¹When the Lord has mercy on Jacob, and he chooses Israel again, and he puts them in their land, the foreigner will join them, and they will be associated with the house of Jacob. ²And various nations will take them and bring them to their place, then the house of Israel will possess them on the Lord's land, and they will be menservants and maidservants, and the house of Israel will take their captors captive, and they will subdue those who oppressed them. ³And it will come to pass on the day when the Lord gives you rest from your grief and from your disquiet, and from the hard labour which was imposed on you, ⁴that you will quote this parable about the king of Babylon and say,

“How the oppressor has come to a stop!

How the golden city has come to a standstill!

⁵The Lord has broken the rod of the wicked

And the sceptre of rulers.

⁶He strikes nations in wrath

With unremitting beating;

He subdues peoples in anger,

In a relentless pursuit.

⁷All the earth is at rest and is quiet;

They break out into jubilation.

⁸Even the fir trees rejoice for you,

And the cedars of Lebanon,

Saying, ‘Since you have been brought down low,

The lumberjack has not come up against us.’

⁹The grave below stands in awe on account of you;

At the approach of your coming,

It arouses the Rephaim because of you

– All the he-goats of the earth.

It raises all the kings of the nations from their thrones.

¹⁰They will all break silence and say to you,

‘Have you also become weak like us?

Have you come to resemble us?’

¹¹Your pride has been brought down to the grave

With the sound of your lutes.

Under you the worms have embedded themselves,

And maggots cover you.

¹²How you have fallen from heaven, Lucifer,

Son of the dawn!

You have been struck down to the earth,

You who overthrew nations.

¹³And you have said in your heart,

‘I will ascend to heaven;

Above the stars of God,

I will set up my throne,

And I will sit at the mount of the assembly

In the remote parts of the north.

¹⁴I will ascend on the heights of a cloud;

I will be like the Most High.’

¹⁵But you will be brought down to the grave,

To the remote parts of the pit.

¹⁶Those who see you will gaze at you,

And contemplate and say,

‘Is this the man who held the earth in thrall

– Who shook kingdoms?

¹⁷– Who made the world like a desert

And demolished its cities,

Who did not release his captive population,

For them to go home?’

¹⁸All the kings of the nations

– All of them –

Lie in state,

Each one in his royal house,

¹⁹But you have been cast down

Instead of having your tomb,

Like a repugnant branch of a tree,

Being clothed like those killed,

Like those struck through with the sword,

Who descend to the stones of the pit,

Like a carcase trodden under foot.

²⁰You will not be united with them in burial,

Because you devastated your land,

And you killed your people.

The seed of those who do evil

Will never be spoken well of.

²¹Prepare slaughter for his sons,

For the iniquity of their fathers.

They shall not rise or inherit the land,

Or fill the surface of the world with cities.”

²²“And I will rise against them,

Says the Lord of hosts,

And I will cut off Babylon's fame

And remnant and posterity and progeny,

Says the Lord.

²³And I will make it a habitat of the porcupine,

And pools of water,

And I will sweep it with the broom of destruction,

Says the Lord of hosts.”

²⁴The Lord of hosts has sworn and said,

“It will certainly come to pass just as I intended.

And as I have purposed it,

So it will be established,

²⁵Namely that I will break the Assyrian in my land,

And I will trample on him on my mountains,

And his yoke will be removed from them,

And his burden will be removed from his shoulder.

²⁶This is the course of action decided on

In relation to the whole world,

And this is the hand which is stretched out

Over all the nations.

²⁷For the Lord of hosts has decided,

And who can frustrate it?

And his hand is stretched out,

And who can push it back?”

²⁸In the year of the death of King Ahaz, there was this burden:

²⁹Do not rejoice, Philistia – the whole of you –

On the basis that the rod which struck you has broken,

Because from a serpent's stock comes an adder,

And its fruit is a flying fiery serpent.

³⁰And the very poorest will be nourished,

And the needy will lie down in safety,

But I will bring death to your root with a famine,

And it will kill your remnant.

³¹Howl, O gate!

Cry out, O city!

Philistia – the whole of you – has melted down,

For smoke has come from the north,

And there is not a solitary person at his festivals.

³²And what will the messengers of the Gentiles report back?

That the Lord has established Zion.

And the poor of his people will put their trust in it.