Restoration for Israel 1 UDB But Yahweh will act mercifully toward the Israelite people; he will choose the people of Israel to be his people again, and he will allow them to return here and live in their own land again. Then people from many other countries will come here and unite with the Israelite people. BSB BSB: For the LORD will have compassion on Jacob; once again He will choose Israel and settle them in their own land. The foreigner will join them and unite with the house of Jacob.
2 UDB People of other nations will help them to return to their own land, and those who come from other countries will work for the Israelite people. Those who captured people of Israel will be captured by Israelite soldiers, and the people of Israel will rule over the people who previously oppressed them. BSB BSB: The nations will escort Israel and bring it to its homeland. Then the house of Israel will possess the nations as menservants and maidservants in the LORD’s land. They will make captives of their captors and rule over their oppressors.
The Fall of the King of Babylon 3 UDB Yahweh will free you Israelite people from suffering and trouble and from being afraid and from being cruelly treated as slaves. BSB BSB: On the day that the LORD gives you rest from your pain and torment, and from the hard labor into which you were forced,
4 UDB When that happens, you will make fun of the king of Babylon by singing a song like this: "You treated us cruelly, but that has ended! You insulted others and made them suffer, but you can do this no longer! BSB BSB: you will sing this song of contempt against the king of Babylon: How the oppressor has ceased, and how his fury has ended!
5 UDB You evil ruler, Yahweh has destroyed your power, and you will oppress people no longer! BSB BSB: The LORD has broken the staff of the wicked, the scepter of the rulers.
6 UDB You attacked people many times because you were very angry with them, and you subdued other nations by causing them to suffer without stopping. BSB BSB: It struck the peoples in anger with unceasing blows; it subdued the nations in rage with relentless persecution.
7 UDB But soon everything will be quiet and peaceful on the earth. Everyone will sing again! BSB BSB: All the earth is at peace and at rest; they break out in song.
8 UDB It will be as though even the trees in the forests will joyfully sing this song, the cyprus trees and the cedar trees in Lebanon will sing it: 'You have been overthrown, and now no one comes to chop us down.' BSB BSB: Even the cypresses and cedars of Lebanon exult over you: “Since you have been laid low, no woodcutter comes against us.”
9 UDB The dead people are all eagerly waiting for you to go to the place where they are. The spirits of the world leaders will be delighted to welcome you; those who were kings of many nations before they died will stand up to welcome you. BSB BSB: Sheol beneath is eager to meet you upon your arrival. It stirs the spirits of the dead to greet you—all the rulers of the earth. It makes all the kings of the nations rise from their thrones.
10 UDB They will all shout to you together, 'Now you are as weak as we are!' BSB BSB: They will all respond to you, saying, “You too have become weak, as we are; you have become like us!”
11 UDB You were very proud and powerful, but all that ended when you died, along with the sounds of harps being played in your palace. Now in your grave maggots will be under you like a sheet, and worms will cover you like a blanket.' BSB BSB: Your pomp has been brought down to Sheol, along with the music of your harps. Maggots are your bed and worms your blanket.
12 UDB You have disappeared from the earth like a star that fell from the sky; you were very well known, like the morning star is seen by everyone; you destroyed many nations, but now you have been destroyed. BSB BSB: How you have fallen from heaven, O day star, son of the dawn! You have been cut down to the ground, O destroyer of nations.
13 UDB You proudly said to yourself, 'I will ascend to heaven, to my throne above God's stars. I will rule on the mountain where the gods gather together, far in the north. BSB BSB: You said in your heart: “I will ascend to the heavens; I will raise my throne above the stars of God. I will sit on the mount of assembly, in the far reaches of the north.
14 UDB I will ascend above the clouds and become like God himself!' BSB BSB: I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.”
15 UDB But you were not able to do that; Instead, you were carried down to your grave, and you went to the place where the dead people are. BSB BSB: But you will be brought down to Sheol, to the lowest depths of the Pit.
16 UDB The other dead people there stare at you; they wonder what happened to you. They say, 'Is this the man who caused the earth to shake and caused the people in many kingdoms to tremble? BSB BSB: Those who see you will stare; they will ponder your fate: “Is this the man who shook the earth and made the kingdoms tremble,
17 UDB Is this the man who tried to cause the world to become a desert, who conquered its cities and did not allow the people whom he captured to return to their homes?' BSB BSB: who turned the world into a desert and destroyed its cities, who refused to let the captives return to their homes?”
