Isaiah 14

The LORD will show mercy to Jacob's people. He will choose Israel again and settle them in their own land. Foreigners will join them and attach themselves to the house of Jacob.

1For the LORD will have mercy on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel, and set them in their own land: and the strangers shall be joined with them, and they shall cleave to the house of Jacob.

Note"Jacob" and "Israel" are two names for the same ancestor (Jacob was renamed Israel) and both are used here as names for the whole nation descended from him. "LORD" in capitals stands in for the personal name of Israel's God, which Hebrew scribes wrote but did not pronounce aloud. The "foreigners" are non-Israelites living among them, who attach themselves permanently to the nation.

2The nations will take them and bring them home. The house of Israel will possess those nations in the LORD's land as male and female servants. They will take their captors captive and rule over those who oppressed them.

2And the people shall take them, and bring them to their place: and the house of Israel shall possess them in the land of the LORD for servants and handmaids: and they shall take them captives, whose captives they were; and they shall rule over their oppressors.

3On the day the LORD gives you rest from your pain, from your fear, and from the hard slave labor you were forced to do,

3And it shall come to pass in the day that the LORD shall give thee rest from thy sorrow, and from thy fear, and from the hard bondage wherein thou wast made to serve,

4you will take up this taunt against the king of Babylon and say: "How the oppressor has come to an end! The golden city has come to an end!

4That thou shalt take up this proverb against the king of Babylon, and say, How hath the oppressor ceased! the golden city ceased!

Note"Taunt" translates a Hebrew word (mashal) covering proverbs, comparisons and set poems; here it is a mocking victory song chanted over a fallen enemy, a recognized form with its own conventions. The word behind "golden city" is obscure and occurs nowhere else in the Bible; ancient and modern translators have guessed variously at "golden," "insolence" and "fury," and the sense is genuinely unsettled. Babylon was the imperial capital in southern Mesopotamia, in modern Iraq.

5The LORD has broken the club of the wicked, the royal staff of the rulers.

5The LORD hath broken the staff of the wicked, and the sceptre of the rulers.

NoteA ruler's staff was both a symbol of office and a real instrument of beating; the poem uses the same object for the emblem of kingship and the weapon of oppression.

6He struck the peoples in anger with blow after blow. He ruled the nations in rage. Now he is hounded himself, and no one holds his attackers back.

6He who smote the people in wrath with a continual stroke, he that ruled the nations in anger, is persecuted, and none hindereth.

NoteThe Hebrew of this verse is difficult, and it is unclear whether the tyrant is the one doing the persecuting without anyone restraining him, or is now himself being hounded without anyone restraining his attackers. Translations divide.

7The whole earth is at rest and quiet. People burst into song.

7The whole earth is at rest, and is quiet: they break forth into singing.

8Even the fir trees and the cedars of Lebanon are glad about you. They say, 'Since you were laid low, no woodcutter has come up against us.'

8Yea, the fir trees rejoice at thee, and the cedars of Lebanon, saying, Since thou art laid down, no feller is come up against us.

NoteThe cedar forests of Lebanon supplied the ancient world's most prized building timber, and conquering kings routinely logged them for palaces and temples, recording the fact in their inscriptions. The trees celebrating the tyrant's death is a joke about the logging stopping.

9The world of the dead below is stirred up to meet you when you arrive. It wakes the dead for you, all the leaders of the earth. It makes all the kings of the nations get up from their thrones.

9Hell from beneath is moved for thee to meet thee at thy coming: it stirreth up the dead for thee, even all the chief ones of the earth; it hath raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations.

Note"The world of the dead" is Sheol, the underground realm where Hebrew writers pictured all the dead going, kings and commoners alike, a place of shadowy weakness, not of reward or punishment. The King James Version renders it "hell," which now suggests something quite different.

10They will all speak up and say to you, 'So you have become weak like us. You have become just like us.'

10All they shall speak and say unto thee, Art thou also become weak as we? art thou become like unto us?

11Your splendor has been brought down to the grave, along with the music of your harps. Maggots are spread out under you, and worms cover you.

