New Living Translation

English Standard Version

1But the LORD will have mercy on the descendants of Jacob. He will choose Israel as his special people once again. He will bring them back to settle once again in their own land. And people from many different nations will come and join them there and unite with the people of Israel.

1For the LORD will have compassion on Jacob and will again choose Israel, and will set them in their own land, and sojourners will join them and will attach themselves to the house of Jacob.

2The nations of the world will help the people of Israel to return, and those who come to live in the LORD’s land will serve them. Those who captured Israel will themselves be captured, and Israel will rule over its enemies.

2And the peoples will take them and bring them to their place, and the house of Israel will possess them in the LORD’s land as male and female slaves. They will take captive those who were their captors, and rule over those who oppressed them.

3In that wonderful day when the LORD gives his people rest from sorrow and fear, from slavery and chains,

3When the LORD has given you rest from your pain and turmoil and the hard service with which you were made to serve,

4you will taunt the king of Babylon. You will say, “The mighty man has been destroyed. Yes, your insolence is ended.

4you will take up this taunt against the king of Babylon: “How the oppressor has ceased, the insolent fury ceased!

5For the LORD has crushed your wicked power and broken your evil rule.

5The LORD has broken the staff of the wicked, the scepter of rulers,

6You struck the people with endless blows of rage and held the nations in your angry grip with unrelenting tyranny.

6that struck the peoples in wrath with unceasing blows, that ruled the nations in anger with unrelenting persecution.

7But finally the earth is at rest and quiet. Now it can sing again!

7The whole earth is at rest and quiet; they break forth into singing.

8Even the trees of the forest— the cypress trees and the cedars of Lebanon— sing out this joyous song: ‘Since you have been cut down, no one will come now to cut us down!’

8The cypresses rejoice at you, the cedars of Lebanon, saying, ‘Since you were laid low, no woodcutter comes up against us.’

9“In the place of the dead there is excitement over your arrival. The spirits of world leaders and mighty kings long dead stand up to see you.

9Sheol beneath is stirred up to meet you when you come; it rouses the shades to greet you, all who were leaders of the earth; it raises from their thrones all who were kings of the nations.

10With one voice they all cry out, ‘Now you are as weak as we are!

10All of them will answer and say to you: ‘You too have become as weak as we! You have become like us!’

11Your might and power were buried with you. The sound of the harp in your palace has ceased. Now maggots are your sheet, and worms your blanket.’

11Your pomp is brought down to Sheol, the sound of your harps; maggots are laid as a bed beneath you, and worms are your covers.

12“How you are fallen from heaven, O shining star, son of the morning! You have been thrown down to the earth, you who destroyed the nations of the world.

12“How you are fallen from heaven, O Day Star, son of Dawn! How you are cut down to the ground, you who laid the nations low!

13For you said to yourself, ‘I will ascend to heaven and set my throne above God’s stars. I will preside on the mountain of the gods far away in the north.

13You said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God I will set my throne on high; I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north;

14I will climb to the highest heavens and be like the Most High.’

14I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’

15Instead, you will be brought down to the place of the dead, down to its lowest depths.

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

16Everyone there will stare at you and ask, ‘Can this be the one who shook the earth and made the kingdoms of the world tremble?

16Those who see you will stare at you and ponder over you: ‘Is this the man who made the earth tremble, who shook kingdoms,

17Is this the one who destroyed the world and made it into a wasteland? Is this the king who demolished the world’s greatest cities and had no mercy on his prisoners?’

17who made the world like a desert and overthrew its cities, who did not let his prisoners go home?’

18“The kings of the nations lie in stately glory, each in his own tomb,

18All the kings of the nations lie in glory, each in his own tomb;

19but you will be thrown out of your grave like a worthless branch. Like a corpse trampled underfoot, you will be dumped into a mass grave with those killed in battle. You will descend to the pit.

19but you are cast out, away from your grave, like a loathed branch, clothed with the slain, those pierced by the sword, who go down to the stones of the pit, like a dead body trampled underfoot.

20You will not be given a proper burial, for you have destroyed your nation and slaughtered your people. The descendants of such an evil person will never again receive honor.

20You will not be joined with them in burial, because you have destroyed your land, you have slain your people. “May the offspring of evildoers nevermore be named!

21Kill this man’s children! Let them die because of their father’s sins! They must not rise and conquer the earth, filling the world with their cities.”

21Prepare slaughter for his sons because of the guilt of their fathers, lest they rise and possess the earth, and fill the face of the world with cities.”

22This is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies says: “I, myself, have risen against Babylon! I will destroy its children and its children’s children,” says the LORD.

22“I will rise up against them,” declares the LORD of hosts, “and will cut off from Babylon name and remnant, descendants and posterity,” declares the LORD.

23“I will make Babylon a desolate place of owls, filled with swamps and marshes. I will sweep the land with the broom of destruction. I, the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, have spoken!” A Message about Assyria

23“And I will make it a possession of the hedgehog, and pools of water, and I will sweep it with the broom of destruction,” declares the LORD of hosts.

24The LORD of Heaven’s Armies has sworn this oath: “It will all happen as I have planned. It will be as I have decided.

24The LORD of hosts has sworn: “As I have planned, so shall it be, and as I have purposed, so shall it stand,

25I will break the Assyrians when they are in Israel; I will trample them on my mountains. My people will no longer be their slaves nor bow down under their heavy loads.

25that I will break the Assyrian in my land, and on my mountains trample him underfoot; and his yoke shall depart from them, and his burden from their shoulder.”

26I have a plan for the whole earth, a hand of judgment upon all the nations.

26This is the purpose that is purposed concerning the whole earth, and this is the hand that is stretched out over all the nations.

27The LORD of Heaven’s Armies has spoken— who can change his plans? When his hand is raised, who can stop him?” A Message about Philistia

27For the LORD of hosts has purposed, and who will annul it? His hand is stretched out, and who will turn it back?

28This message came to me the year King Ahaz died:

28In the year that King Ahaz died came this oracle:

29Do not rejoice, you Philistines, that the rod that struck you is broken— that the king who attacked you is dead. For from that snake a more poisonous snake will be born, a fiery serpent to destroy you!

29Rejoice not, O Philistia, all of you, that the rod that struck you is broken, for from the serpent’s root will come forth an adder, and its fruit will be a flying fiery serpent.

30I will feed the poor in my pasture; the needy will lie down in peace. But as for you, I will wipe you out with famine and destroy the few who remain.

30And the firstborn of the poor will graze, and the needy lie down in safety; but I will kill your root with famine, and your remnant it will slay.

31Wail at the gates! Weep in the cities! Melt with fear, you Philistines! A powerful army comes like smoke from the north. Each soldier rushes forward eager to fight.

31Wail, O gate; cry out, O city; melt in fear, O Philistia, all of you! For smoke comes out of the north, and there is no straggler in his ranks.

32What should we tell the Philistine messengers? Tell them, “The LORD has built Jerusalem ; its walls will give refuge to his oppressed people.”

32What will one answer the messengers of the nation? “The LORD has founded Zion, and in her the afflicted of his people find refuge.”

Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

ESV Text Edition: 2016. The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®) copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. The ESV® text has been reproduced in cooperation with and by permission of Good News Publishers. Unauthorized reproduction of this publication is prohibited. All rights reserved.