Israel’s Restoration and Victory
The Lord will show mercy to Jacob. He will choose Israel again and settle them back in their own land. Outsiders will join them and become part of Jacob’s family. Nations will bring them home from the far ends of the earth, and they’ll return to the land promised to them. Israel will lead the very nations that once ruled them. The captives will become the captors, and the oppressed will rule their oppressors. When that day comes, the Lord will give you rest—rest from your sorrow, rest from your fear, rest from the crushing slavery you endured.
The Fall of Babylon’s King
Then you’ll mock the king of Babylon: 'Look how the tyrant has fallen! Look how the golden empire has crumbled!' The Lord has shattered the power of the wicked. He’s broken the scepters of rulers. The one who beat down the people in fury—strike after relentless strike—the one who ruled nations in rage is now hunted down. And no one lifts a finger to stop it. The whole earth is at peace. It rests. People burst into song. Even the pine trees celebrate. The cedars of Lebanon declare: 'Since you’ve been cut down, no axe has come near us.'
The realm of the dead stirs to meet you when you arrive. It wakes the spirits of the dead—all the great leaders of the earth. It raises up from their thrones all the kings of the nations. They all turn and say to you: 'So you’ve become as weak as we are? You’ve become just like us?' Your splendor has been dragged down to the grave, along with the music of your harps. Maggots are your bed now. Worms are your blanket.
The Morning Star Cast Down
How you’ve fallen from heaven, O shining star, son of the dawn! You’re thrown down to the earth—you who once brought nations to their knees! You said in your heart: 'I’ll climb up to heaven. I’ll set my throne above God’s stars. I’ll sit enthroned on the mountain where the gods meet, in the far reaches of the north.' 'I’ll rise above the highest clouds. I’ll make myself like the Most High.' But instead you’re brought down to the realm of the dead, to the deepest part of the pit.
Those who see you stare at you. They study you closely and ask: 'Is this the man who made the earth tremble? Who shook kingdoms?' 'Who turned the world into a wasteland and destroyed its cities? Who never let his prisoners go home?' All the kings of nations lie in state. Every one of them rests in his own tomb. But you’re thrown out of your grave like a rejected branch—covered with the bodies of the slain, pierced through with swords, thrown down to the stones of the pit like a corpse trampled underfoot. You won’t be buried with them because you destroyed your own land and slaughtered your own people. The children of evildoers will never be honored. Prepare a place to slaughter his children for the sins of their ancestors. They must not rise to take the land. They must not fill the world with their cities.
God’s Judgment on Babylon
'I will rise up against them,' says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. 'I’ll cut off from Babylon every trace of it—name and survivor, child and descendant,' says the Lord. 'I’ll turn it into a wasteland for owls, nothing but swamps and marshes. I’ll sweep it away with the broom of destruction,' says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.
The Assyrian Will Fall
The Lord of Heaven’s Armies has sworn an oath: 'As surely as I have planned it, so it will happen. What I’ve decided will stand.' 'I will crush the Assyrian in my land. I’ll trample him on my mountains. Then his yoke will lift from my people, and his burden will fall from their shoulders.' This is the plan determined for the whole earth. This is the hand stretched out over all nations. The Lord of Heaven’s Armies has planned it—who can stop it? His hand is stretched out—who can turn it back?
Warning to Philistia
This prophecy came in the year King Ahaz died.
Don’t celebrate, Philistia, just because the rod that struck you is broken. From that snake’s root will come a viper, and its offspring will be a venomous flying serpent. The poorest of the poor will find pasture, and the needy will lie down in safety. But I’ll kill your roots with famine, and what’s left of you will be slaughtered. Wail at the gates! Cry out in the city! Melt in fear, all of Philistia! An army comes from the north like smoke, and not a single soldier breaks rank. What answer will be given to the messengers from that nation? That the Lord has founded Zion, and his suffering people will find refuge there.
Influences
- 24:1 — Isaiah 14:1 (KJV)For the LORD will have mercy on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel, and set them in their own land: and the strangers shall be joined with them, and they shall cleave to the house of Jacob.