11Thy pomp is brought down to the grave, and the noise of thy viols: the worm is spread under thee, and the worms cover thee.

Note"The grave" here is the same Sheol named in verse 9. Harps and lyres were the music of a royal banquet; maggots and worms replacing the king's bedding is the poem's reversal of that luxury.

12How you have fallen from heaven, morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cut down to the ground, you who once wore the nations down.

12How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!

NoteThe Hebrew here is helel ben shachar, "shining one, son of dawn", the morning star, the planet Venus, which climbs high in the pre-dawn sky and is then swallowed by the sunrise. The Latin Bible translated it lucifer, "light-bringer," and the King James Version kept that word as a name, which is how "Lucifer" later came to be used for the devil. In its own context the poem is addressing the king of Babylon.

13For you said to yourself, 'I will climb up to the heavens. I will lift my throne above God's stars. I will sit on the mountain where the assembly gathers, in the farthest parts of the north.

13For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:

Note"The mountain where the assembly gathers, in the farthest parts of the north" draws on imagery known from Canaanite texts, where the gods met in council on Mount Zaphon, a peak north of Israel. To claim a throne there was to claim a seat among the gods.

14I will climb higher than the tops of the clouds. I will make myself like the Most High.'

14I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.

Note"Most High" (Hebrew Elyon) is a title for God, ancient and widely used, emphasizing supremacy over all other powers.

15But you will be brought down to the world of the dead, to the deepest part of the pit.

15Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.

16Those who see you will stare closely at you and think about what has happened to you. They will say, 'Is this the man who made the earth shake and kingdoms tremble,

16They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms;

17who turned the world into a desert and tore down its cities, who never let his prisoners go home?'

17That made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof; that opened not the house of his prisoners?

NoteConquering empires deported captured populations and held them far from home; letting prisoners go back was a mark of a generous king, and refusing to was a standing charge against a cruel one.

18All the kings of the nations, every one of them, lie in honor, each in his own tomb.

18All the kings of the nations, even all of them, lie in glory, every one in his own house.

NoteBurial in one's own family tomb, with the body treated honorably, mattered enormously in this culture. Royal tombs were monuments, and "his own house" is a way of saying the tomb built for him.

19But you are thrown out of your grave like a branch nobody wants. You are covered with the bodies of men run through with a sword, dumped into a rocky pit, like a corpse trampled underfoot.

19But thou art cast out of thy grave like an abominable branch, and as the raiment of those that are slain, thrust through with a sword, that go down to the stones of the pit; as a carcase trodden under feet.

NoteTo be left unburied, thrown among the battle dead and tipped into a stone pit, was the worst disgrace an ancient Near Eastern king could suffer, a fate deliberately inflicted on defeated enemies to deny them any dignity after death.

20You will not be buried with them, because you ruined your own land and killed your own people. The children of evildoers will never be spoken of again.

20Thou shalt not be joined with them in burial, because thou hast destroyed thy land, and slain thy people: the seed of evildoers shall never be renowned.

21Get a place ready to kill his sons for the guilt of their fathers. They must never rise up to take over the land or fill the face of the world with their cities.

21Prepare slaughter for his children for the iniquity of their fathers; that they do not rise, nor possess the land, nor fill the face of the world with cities.

NoteKilling a defeated king's sons was standard practice for conquerors: it destroyed the dynasty so no heir could ever reclaim the throne. "For the guilt of their fathers" reflects the ancient assumption that a royal house stood or fell as a single unit.

22"I will rise up against them," says the LORD of Armies. "I will cut off from Babylon its name and its survivors, its children and its grandchildren," says the LORD.

22For I will rise up against them, saith the LORD of hosts, and cut off from Babylon the name, and remnant, and son, and nephew, saith the LORD.

Note"The LORD of Armies" (traditionally "LORD of hosts") is a title picturing God at the head of massed armies, variously understood as Israel's forces, the heavenly powers, or the stars. "Its children and its grandchildren" translates a Hebrew word-pair meaning offspring and descendants generally; the King James "son and nephew" uses "nephew" in its older sense of grandson.

