King of Babylon

3And it will come to pass in the day of YHWH giving rest to you from your pain and from your trouble and the hard servitude that has been served upon you, 4that you will take up this proverb against the king of Babylon, and you will say:

“How the oppressor has ceased!

The boisterous rage† has ceased!

5YHWH has broken the staff of the wicked,

the scepter of the rulers—

6the one striking the peoples in wrath,

a striking with no turning aside,

one ruling the nations in anger,

pursuing without restraint.

7All the earth is at rest and quiet;

they burst forth with singing,

8even the cypress trees† rejoice over you,

the cedars of Lebanon:

“Since you have been laid low,

the cutter has not come up against us.”

9Sheol from beneath stirs itself for you,

to meet you at your coming;

it rouses for you the Rephaim,

all the chief ones of the earth;

it raises up from their thrones

all the kings of the nations.

10All of them will answer and will say to you,

“Even you have become weak like us,

have you become like us.”

11Your pride has been brought down to Sheol,

the sound of your harps;

under you is spread out the maggot,

and your covering is the worm.

12How you have fallen from the heavens,

O shining one,† son of the dawn!

You have been cut down to the ground,

O weakener of nations!

13For you have said in your heart,

“I will ascend to the heavens;

above the stars of God

I will raise my throne.

And I will sit on the mountain of assembly,

in the far reaches of the north.†

14I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;

I will be like to the Most High.”

15Yet you will be brought down to Sheol,

to the sides of the Pit.

16Those who see you will gaze at you,

they will ponder at you:

“Is this the man who made tremble the earth,

the one shaking kingdoms,

17setting the world as a wilderness;

its cities he has broken down;

his captives he has not released

to their house?”

18All the kings of the nations, all of them, lie down in glory,

each man in his own house;†

19and you are cast out from your grave like a detested branch,

the garment of those who are slain, pierced by the sword,

going down to the stones of the pit,

like a corpse trampled.

20You will not be joined with them in the grave,

because your land you have destroyed,

your people you have killed—

the seed of evildoers

let not be mentioned forever!

21Prepare slaughter for his sons,

for the iniquity of their fathers—

lest they rise up and possess the land

and fill the face of the world with cities!

22“And I will rise up against them,”

a declaration of YHWH of Hosts,

“And I will cut off from Babylon

the name, and remnant,

and offspring, and posterity,”

a declaration of YHWH.

23“Into a possession into a possession for the owl,

and ponds of waters,

and I will sweep it

with the broom of destruction,”

a declaration of YHWH of Hosts.

God’s Purpose against Assyria

24YHWH of Hosts has sworn, saying,

“Surely as I have purposed, so it will be,

and as I have counseled, so it will stand:

25To break Assyria in My land,

and on My mountains I will trample him!

And his yoke will be turned aside from them

and his burden will be turned aside from their shoulders.”

26This is the counsel that is counseled for all the earth,

and this is the hand that is stretched out over all the nations.

27For YHWH of Hosts has counseled,

and who can break it?

And His hand is stretched out,

and who can turn it back?

Philistia Will Be Destroyed

28In the year of the death of King Ahaz came this burden:

29Not do rejoice, Philistia, all of you,

that the rod that struck you is broken—

for from the root of the snake will come forth a viper,

and its fruit is a flying fiery serpent!

30And the firstborn of the poor will find pasture,

and the needy will stretch out in safety;

and I will kill your root with famine

and it will slay your remnant.

31Wail, O gate! Cry out, O city!

Melt away, Philistia, all of you—

for smoke will come from the north,

and none is alone in its ranks.

32And what will he answer

to the messengers of the nation?

That YHWH has founded Zion,

and in it the poor of His people will take refuge.