The Book of the Prophet Isaiah

For Jehovah will have pity on Jacob, and will yet choose among Israel, and set them in their own land. And the stranger shall be joined to them; and they shall cling to the house of Jacob.

And the peoples shall take them and bring them to their own place. And the house of Israel shall possess them in the land of Jehovah for slaves and slave girls. And they shall be captives of their captors; and they shall rule over their oppressors.

And it shall be, in the day that Jehovah shall give you rest from your sorrow, and from your trouble, and from the hard bondage which was pressed on you,

you shall take up this proverb against the king of Babylon, and say: How the exacter, the gold gatherer, has ceased!

Jehovah has broken the rod of the wicked, the staff of rulers,

who struck the peoples in wrath, a blow without turning away, ruling the nations in anger, [dealing out] persecution without restraint.

All the earth is at rest, quiet; they break forth into singing.

Yea, the fir trees rejoice over you; the cedars of Lebanon [say], Since you have lain down, no woodcutter will come up against us.

All of them shall answer and say to you, Are you also made as weak as we? Are you likened to us?

Your majesty is lowered into Sheol; the noise of your harps. The maggot is spread under you; yea, the worms cover you.

Oh shining star, son of the morning, how you have fallen from the heavens! You weakening the nations, you are cut down to the ground.

For you have said In your heart, I will go up [to] the heavens; I will raise my throne above the stars of God, and I will sit in the mount of meeting, in the sides of the north.

I will rise over the heights of the clouds; I will be compared to the Most High.

Yet you shall be brought out to Sheol, to the sides of the Pit.

They that see you shall stare and closely watch you, [saying], Is this the man who made the earth tremble, shaking kingdoms,

making the world like a wilderness, and who tore down its cities; he did not open a house [for] his prisoners?

All kings of nations, all of them lie in glory, each man in his house.

But you are thrown from your grave [like] a despised branch, [like] the covering of the slain, those pierced by the sword, those who go down into the stones of the Pit, like a dead body trampled under foot.

You shall not be united with them in burial, because you ruined your land; you have slain your people; the seed of evildoers shall never be named.

Prepare for the slaughter of his sons, for the iniquity of their fathers; that they may not rise and possess the land and fill the face of the earth [with] cities.

For I will rise against them, says Jehovah of Hosts, and cut off the name and remnant, the son and grandson, from Babylon, declares Jehovah.

Also I will make it a possession of the hedgehog and pools of water; and I will sweep it with the broom of ruin, says Jehovah of Hosts.

Jehovah of Hosts has sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought, so it shall be; and as I have purposed, it shall rise up;

to break Assyria in My land, and trample him on My mountains. Then his yoke shall depart from them, and his burden shall depart from his shoulders.

This [is] the purpose that [is] purposed on all the earth; and this the hand that is stretched out on all the nations.

For Jehovah of Hosts has purposed. And who shall reverse [it]? And His hand is stretched out. Who shall turn it back?

This burden was in the year king Ahaz died:

Do not rejoice, O Philistia, all of you, for the rod of your striking is broken, because a viper comes forth from the root of a snake, and his fruit [shall be] a fiery flying serpent.

And the first-born of the poor shall eat; and the needy shall lie down in safety; and I will kill your root with famine; and it shall kill your remnant.

Howl, O gate! Cry, O city! Philistia [is] melted away, all of you. For a smoke comes from the north, and not one is alone in his ranks.

What then shall one answer to the messengers of the nation? That Jehovah has founded Zion, and the poor of His people shall trust in it.