1 For the LORD will have mercy on Jacob and will yet choose Israel and cause them to rest in their own land; and the strangers shall be joined with them, and they shall cleave to the house of Jacob. 2 And the peoples shall take them and bring them to their place; and the house of Israel shall possess them in the land of the LORD for slaves and hand maids; and they shall take them captives, whose captives they were; and they shall rule over their oppressors.
3 And 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 in which thou wast made to serve,
4 that thou shalt take up this proverb against the king of Babylon and say, How has the oppressor ceased! The city that covets gold has ceased! 5 The LORD has broken the staff of the wicked and the sceptre of the rulers 6 who smote the peoples in wrath with a continual stroke, he that ruled the Gentiles in anger and who did not defend the persecuted. 7 The whole earth is at rest and is quiet; they sing praises. 8 Even the fir trees rejoice at thee, and the cedars of Lebanon, saying, Since thou art laid down, no feller is come up against us. 9 Sheol from beneath is aghast at thee; it stirs up the dead to meet thee at thy coming; it has raised up from their thrones all the princes of the earth, all the kings of the Gentiles. 10 They all shall shout and say unto thee, Art thou also become sick as we? Art thou become like unto us? 11 Thy pride is brought down to Sheol, and the noise of thy viols: the worm is spread under thee, and the worms cover thee.
12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How art thou cut down to the ground, who didst claim the Gentiles as an inheritance! 13 Thou who said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven; upon high next to the stars of God I will exalt my throne: and I will sit upon the mount of the testimony and in the sides of the north; 14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. 15 Yet thou shalt be cast down to Sheol, to the sides of the pit. 16 Those that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble; that shook the kingdoms; 17 that made the world as a wilderness and destroyed the cities thereof; that did not open the prison to his prisoners? 18 All the kings of the Gentiles, even all of them, lie in glory, each one in his own house. 19 But 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 went down to the bottom of the pit, as a carcase trodden under feet.
20 Thou shalt not be numbered with them in burial, because thou hast destroyed thy land and slain thy people; the seed of evildoers shall not be forever. 21 Prepare slaughter for his sons for the iniquity of their fathers that they do not rise, nor possess the land, nor fill the face of the world with cities.
22 For I will rise up upon them, saith the LORD of the hosts, and cut off from Babylon the name and remnant and son and nephew, saith the LORD. 23 I will also make it a possession for the bittern and pools of water, and I will sweep it with brooms of destruction, saith the LORD of the hosts.
24 The LORD of the hosts has sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass; and as I have purposed, so shall it stand: 25 That 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.
26 This is the counsel that is purposed upon the whole earth; and this is the hand that is stretched out upon all the Gentiles. 27 For the LORD of the hosts has purposed, and who shall disannul it? His hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it back?
28 In the year that King Ahaz died was this burden.
29 Rejoice not thou, whole Philistia, because thou didst break the rod of him that smote thee: for out of the serpent’s root shall come forth a cockatrice, and his fruit shall be a fiery flying serpent. 30 And the firstborn of the poor shall be fed, and the needy shall lie down in safety; and I will cause thy root to die of famine, and he shall slay thy remnant. 31 Howl, O gate; cry, O city; thou, whole Philistia, art dissolved; for there shall come from the north a smoke, and not one shall be left in thy assemblies.
32 What shall one then answer the messengers of the Gentiles? That the LORD has founded Zion, and in her the afflicted of his people shall have confidence.