14:1 The Lord will certainly have compassion on Jacob; 1 he will again choose Israel as his special people 2 and restore 3 them to their land. Resident foreigners will join them and unite with the family 4 of Jacob. 14:2 Nations will take them and bring them back to their own place. Then the family of Jacob will make foreigners their servants as they settle in the Lord’s land. 5 They will make their captors captives and rule over the ones who oppressed them. 14:3 When the Lord gives you relief from your suffering and anxiety, 6 and from the hard labor which you were made to perform, 14:4 you will taunt the king of Babylon with these words: 7
“Look how the oppressor has met his end!
Hostility 8 has ceased!
14:5 The Lord has broken the club of the wicked,
the scepter of rulers.
14:6 It 9 furiously struck down nations
with unceasing blows. 10
It angrily ruled over nations,
oppressing them without restraint. 11
14:7 The whole earth rests and is quiet;
they break into song.
14:8 The evergreens also rejoice over your demise, 12
as do the cedars of Lebanon, singing, 13
‘Since you fell asleep, 14
no woodsman comes up to chop us down!’ 15
14:9 Sheol 16 below is stirred up about you,
ready to meet you when you arrive.
It rouses 17 the spirits of the dead for you,
all the former leaders of the earth; 18
it makes all the former kings of the nations
rise from their thrones. 19
14:10 All of them respond to you, saying:
‘You too have become weak like us!
You have become just like us!
14:11 Your splendor 20 has been brought down to Sheol,
as well as the sound of your stringed instruments. 21
You lie on a bed of maggots,
with a blanket of worms over you. 22
14:12 Look how you have fallen from the sky,
O shining one, son of the dawn! 23
You have been cut down to the ground,
O conqueror 24 of the nations! 25
14:13 You said to yourself, 26
“I will climb up to the sky.
Above the stars of El 27
I will set up my throne.
I will rule on the mountain of assembly
on the remote slopes of Zaphon. 28
14:14 I will climb up to the tops 29 of the clouds;
I will make myself like the Most High!” 30
14:15 But you were brought down 31 to Sheol,
to the remote slopes of the pit. 32
14:16 Those who see you stare at you,
they look at you carefully, thinking: 33
“Is this the man who shook the earth,
the one who made kingdoms tremble?
14:17 Is this the one who made the world like a desert,
who ruined its 34 cities,
and refused to free his prisoners so they could return home?”’ 35
14:18 36 As for all the kings of the nations,
all of them 37 lie down in splendor, 38
each in his own tomb. 39
14:19 But you have been thrown out of your grave
like a shoot that is thrown away. 40
You lie among 41 the slain,
among those who have been slashed by the sword,
among those headed for 42 the stones of the pit, 43
as if you were a mangled corpse. 44
14:20 You will not be buried with them, 45
because you destroyed your land
and killed your people.
The offspring of the wicked
will never be mentioned again.
14:21 Prepare to execute 46 his sons
for the sins their ancestors have committed. 47
They must not rise up and take possession of the earth,
or fill the surface of the world with cities.” 48
14:22 “I will rise up against them,”
says the Lord who commands armies.
“I will blot out all remembrance of Babylon and destroy all her people, 49
including the offspring she produces,” 50
says the Lord.