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14 For Adonai will have compassion on Ya‘akov — he will once again choose Isra’el and resettle them in their own land, where foreigners will join them, attaching themselves to the house of Ya‘akov. Peoples will take and escort them to their homeland, and the house of Isra’el will possess them in the land of Adonai as male and female slaves. They will take their captors captive and rule over their oppressors. Then, when Adonai gives you rest from your suffering and trouble and from the hard service imposed on you, you will take up this taunt-song against the king of Bavel:

“At last the oppressor is stilled,
his arrogance is ended!
Adonai has broken the staff of the wicked,
the scepter of the rulers,
which furiously struck down peoples
with unceasing blows,
angrily beating down nations
with relentless persecution.
The whole earth is at rest and quiet.
They break into song.
The cypresses rejoice over you,
with the cedars of the L’vanon —
‘Now that you are laid low,
no one comes to cut us down.’

“Sh’ol below is stirred up
to meet you when you come.
It awakens for you the ghosts of the dead
who were leaders on earth;
it makes all the kings of the nations
arise from their thrones.
10 They all greet you with these words:
‘Now you are as weak as we are,
you have become like us!
11 Your pride has been brought down to Sh’ol
with the music of your lyres,
under you a mattress of maggots,
over you a blanket of worms.’

12 “How did you come to fall from the heavens,
morning star, son of the dawn?
How did you come to be cut to the ground,
conqueror of nations?
13 You thought to yourself, ‘I will scale the heavens,
I will raise my throne above God’s stars.
I will sit on the Mount of Assembly
far away in the north.
14 I will rise past the tops of the clouds,
I will make myself like the Most High.’

15 “Instead you are brought down to Sh’ol,
to the uttermost depths of the pit.
16 Those who see you will stare at you,
reflecting on what has become of you:
‘Is this the man who shook the earth,
who made kingdoms tremble,
17 who made the world a desert,
who destroyed its cities,
who would not set his prisoners free?’

18 “All other kings of the nations, all of them,
lie in glory, each in his tomb.
19 But you are discarded, unburied,
like a loathed branch,
clothed like the slain who were pierced by the sword,
then fall to the stones inside a pit,
like a corpse to be trampled underfoot.
20 You will not be joined with those kings in the grave,
because you destroyed your own land,
you have brought death to your own people.
The descendants of evildoers will be utterly forgotten.
21 Get ready to slaughter his sons
for the iniquity of their fathers;
so they won’t arise, take over the earth
and cover the world with their cities.”

22 “I will arise against them,”
says Adonai-Tzva’ot.
“I will cut off from Bavel name and remnant,
offshoot and offspring,” says Adonai.
23 “I will make it a haunt for hedgehogs,
it will become a swampy waste,
I will sweep it with the broom of destruction,”
says Adonai-Tzva’ot.

24 Adonai-Tzva’ot has sworn,
“Just as I thought it, it will occur;
just as I planned it, so it will be.
25 I will break Ashur in my land,
I will trample him down on my mountains.
Then his yoke will fall off them,
his burden be removed from their shoulders.”

26 This is the program planned for all the earth,
this is the hand stretched out over all the nations.
27 Adonai-Tzva’ot has made his decision.
Who is there that can stop him?
He has stretched out his hand.
Who can turn it back?

28 In the year that King Achaz died, this prophecy came:

29 Do not rejoice, P’leshet, any of you,
that the rod which struck you is broken;
for out of the snake’s root will come a viper,
and his offspring will be a flying fiery serpent.
30 While the firstborn of the poor graze
and the needy lie down in safety,
I will kill off your root with famine
and slaughter the rest of you.
31 Howl, gate! Cry, city!
Melt away, P’leshet, all of you!
For a smoke is coming from the north,
with not a straggler in its ranks.
32 And what is one to answer
the messengers of the nation?
That Adonai founded Tziyon,
and there the poor of his people will find refuge.

15 This is a prophecy about Mo’av:

The night ‘Ar is sacked, Mo’av is ruined.
The night Kir is sacked, Mo’av is ruined.
He went up to the temple,
to Dibon and to the high places, to weep.
On N’vo and Meidva Mo’av is howling,
every head shaved bald, every beard cut off.
In the streets they wear sackcloth;
on their roofs and in their squares,
everyone howls and weeps profusely.
Heshbon and El‘aleh cry out,
they are heard as far as Yachatz.
Mo’av’s best troops cry aloud,
as their courage faints away.
My heart cries out for Mo’av!
Its fugitives flee to Tzo‘ar,
a calf three years old.
They ascend the slope of Luchit,
weeping as they go;
on their way to Horonayim,
they utter heartrending cries.
The waters of Nimrim are desolate,
the grass is dried up, the new growth fails,
nothing green is left.
Therefore they carry away their wealth,
everything they have put aside,
across the Vadi of the Willows.
For the cry has circulated
throughout Mo’av’s territory —
its howling has reached Eglayim,
its howling has reached Be’er-Elim.
For the waters of Dimon are full of blood,
yet I have worse in store for Dimon —
a lion for those who escape from Mo’av
and for those who remain in its land.

16 Send lambs for the ruler of the land
from the crags toward the desert
to the mountain of the daughter of Tziyon.
The daughters of Mo’av at the fords of the Arnon
are like fluttering birds pushed from the nest.
“Give [us] counsel! Decide [to help]!
Make your shadow [over us]
like night in the middle of noonday.
Hide [our] outcasts! Don’t betray [our] fugitives!
Let our outcasts live with you!
Protect Mo’av from the attacks of robbers!”

For when the extorting ends, the spoiling ceases,
and those trampling on the land are destroyed,
a throne will be set up by grace,
and on it, in the tent of David,
will sit an honest judge,
seeking justice and pursuing righteousness.

We have heard about Mo’av’s pride,
how very proud they are;
about their haughty arrogance,
their insolence and bravado.
Therefore Mo’av will wail for Mo’av —
they will all wail!
You will sigh, stricken by grief,
for the raisin-cakes of Kir-Hareset.
For the grainfields of Heshbon are withering,
also the vineyards of Sibmah,
whose red grapes overpowered rulers of nations —
once they reached as far as Ya‘zer
and trailed out into the desert;
their spreading branches even crossed the sea.
Therefore I will weep for Sibmah’s vine
as I weep for Ya‘zer;
I will water you with my tears,
Heshbon and El‘aleh;
because the shouts of battle are falling
on your summer fruits and harvest;
10 gladness and joy are removed
from the fruitful fields.
No revelry in the vineyards,
no happy shouting,
no one treading grapes in the wine presses —
I have silenced the vintage-cheers.
11 This is why my heart throbs
like a lyre for Mo’av,
and everything in me
for Kir-Heres.
12 Even when Mo’av is seen growing weary
of worshipping on the high places
and entering their sanctuaries to pray,
they will have accomplished nothing.

13 This is the word Adonai spoke against Mo’av in the past. 14 But now Adonai has said, “Within three years [and not a day more], as if a hired worker were keeping track of the time, the glory of Mo’av will be brought into contempt, despite its large population; and the surviving remnant will be few and feeble.”

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