Israel’s Return

1For the Lord will have compassiona on Jacob and will choose Israel again.b He will settle them on their own land.c The resident alien will join them and be united with the house of Jacob.d 2The nations will escort Israel and bring it to its homeland. Then the house of Israel will possess them as male and female slaves in the Lord’s land.a They will make captives of their captors and will rule over their oppressors.

Downfall of the King of Babylon

3When the Lord gives you rest from your pain,a torment, and the hard laborb you were forced to do, 4you will sing this song of contempt about the king of Babylona and say:

How the oppressor has quieted down,

and how the ragingA has become quiet!

5The Lord has broken the staff of the wicked,

the scepter of the rulers.

6It struck the peoples in anger

with unceasing blows.

It subdued the nations in rage

with relentless persecution.

7The whole earth is calm and at rest;

people shout with a ringing cry.

8Even the cypresses and the cedars of Lebanon

rejoice over you:a

“Since you have been laid low,

no lumberjack has come against us.”

9Sheol below is eager to greet your coming,

stirring up the spirits of the departed for you —

all the rulersA of the earth —

making all the kings of the nations

rise from their thrones.

10They all respond to you, saying,

“You too have become as weak as we are;

you have become like us!

11Your splendor has been brought down to Sheol,

along with the music of your harps.

Maggots are spread out under you,

and worms cover you.”

12Shining morning star,a a

how you have fallen from the heavens!b

You destroyer of nations,

you have been cut down to the ground.

13You said to yourself,

“I will ascend to the heavens;a

I will set up my throne

above the stars of God.b

I will sit on the mount of the gods’ assembly,

in the remotest parts of the North.a c

14I will ascend above the highest clouds;

I will make myself like the Most High.”

15But you will be brought down to Sheol

into the deepest regions of the Pit.a

16Those who see you will stare at you;

they will look closely at you:

“Is this the man who caused the earth to tremble,

who shook the kingdoms,

17who turned the world into a wilderness,a

who destroyed its cities

and would not release the prisoners to return home? ”

18All the kings of the nations

lie in splendor, each in his own tomb.

19But you are thrown out without a grave,

like a worthless branch,

covered by those slain with the sword

and dumped into a rocky pit like a trampled corpse.

20You will not join them in burial,

because you destroyed your land

and slaughtered your own people.

The offspring of evildoers

will never be mentioned again.a

21Prepare a place of slaughter for his sons,

because of the iniquitya of their ancestors.

They will never rise up to possess a land

or fill the surface of the earth with cities.

22“I will rise up against them” — this is the declaration of the Lord of Armies — “and I will cut off from Babylon her reputation, remnant, offspring, and posterity” — this is the Lord’s declaration. 23“I will make her a swampland and a region for herons,A and I will sweep her away with the broom of destruction.”

This is the declaration of the Lord of Armies.

Assyria Will Be Destroyed

24The Lord of Armies has sworn:

As I have purposed, so it will be;

as I have planned it, so it will happen.a

25I will break Assyriaa in my land;

I will tread him down on my mountain.

Then his yoke will be taken from them,

and his burden will be removed from their shoulders.

26This is the plana prepared

for the whole earth,

and this is the hand stretched out

against all the nations.

27The Lord of Armies himself has planned it;

therefore, who can stand in its way?

It is his hand that is outstretched,

so who can turn it back?

A Pronouncement against Philistia

28In the year that King Ahaz died,a this pronouncement came:b

29Don’t rejoice, all of you in Philistia,

because the rod of the one who struck youa is broken.

For a viper will come from the rootA of a snake,

and from its egg comes a flying serpent.b

30Then the firstborna of the poor will be well fed,

and the impoverished will lie down in safety,

but I will kill your root with hunger,

and your remnant will be slain.

31Wail, you gates!a Cry out, city!

Tremble with fear,b all Philistia!

For a cloud of dust is coming from the north,c

and there is no one missing from the invader’s ranks.

32What answer will be given to the messengers from that nation?

The Lord has founded Zion,a

and his oppressed people find refuge in her.