Isaiah

¹ once again he will choose Israel and will settle them in their own land. Aliens will join them and unite with the house of Jacob.

² and bring them to their own place. And the house of Israel will possess the nations as menservants and maidservants 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 suffering and turmoil and cruel bondage,

⁴ How the oppressor has come to an end! How his fury has ended!

⁵ the scepter of the rulers,

⁶ with unceasing blows, and in fury subdued nations with relentless aggression.

⁷ they break into singing.

⁸ exult over you and say, “Now that you have been laid low, no woodsman comes to cut us down.”

⁹ 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 say to you, “You also have become weak, as we are; you have become like us.”

¹¹ along with the noise of your harps; maggots are spread out beneath you and worms cover you.

¹² O morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations!

¹³ “I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain.

¹⁴ I will make myself like the Most High.”

¹⁵ to the depths of the pit.

¹⁶ they ponder your fate: “Is this the man who shook the earth and made kingdoms tremble,

¹⁷ who overthrew its cities and would not let his captives go home?”

¹⁸ each in his own tomb.

¹⁹ 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 for you have destroyed your land and killed your people. The offspring of the wicked will never be mentioned again.

²¹ for the sins of their forefathers; they are not to rise to inherit the land and cover the earth with their cities.

²² declares the Lord Almighty. “I will cut off from Babylon her name and survivors, her offspring and descendants,” declares the Lord.

²³ 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 stand.

²⁵ 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 hand stretched out over all nations.

²⁷ His hand is stretched out, and who can turn it back?

²⁸ This oracle came in the year King Ahaz died:

²⁹ 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 and the needy will lie down in safety. But your root I will destroy by famine; it will slay your survivors.

³¹ Melt away, all you Philistines! A cloud of smoke comes from the north, and there is not a straggler in its ranks.

³² to the envoys of that nation? “The Lord has established Zion, and in her his afflicted people will find refuge.”