23"I will turn it into a place for owls and into pools of standing water. I will sweep it away with the broom of destruction," says the LORD of Armies.

23I will also make it a possession for the bittern, and pools of water: and I will sweep it with the besom of destruction, saith the LORD of hosts.

NoteThe creature named here is uncertain (guesses include owls, hedgehogs, porcupines and bitterns) but the point is a wild animal that inhabits abandoned ruins. Sweeping a place with a broom is an image of total clearance, leaving nothing behind.

24The LORD of Armies has sworn this: "Surely, what I have planned will happen, and what I have decided will stand.

24The LORD of hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass; and as I have purposed, so shall it stand:

25I will break Assyria in my land and trample him underfoot on my mountains. Then his yoke will come off my people, and his load will be lifted from their shoulders."

25That I will break the Assyrian in my land, and upon my mountains tread him under foot: then shall his yoke depart from off them, and his burden depart from off their shoulders.

NoteAssyria was the empire dominating the region in Isaiah's lifetime, based in what is now northern Iraq. A yoke was the wooden beam strapped across the necks of plow animals; laid on people, it was the standard image for the forced labor and tribute an empire imposed on a subject nation.

26This is the plan that has been decided for the whole earth. This is the hand that is stretched out over all the nations.

26This is the purpose that is purposed upon the whole earth: and this is the hand that is stretched out upon all the nations.

27The LORD of Armies has made his plan, and who can cancel it? His hand is stretched out, and who can turn it back?

27For the LORD of hosts hath purposed, and who shall disannul it? and his hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it back?

28This message came in the year that King Ahaz died.

28In the year that king Ahaz died was this burden.

NoteAhaz was king of Judah; he died around 715 BC. "Message" translates a word (massa) meaning both a burden carried and a weighty pronouncement, prophets used it to head an oracle, usually one announcing doom against a nation.

29Do not celebrate, all you Philistines, just because the rod that struck you is broken. From that snake's root a viper will come, and its offspring will be a flying, fiery serpent.

29Rejoice not thou, whole Palestina, because the rod of him that smote thee is broken: for out of the serpent’s root shall come forth a cockatrice, and his fruit shall be a fiery flying serpent.

NoteThe Philistines occupied the coastal plain southwest of Judah, with five main cities; they had been Israel's rivals for centuries. "The rod that struck you is broken" means the ruler who had been beating them has died, the poem then warns that what replaces him will be worse, escalating from snake to viper to a flying serpent (Hebrew saraph, a darting or burning serpent of the kind pictured in desert folklore and Egyptian art).

30The firstborn of the poor will have food to eat, and the needy will lie down in safety. But I will kill your root with famine, and the rest of you will be killed.

30And the firstborn of the poor shall feed, and the needy shall lie down in safety: and I will kill thy root with famine, and he shall slay thy remnant.

Note"The firstborn of the poor" is an idiom of intensification, the poorest of the poor. "Your root" and "the rest of you" continue the plant image from verse 29: the stock is killed off and no shoot survives.

31Wail, city gate! Cry out, city! Melt away in fear, all you Philistines! Smoke is coming from the north, and no one in that army straggles behind.

31Howl, O gate; cry, O city; thou, whole Palestina, art dissolved: for there shall come from the north a smoke, and none shall be alone in his appointed times.

NoteThe city gate was the public square of an ancient town (where markets, courts and civic business took place), so calling on the gate to wail is calling on the whole community. Smoke from the north signals an approaching army, since invaders reached Philistia and Judah by the northern coastal road; the dust and smoke of a marching column was visible before the troops were.

32What answer will be given to the messengers of that nation? This: the LORD founded Zion, and his suffering people find safety in it.

32What shall one then answer the messengers of the nation? That the LORD hath founded Zion, and the poor of his people shall trust in it.

NoteZion was the fortified hill of Jerusalem, and by extension the city itself. The "messengers" are diplomatic envoys, most likely Philistine ambassadors sounding out Judah about joining a revolt against Assyria, and the verse gives the answer they are to be sent home with.