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Israel's Taunt

¹ When the LORD will ^(C1)have compassion on Jacob and again ^(C2)choose Israel, and settle them in their own land, then ^(C3)strangers will join them and attach themselves to the house of Jacob.² The peoples will take them along and bring them to their place, and the ^(C1)house of Israel will possess them as an inheritance in the land of the LORD ^(C2)as male servants and female servants; and ^(F1)they will take their captors captive and will rule over their oppressors.

³ And it will be in the day when the LORD gives you ^(C1)rest from your pain and turmoil and harsh service in which you have been enslaved,⁴ that you will ^(C1)take up this ^(F1)taunt against the king of Babylon, and say,

"How ^(C2)the oppressor has ceased,
And how ^(F2)fury has ceased!

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

^6 (C1)Which used to strike the peoples in fury with unceasing strokes,
Which ^(F1)subdued the nations in anger with unrestrained persecution.

⁷ "The whole earth is at rest and is quiet;
They ^(C1)break forth into shouts of joy.

⁸ "Even the ^(C1)cypress trees rejoice over you, and the cedars of Lebanon, saying,
'Since you were laid low, no tree cutter comes up against us.'

⁹ "^(C1)Sheol from beneath is excited over you to meet you when you come;
It arouses for you the ^(F1)spirits of the dead, all the ^(F2)leaders of the earth;
It raises all the kings of the nations from their thrones.

¹⁰ "^(C1)They will all respond and say to you,
'Even you have been made weak as we,
You have become like us.

¹¹ 'Your ^(C1)pomp and the music of your harps
Have been brought down to Sheol;
Maggots are spread out as your bed beneath you
And worms are your covering.'

¹² "How you have ^(C1)fallen from heaven,
O ^(F1)(C2)star of the morning, son of the dawn!
You have been cut down to the earth,
You who have weakened the nations!

¹³ "But you said in your heart,
'I will ^(C1)ascend to heaven;
I will ^(C2)raise my throne above the stars of God,
And I will sit on the mount of assembly
In the recesses of the north.

¹⁴ 'I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;
^(C1)I will make myself like the Most High.'

¹⁵ "Nevertheless you ^(C1)will be thrust down to Sheol,
To the recesses of the pit.

¹⁶ "Those who see you will gaze at you,
They will ^(F1)ponder over you, saying,
'Is this the man who made the earth tremble,
Who shook kingdoms,

¹⁷ Who made the world like a ^(C1)wilderness
And overthrew its cities,
Who ^(C2)did not ^(F1)allow his prisoners to go home?'

¹⁸ "All the kings of the nations lie in glory,
Each in his own ^(F1)tomb.

¹⁹ "But you have been ^(C1)cast out of your tomb
Like ^(F1)a rejected branch,
^(F2)Clothed with the slain who are pierced with a sword,
Who go down to the stones of the ^(C2)pit
Like a ^(C3)trampled corpse.

²⁰ "You will not be united with them in burial,
Because you have ruined your country,
You have slain your people.
May the ^(C1)offspring of evildoers not be mentioned forever.

²¹ "Prepare for his sons a place of slaughter
Because of the ^(C1)iniquity of their fathers.
They must not arise and take possession of the earth
And fill the face of the world with cities."

Judgment on Assyria

²⁸ In the ^(C1)year that King Ahaz died this ^(F1)(C2)oracle came:

Judgment on Philistia

²⁹ "Do not rejoice, O ^(C1)Philistia, all of you,
Because the rod that ^(C2)struck you is broken;
For from the serpent's root a ^(C3)viper will come out,
And its fruit will be a ^(C4)flying serpent.

³⁰ "^(F1)Those who are most ^(C1)helpless will eat,
And the needy will lie down in security;
I will ^(F2)destroy your root with ^(C2)famine,
And it will kill off your survivors.

³¹ "Wail, O ^(C1)gate; cry, O city;
^(F1)Melt away, O ^(C2)Philistia, all of you;
For smoke comes from the ^(C3)north,
And ^(C4)there is no straggler in his ranks.

³² "How then will one answer the ^(C1)messengers of the nation?
That ^(C2)the LORD has founded Zion,
And ^(C3)the afflicted of His people will seek refuge in it."