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14. Prophecy Against Babylon

¹ The LORD will have compassion on Jacob;
   once again he will choose Israel
   and will settle them in their own land.
Foreigners will join them
   and unite with the descendants of Jacob.
² Nations will take them
   and bring them to their own place.
And Israel will take possession of the nations
   and make them male and female servants in the LORD’s land.
They will make captives of their captors
   and rule over their oppressors.

³ On the day the LORD gives you relief from your suffering and turmoil and from the harsh labor forced on you, ⁴ you will take up this taunt against the king of Babylon:

   How the oppressor has come to an end!
   How his fury Dead Sea Scrolls, Septuagint and Syriac; the meaning of the word in the Masoretic Text is uncertain. has ended!
⁵ The LORD has broken the rod of the wicked,
   the scepter of the rulers,
⁶ which in anger struck down peoples
   with unceasing blows,
and in fury subdued nations
   with relentless aggression.
⁷ All the lands are at rest and at peace;
   they break into singing.
⁸ Even the junipers and the cedars of Lebanon
   gloat over you and say,
“Now that you have been laid low,
   no one comes to cut us down.”

    ⁹ The realm of the dead below is all astir
   to meet you at your coming;
it rouses the spirits of the departed to greet you—
   all those who were leaders in the world;
it makes them rise from their thrones—
   all those who were kings over the nations.
¹⁰ They will all respond,
   they will say to you,
“You also have become weak, as we are;
   you have become like us.”
¹¹ All your pomp has been brought down to the grave,
   along with the noise of your harps;
maggots are spread out beneath you
   and worms cover you.

    ¹² How you have fallen from heaven,
   morning star, son of the dawn!
You have been cast down to the earth,
   you who once laid low the nations!
¹³ You said in your heart,
   “I will ascend to the heavens;
I will raise my throne
   above the stars of God;
I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly,
   on the utmost heights of Mount Zaphon. Or of the north; Zaphon was the most sacred mountain of the Canaanites.
¹⁴ I will ascend above the tops of the clouds;
   I will make myself like the Most High.”
¹⁵ But you are brought down to the realm of the dead,
   to the depths of the pit.

    ¹⁶ Those who see you stare at you,
   they ponder your fate:
“Is this the man who shook the earth
   and made kingdoms tremble,
¹⁷ the man who made the world a wilderness,
   who overthrew its cities
   and would not let his captives go home?”

    ¹⁸ All the kings of the nations lie in state,
   each in his own tomb.
¹⁹ But you are cast out of your tomb
   like a rejected branch;
you are covered with the slain,
   with those pierced by the sword,
   those who descend to the stones of the pit.
Like a corpse trampled underfoot,
    ²⁰ you will not join them in burial,
for you have destroyed your land
   and killed your people.

   Let the offspring of the wicked
   never be mentioned again.
²¹ Prepare a place to slaughter his children
   for the sins of their ancestors;
they are not to rise to inherit the land
   and cover the earth with their cities.

    ²² “I will rise up against them,”
   declares the LORD Almighty.
“I will wipe out Babylon’s name and survivors,
   her offspring and descendants,” declares the LORD.
²³ “I will turn her into a place for owls
   and into swampland;
I will sweep her with the broom of destruction,”
   declares the LORD Almighty.

²⁴ The LORD Almighty has sworn,

   “Surely, as I have planned, so it will be,
   and as I have purposed, so it will happen.
²⁵ I will crush the Assyrian in my land;
   on my mountains I will trample him down.
His yoke will be taken from my people,
   and his burden removed from their shoulders.”

    ²⁶ This is the plan determined for the whole world;
   this is the hand stretched out over all nations.
²⁷ For the LORD Almighty has purposed, and who can thwart him?
   His hand is stretched out, and who can turn it back?

A Prophecy Against the Philistines

²⁸ This prophecy came in the year King Ahaz died:

    ²⁹ Do not rejoice, all you Philistines,
   that the rod that struck you is broken;
from the root of that snake will spring up a viper,
   its fruit will be a darting, venomous serpent.
³⁰ The poorest of the poor will find pasture,
   and the needy will lie down in safety.
But your root I will destroy by famine;
   it will slay your survivors.

