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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.”

22. For I will rise up against them. The Lord now declares that he will do what he had formerly, by the Prophet, commanded others to do. Both statements ought to be observed, that it is the work of God, when wicked men are ruined, though he may employ the agency of men in executing his judgments. He formerly addressed them, saying, Prepare. (Verse. 21.) This should lead us to observe not only the power of God, but likewise the efficacy of prophecy, in consequence of which the prophets, by the appointment of God, command all nations to do this or that; and next, that men are so far from being able to hinder the accomplishment that they are even constrained to yield obedience to God. As we usually rely on men, and, by neglecting God, attribute to them the power of doing everything, we ought to hold by this principle, that since God acts by means of them, he is, strictly speaking, the Author of the work, and that they are only servants or instruments. This is clearly enough shown by the connection of what immediately follows.

I have thought it best to view the particle ו (vau) as meaning for. He assigns the reason why he enjoins the Medes and others to prepare destruction to the Babylonians, For I will rise up against them. This mode of expression, by which the Lord says that he riseth up, is sufficiently common. By means of it, the Prophet accommodates himself to our capacity, for the majesty of God is so high that we cannot conceive of it. We think that God is idle and unoccupied, so long as he winks at men; and therefore he says that he riseth up, when he exerts his power, and manifests it by some visible act.

Saith the Lord of hosts. This title serves to confirm the statement; as if he had said that he did not, without good grounds, claim the government over the nations; for God governs all armies by his own hand. Since, therefore, he has been appointed to make known the purpose of God, it belongs to him to command men, that they may yield obedience to him. By the words saith the Lord, which he twice repeats in this verse, he affirms that he utters nothing but what has been commanded by God, that this prophecy may carry greater weight.

And I will cut off from Babylon the name and remnant, son and grandson. It has been often enough mentioned before, that this destruction did not overtake Babylon till after the death of Alexander the Great. By the phrase sons and grandsons, he means not only the posterity but the remembrance, which wicked men are so desirous to obtain, in order that they may be applauded for many ages after their death. This also the Lord took away from Babylon, that no remembrance of it might remain, but what was accompanied by dishonor and reproach.