The restoration of Israel after their captivity. The parable or song
insulting over the king of Babylon. A prophecy against the Philistines.
14:1. Her time is near at hand, and her days shall not be prolonged. For
the Lord will have mercy on Jacob, and will yet choose out of Israel,
and will make them rest upon their own ground: and the stranger shall be
joined with them, and shall adhere to the house of Jacob.
14:2. And the people shall take them, and bring them into their place:
and the house of Israel shall possess them in the land of the Lord for
servants and handmaids: and they shall make them captives that had taken
them, and shall subdue their oppressors.
14:3. And it shall come to pass in that day, that when God shall give
thee rest from thy labour, and from thy vexation, and from the hard
bondage, wherewith thou didst serve before,
14:4. Thou shalt take up this parable against the king of Babylon, and
shalt say: How is the oppressor come to nothing, the tribute hath
ceased?
14:5. The Lord hath broken the staff of the wicked, the rod of the
rulers,
14:6. That struck the people in wrath with an incurable wound, that
brought nations under in fury, that persecuted in a cruel manner.
14:7. The whole earth is quiet and still, it is glad and hath rejoiced.
14:8. The fir trees also have rejoiced over thee, and the cedars of
Libanus, saying: Since thou hast slept, there hath none come up to cut
us down.
14:9. Hell below was in an uproar to meet thee at thy coming, it stirred
up the giants for thee. All the princes of the earth are risen up from
their thrones, all the princes of nations.
14:10. All shall answer, and say to thee: Thou also art wounded as well
as we, thou art become like unto us.
14:11. Thy pride is brought down to hell, thy carcass is fallen down:
under thee shall the moth be strewed, and worms shall be thy covering.
14:12. How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, who didst rise in the
morning? how art thou fallen to the earth, that didst wound the nations?
O Lucifer... O day star. All this, according to the letter, is spoken of
the king of Babylon. It may also be applied, in a spiritual sense, to
Lucifer the prince of devils, who was created a bright angel, but fell
by pride and rebellion against God.
14:13. And thou saidst in thy heart: I will ascend into heaven, I will
exalt my throne above the stars of God, I will sit in the mountain of
the covenant, in the sides of the north.
14:14. I will ascend above the height of the clouds, I will be like the
most High.
14:15. But yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, into the depth of the
pit.
14:16. They that shall see thee, shall turn toward thee, and behold
thee. Is this the man that troubled the earth, that shook kingdoms,
14:17. That made the world a wilderness, and destroyed the cities
thereof, that opened not the prison to his prisoners?
14:18. All the kings of the nations have all of them slept in glory,
every one in his own house.
14:19. But thou art cast out of thy grave, as an unprofitable branch
defiled, and wrapped up among them that were slain by the sword, and art
gone down to the bottom of the pit, as a rotten carcass.
14:20. Thou shalt not keep company with them, even in burial: for thou
hast destroyed thy land, thou hast slain thy people: the seed of the
wicked shall not be named for ever.
14:21. Prepare his children for slaughter for the iniquity of their
fathers: they shall not rise up, nor inherit the land, nor fill the face
of the world with cities.
14:22. And I will rise up against them, saith the Lord of hosts: and I
will destroy the name of Babylon, and the remains, and the bud, and the
offspring, saith the Lord.
14:23. And I will make it a possession for the ericius and pools of
waters, and I will sweep it and wear it out with a besom, saith the Lord
of hosts.
14:24. The Lord of hosts hath sworn, saying: Surely as I have thought,
so shall it be: and as I have purposed,
14:25. So shall it fall out: That I will destroy the Assyrian in my
land, and upon my mountains tread him under foot: and his yoke shall be
taken away from them, and his burden shall be taken off their shoulder.
14:26. This is the counsel, that I have purposed upon all the earth, and
this is the hand that is stretched out upon all nations.
14:27. For the Lord of hosts hath decreed, and who can disannul it? and
his hand is stretched out: and who shall turn it away?
14:28. In the year that king Achaz died, was this burden:
14:29. Rejoice not thou, whole Philistia, that the rod of him that
struck thee is broken in pieces: for out of the root of the serpent
shall come forth a basilisk, and his seed shall swallow the bird.
14:30. And the firstborn of the poor shall be fed, and the poor shall
rest with confidence: and I will make thy root perish with famine, and I
will kill thy remnant.
14:31. Howl, O gate; cry, O city: all Philistia is thrown down: for a
smoke shall come from the north, and there is none that shall escape his
troop.
14:32. And what shall be answered to the messengers of the nations? That
the Lord hath founded Sion, and the poor of his people shall hope in
him.