18 UDB All the kings of the earth who have died were greatly honored when they were buried. BSB BSB: All the kings of the nations lie in state, each in his own tomb.
19 UDB Someone will cast you aside, but not into a grave, like a branch that they throw away. The dead cover you like a garment, those pierced by the sword, who go down to be among the stones where the dead rest. BSB BSB: But you are cast out of your grave like a rejected branch, covered by those slain with the sword, and dumped into a rocky pit like a carcass trampled underfoot.
20 UDB Your dead body will not be buried with them because you have destroyed your land and have caused your own people to be killed. The descendants of wicked people like you will never be spoken of again." BSB BSB: You will not join them in burial, since you have destroyed your land and slaughtered your own people. The offspring of the wicked will never again be mentioned.
21 UDB People will say, "Slaughter this man's children because of the sins that their ancestors committed! Do not allow them to become rulers, and conquer all the nations in the world, and fill the world with the cities that they rule!" BSB BSB: Prepare a place to slaughter his sons for the iniquities of their forefathers. They will never rise up to possess a land or cover the earth with their cities.
22 UDB This is what Yahweh, commander of the angel armies, says: "I myself will cause Babylon to be conquered. I will get rid of Babylon and its people and their descendants. BSB BSB: “I will rise up against them,” declares the LORD of Hosts. “I will cut off from Babylon her name and her remnant, her offspring and her posterity,” declares the LORD.
23 UDB I will cause Babylon to be a place where owls live, a place full of swamps; I will destroy it completely as though I were sweeping it with a broom. That is what I, Yahweh, commander of the angel armies, say." BSB BSB: “I will make her a place for owls and for swamplands; I will sweep her away with the broom of destruction,” declares the LORD of Hosts.
God’s Purpose against Assyria 24 UDB Yahweh, commander of the angel armies, has also solemnly promised this: "The things that I have planned will surely happen. BSB BSB: The LORD of Hosts has sworn: “Surely, as I have planned, so will it be; as I have purposed, so will it stand.
25 UDB When the army of Assyria is in my land of Israel, I will crush them. It will be as though I had trampled them on my mountains. My people will no longer be the slaves of the people of Assyria; It will be as though I had taken away the burdens that were on their shoulders. BSB BSB: I will break Assyria in My land; I will trample him on My mountain. His yoke will be taken off My people, and his burden removed from their shoulders.”
26 UDB There is a plan for everyone on the earth, a plan to show the power of Yahweh to punish all the nations. BSB BSB: This is the plan devised for the whole earth, and this is the hand stretched out over all the nations.
27 UDB Yahweh, commander of the angel armies, has spoken, and no one can change his mind. When Yahweh raises his fist to strike Assyria, no one will be able to stop him." BSB BSB: The LORD of Hosts has purposed, and who can thwart Him? His hand is outstretched, so who can turn it back?
Philistia Will Be Destroyed 28 UDB I received this message from Yahweh during the year that King Ahaz died: BSB BSB: In the year that King Ahaz died, this burden was received:
29 UDB Do not rejoice, all you people of Philistia, that the enemy army that attacked you has been defeated and that their king is dead. He was as dangerous as a snake, but there will be another king who will be more dangerous than a cobra; he will be like a quick-moving poisonous snake. BSB BSB: Do not rejoice, all you Philistines, that the rod that struck you is broken. For a viper will spring from the root of the snake, and a flying serpent from its egg.
30 UDB Those of my people who are very poor will take care of their flocks of sheep, and the needy people will lie down safely, but I will cause you people of Philistia who are still alive to die from famine. BSB BSB: Then the firstborn of the poor will find pasture, and the needy will lie down in safety, but I will kill your root by famine, and your remnant will be slain.
31 UDB So, you people of Philistia, wail at the gates of your cities! You should be extremely afraid because a very powerful army will come from the north to attack you; their chariots will stir up the dust like a cloud of smoke. Each of their soldiers is ready to fight. BSB BSB: Wail, O gate! Cry out, O city! Melt away, all you Philistines! For a cloud of smoke comes from the north, and there are no stragglers in its ranks.
32 UDB If messengers from Philistia come to us Israelite people, this is what we must tell them: "Yahweh has created Jerusalem, not Philistia, and his people who are oppressed will be safe inside the walls of Jerusalem." BSB BSB: What answer will be given to the envoys of that nation? “The LORD has founded Zion, where His afflicted people will find refuge.”
Select verses for actions: Enter goes to them and Escape comes back.