    ³¹ Wail, you gate! Howl, you city!
   Melt away, all you Philistines!
A cloud of smoke comes from the north,
   and there is not a straggler in its ranks.
³² What answer shall be given
   to the envoys of that nation?
“The LORD has established Zion,
   and in her his afflicted people will find refuge.”

12. How art thou fallen from heaven! Isaiah proceeds with the discourse which he had formerly begun as personating the dead, and concludes that the tyrant differs in no respect from other men, though his object was to lead men to believe that he was some god. He employs an elegant metaphor, by comparing him to Lucifer, and calls him the Son of the Dawn; ²²⁰²²⁰     Son of the morning. — Eng. Ver
    ^FT212 Which didst weaken the nations. — Eng. Ver.
    ^FT213 For the origin and application of this “proverb,” see Com. on the Gospel according to John, vol. 1 p. 223, note 1: — Ed
    ^FT214 Upon the mountain of the congregation. — Eng. Ver.
    ^FT215 “In the outer court, that is, in the part which was chosen for the north side; as it is said, (Leviticus 1:11,) on the side of the altar northward.” — Jarchi
    ^FT216 “I will ascend above the heights of the thick cloud. My lofty rank does not permit me to dwell with men. I will make for me a small cloud in the air, and will dwell in it.” — Jarchi
    ^FT217 “It is curious that the Welsh language still preserves this meaning of the word beth, a last home; for it is the appropriate term in that language for a grave.” — Stock
    ^FT218 עולם (gnolam) is derived from עלם, (gnalam,) to hide, and is defined by the lexicographers to mean “an age, a time hidden from men, either unlimited and eternal or limited.” Our author treats it as capable of meaning either time past or time to come. — Ed
    ^FT219 For the bittern. — Eng. Ver. ὥστε κατοικεῖν ἐχίνους, so that hedgehogs shall dwell in it. — Sept
    ^FT220 And I will make it an iheritance for the porcupine. — Lowth. “The porcupine, which grows to a great size in the islands at the mouth of the Euphrates, as Strabo remarks, b. 16.” — Rosenmuller
    ^FT221 The Hebrew word here used by Isaiah is פלשת (Phelesheth,) from which was derived the word Philistia, afterwards changed to Palestina. An early genealogy informs us that the Philistim, or Philistines, were descendants of Mizraim, a son of Ham. (Genesis 10:14.) — Ed
    ^FT222 Palestina. — Eng. Ver.
    ^FT223 See page 148
    ^FT224 And none shall be alone (or, he shall not be alone) in his appointed times, (or, assemblies.) — Eng. Ver.
    ^FT225 “Jonathan interprets it thus: There will be no one to cause delay in his time in the military forces whom God will assemble to come against you; there will be no one to retard their progress, that he may be solitary, that he may come alone; but all will come at once with prodigious violence.” — Jarchi
    ^FT226 Shall trust in it, (or, betake themselves unto it.) — Eng. Ver. and that on account of his splendor and brightness with which he shone above others. The exposition of this passage, which some have given, as if it referred to Satan, has arisen from ignorance; for the context plainly shows that these statements must be understood in reference to the king of the Babylonians. But when passages of Scripture are taken up at random, and no attention is paid to the context, we need not wonder that mistakes of this kind frequently arise. Yet it was an instance of very gross ignorance, to imagine that Lucifer was the king of devils, and that the Prophet gave him this name. But as these inventions have no probability whatever, let us pass by them as useless fables.

Casting the lot upon the nations, or weakening the nations. ²²¹²²¹ {Bogus footnote} Translators have mistaken the meaning of this clause, by rendering the participle הולש (holesh) passively, Thou art become weak, for its signification is active. But as the verb from which it is derived signifies to cast a lot, and as the preposition על, (gnal,) upon, is here added, it is best to take it in this meaning, that, as the ruler and disposer of all countries, he directed them by lot, or held them as his own possessions. And yet I do not reject the other meaning, that he weakened the nations