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14. Prophecy Against Babylon

    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.”