- 24:2 — Isaiah 14:2 (KJV)And the people shall take them, and bring them to their place: and the house of Israel shall possess them in the land of the LORD for servants and handmaids: and they shall take them captives, whose captives they were; and they shall rule over their oppressors.
- 24:3 — Isaiah 14:3 (KJV)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 wherein thou wast made to serve,
- 24:4 — Isaiah 14:4 (KJV)That thou shalt take up this proverb against the king of Babylon, and say, How hath the oppressor ceased! the golden city ceased!
- 24:5 — Isaiah 14:5 (KJV)The LORD hath broken the staff of the wicked, and the sceptre of the rulers.
- 24:6 — Isaiah 14:6 (KJV)He who smote the people in wrath with a continual stroke, he that ruled the nations in anger, is persecuted, and none hindereth.
- 24:8 — Isaiah 14:8 (KJV)Yea, the fir trees rejoice at thee, and the cedars of Lebanon, saying, Since thou art laid down, no feller is come up against us.
- 24:9 — Isaiah 14:9 (KJV)Hell from beneath is moved for thee to meet thee at thy coming: it stirreth up the dead for thee, even all the chief ones of the earth; it hath raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations.
- 24:10 — Isaiah 14:10 (KJV)All they shall speak and say unto thee, Art thou also become weak as we? art thou become like unto us?
- 24:11 — Isaiah 14:11 (KJV)Thy pomp is brought down to the grave, and the noise of thy viols: the worm is spread under thee, and the worms cover thee.
- 24:12 — Isaiah 14:12 (KJV)How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!
- 24:13 — Isaiah 14:13 (KJV)For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:
- 24:14 — Isaiah 14:14 (KJV)I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.
- 24:16 — Isaiah 14:16 (KJV)They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms;
- 24:17 — Isaiah 14:17 (KJV)That made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof; that opened not the house of his prisoners?
- 24:18 — Isaiah 14:18 (KJV)All the kings of the nations, even all of them, lie in glory, every one in his own house.
- 24:19 — Isaiah 14:19 (KJV)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 go down to the stones of the pit; as a carcase trodden under feet.
- 24:20 — Isaiah 14:20 (KJV)Thou shalt not be joined with them in burial, because thou hast destroyed thy land, and slain thy people: the seed of evildoers shall never be renowned.
- 24:21 — Isaiah 14:21 (KJV)Prepare slaughter for his children for the iniquity of their fathers; that they do not rise, nor possess the land, nor fill the face of the world with cities.
- 24:22 — Isaiah 14:22 (KJV)For I will rise up against them, saith the LORD of hosts, and cut off from Babylon the name, and remnant, and son, and nephew, saith the LORD.
- 24:23 — Isaiah 14:23 (KJV)I will also make it a possession for the bittern, and pools of water: and I will sweep it with the besom of destruction, saith the LORD of hosts.
- 24:24 — Isaiah 14:24 (KJV)The LORD of hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass; and as I have purposed, so shall it stand:
- 24:25 — Isaiah 14:25 (KJV)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.
- 24:26 — Isaiah 14:26 (KJV)This is the purpose that is purposed upon the whole earth: and this is the hand that is stretched out upon all the nations.
- 24:27 — Isaiah 14:27 (KJV)For the LORD of hosts hath purposed, and who shall disannul it? and his hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it back?
- 24:29 — Isaiah 14:29 (KJV)Rejoice not thou, whole Palestina, because the rod of him that smote thee is broken: for out of the serpent’s root shall come forth a cockatrice, and his fruit shall be a fiery flying serpent.
- 24:30 — Isaiah 14:30 (KJV)And the firstborn of the poor shall feed, and the needy shall lie down in safety: and I will kill thy root with famine, and he shall slay thy remnant.
- 24:31 — Isaiah 14:31 (KJV)Howl, O gate; cry, O city; thou, whole Palestina, art dissolved: for there shall come from the north a smoke, and none shall be alone in his appointed times.
- 24:32 — Isaiah 14:32 (KJV)What shall one then answer the messengers of the nation? That the LORD hath founded Zion, and the poor of his people shall trust in it.