Isaiah 14
32 verses
This chapter continues the oracle against Babylon, depicting Israel's eventual ascendancy over her oppressor and the restoration of the nation to her rightful place. The poem celebrating Babylon's fall employs vivid imagery of the king being stripped of power and descending to Sheol while the nations rejoice, establishing that divine judgment reduces the mighty to nothingness. The passage includes the famous "morning star" passage (verses 12-15), which later Christian tradition interpreted as describing Satan's fall, though in original context it refers to the king of Babylon and his arrogant claim to ascend above the stars of God. The promise that Israel will be restored to her land and that strangers will join the covenant people indicates that judgment opens the way for restoration and the expansion of the covenant community. Isaiah also announces judgment against Assyria, promising that the Assyrian yoke will be broken from Israel's shoulders and that the rod of the oppressor will be shattered, reassuring the people that even the dominant superpower of their time is subject to God's judgment. The chapter emphasizes that God's purpose toward Israel includes not mere survival but restoration to dignity and prominence, and that the reversal of fortunes that judgment brings will vindicate the righteousness of God's judgment. The message of this oracle provides hope during periods of exile and oppression, assuring the faithful that oppressive powers cannot permanently frustrate God's purposes. The chapter demonstrates Isaiah's conviction that history moves according to divine purpose toward the ultimate vindication of God's people and the judgment of nations that have arrogantly opposed the Lord's purposes.
VERSES IN THIS CHAPTER
1
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.
0 0Open verse page →
2
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.
0 0Open verse page →
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 wherein thou wast made to serve,
0 0Open verse page →
4
That thou shalt take up this proverb against the king of Babylon, and say, How hath the oppressor ceased! the golden city ceased!
0 0Open verse page →
5
The Lord hath broken the staff of the wicked, and the sceptre of the rulers.
0 0Open verse page →
6
He who smote the people in wrath with a continual stroke, he that ruled the nations in anger, is persecuted, and none hindereth.
0 0Open verse page →
7
The whole earth is at rest, and is quiet: they break forth into singing.
0 0Open verse page →
8
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.
0 0Open verse page →
9
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.
0 0Open verse page →
10
All they shall speak and say unto thee, Art thou also become weak as we? art thou become like unto us?
0 0Open verse page →
11
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.
0 0Open verse page →
12
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!
0 0Open verse page →
13
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:
0 0Open verse page →
14
I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.
0 0Open verse page →
15
Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.
0 0Open verse page →
16
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;
0 0Open verse page →
17
That made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof; that opened not the house of his prisoners?
0 0Open verse page →
18
All the kings of the nations, even all of them, lie in glory, every one in his own house.
0 0Open verse page →
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 go down to the stones of the pit; as a carcase trodden under feet.
0 0Open verse page →
20
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.
0 0Open verse page →
21
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.
0 0Open verse page →
22
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.
0 0Open verse page →
23
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.
0 0Open verse page →
24
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:
0 1Open verse page →
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.
0 0Open verse page →
26
This is the purpose that is purposed upon the whole earth: and this is the hand that is stretched out upon all the nations.
0 0Open verse page →
27
For the Lord of hosts hath purposed, and who shall disannul it? and his hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it back?
0 0Open verse page →
28
In the year that king Ahaz died was this burden.
0 0Open verse page →
29
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.
0 0Open verse page →
30
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.
0 0Open verse page →
31
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.
0 0Open verse page →
32
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.
0 0Open verse page →
COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS
No notes on this chapter yet. Be the first to write one!