Compassion for Jacob
Given rest by our Father, Israel takes up a taunt over the fallen oppressor: the earth is quiet, even the cedars relieved. The one who said he would climb above the stars lies among maggots, denied a grave. Then Philistia is warned not to celebrate.
14 1For our Father's heart will feel compassion for Jacob; he will again choose Israel and settle them in their own land. The foreigner will join them and attach himself to the house of Jacob. 2Peoples will take them and bring them to their place, and the house of Israel will possess them as male and female servants in the land of our Father. They will capture their captors and rule over their oppressors.
3On the day our Father gives you rest from your pain, turmoil, and the hard labor forced on you, 4you will take up this taunt against the king of Babylon: How the oppressor has stopped! How his rage has stopped! 5Our Father has broken the staff of the wicked, the scepter of rulers, 6that struck the peoples in wrath with endless blows, that ruled the nations in anger with relentless persecution. 7The whole earth is at rest and quiet; people burst into song. 8Even the cypresses rejoice over you, and the cedars of Lebanon: "Since you were laid low, no woodcutter comes up against us." 9The grave beneath is stirred up to meet you at your coming; it rouses the spirits to greet you, all who were leaders of the earth; it raises from their thrones all who were kings of the nations. 10All of them will answer and say to you: "You too have become as weak as we are! You have become like us! 11Your pomp is brought down to the grave, along with the music of your harps; maggots are spread out as your bed beneath you, and worms are your covering." 12How you have fallen from heaven, Day Star, son of the dawn! How you are cut down to the ground, you who laid the nations low! a a v12 The fallen Day Star had known our Father and rejected him, trying to take our Father's place rather than receive his own as a creature our Father made. 13You said in your heart, "I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit on the mount of assembly, in the far reaches of the north. 14I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High." 15But you are brought down to the grave, to the far reaches of the pit. 16Those who see you will stare at you and wonder: "Is this the man who made the earth tremble, who shook kingdoms, 17who made the world like a wilderness and tore down its cities, who would not let his captives go home?" 18All the kings of the nations lie in glory, each in his own tomb; 19but you are cast out, away from your grave, like a loathed branch, covered with the slain, those pierced by the sword, who go down to the stones of the pit, like a trampled corpse. 20You will not be joined with them in burial, because you destroyed your own land, you killed your own people. May the offspring of evildoers never be named again! 21Prepare slaughter for his sons because of the guilt of their fathers, so they cannot rise and take over the earth and fill the whole world with cities.
22"I will rise up against them, declares the Father of heaven's armies, and I will cut off from Babylon name and remnant, offspring and descendant, declares our Father. 23I will make it a haunt of the hedgehog and pools of water, and I will sweep it with the broom of destruction, declares the Father of heaven's armies."
What the Father Has Purposed
24The Father of heaven's armies has sworn: "Surely as I planned, so it will be; as I decided, so it will stand. 25I will break the Assyrian in my land, and on my mountains I will trample him underfoot; his yoke will be lifted from them, and his burden removed from their shoulder. 26This is the purpose determined against the whole earth, and this is the hand stretched out over all the nations. 27For the Father of heaven's armies has decided, and who can undo it? His hand is stretched out, and who can turn it back?"
When King Ahaz Died
28In the year that King Ahaz died, this oracle came: 29Do not rejoice, all you Philistia, that the rod that struck you is broken; for from the serpent's root will come an adder, and its fruit will be a darting, fiery serpent. 30The poorest of the poor will graze in safety, and the needy will lie down secure; but I will kill your root with famine, and it will destroy your remnant. 31Wail, gate; cry out, city; melt with fear, all you Philistia! For smoke comes out of the north, and not one soldier falls behind in its ranks. 32What answer will be given to the messengers of the nation? "Our Father has founded Zion, and in her the afflicted of his people find refuge."
