Isaiah 14-16

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

How the oppressor has ceased!
    How his insolence^[b] has ceased!^(D)
5 The Lord has broken the staff of the wicked,
    the scepter of rulers,
⁶ that struck down the peoples in wrath
    with unceasing blows,
that ruled the nations in anger
    with unrelenting persecution.^(E)
7 The whole earth is at rest and quiet;
    they break forth into singing.
⁸ The cypresses exult over you,
    the cedars of Lebanon, saying,
“Since you were laid low,
    no one comes to cut us down.”^(F)
9 Sheol beneath is stirred up
    to meet you when you come;
it rouses the shades to greet you,
    all who were leaders of the earth;
it raises from their thrones
    all who were kings of the nations.^(G)
10 All of them will speak
    and say to you:
“You, too, have become as weak as we!
    You have become like us!”
¹¹ Your pomp is brought down to Sheol,
    and the sound of your harps;
maggots are the bed beneath you,
    and worms are your covering.^(H)

¹² How you are fallen from heaven,
    O Morning Star, son of Dawn!
How you are cut down to the ground,
    you who laid the nations low!^(I)
13 You said to yourself,
    “I will ascend to heaven;
I will raise my throne
    above the stars of God;
I will sit on the mount of assembly
    on the heights of Zaphon;^[c](J)
14 I will ascend to the tops of the clouds;
    I will make myself like the Most High.”^(K)
15 But you are brought down to Sheol,
    to the depths of the Pit.^(L)
16 Those who see you will stare at you
    and ponder over you:
“Is this the man who made the earth tremble,
    who shook kingdoms,^(M)
17 who made the world like a desert
    and overthrew its cities,
    who would not let his prisoners go home?”^(N)
18 All the kings of the nations lie in glory,
    each in his own tomb,
¹⁹ but you are cast out, away from your grave,
    like loathsome carrion,^[d]
clothed with the dead, those pierced by the sword,
    who go down to the stones of the Pit
    like a corpse trampled underfoot.^(O)
20 You will not be joined with them in burial
    because you have destroyed your land;
    you have killed your people.

May the descendants of evildoers
    nevermore be named!^(P)
21 Prepare a place of slaughter for his sons
    because of the guilt of their father.^[e]
Let them never rise to possess the earth
    or cover the face of the world with cities.^(Q)

²⁹ Do not rejoice, all you Philistines,
    that the rod that struck you is broken,
for from the root of the snake will come forth an adder,
    and its fruit will be a flying fiery serpent.^(Y)
30 In my pastures the poor^[g] will graze
    and the needy lie down in safety,
but I will make your root die of famine,
    and your remnant I^[h] will kill.^(Z)
31 Wail, O gate; cry, O city;
    melt in fear, O Philistia, all of you!
For smoke comes out of the north,
    and there is no straggler in its ranks.^(AA)

³² What will one answer the messengers of the nation?
“The Lord has founded Zion,
    and the needy among his people
    will find refuge in her.”^(AB)

Because Ar is laid waste in a night,
    Moab is undone;
because Kir is laid waste in a night,
    Moab is undone.^(AC)
2 Daughter Dibon^[i] has gone up
    to the high places to weep;
over Nebo and over Medeba
    Moab wails.
Every head is shaved;
    every beard is shorn;^(AD)
3 in the streets they bind on sackcloth;
    on the housetops and in the squares
    everyone wails and melts in tears.^(AE)
4 Heshbon and Elealeh cry out;
    their voices are heard as far as Jahaz;
therefore the loins of Moab quiver;^[j]
    his soul trembles.
⁵ My heart cries out for Moab;
    his fugitives flee to Zoar,
    to Eglath-shelishiyah.
For at the ascent of Luhith
    they go up weeping;
on the road to Horonaim
    they raise a cry of destruction;^(AF)
6 the waters of Nimrim
    are a desolation;
the grass is withered; the new growth fails;
    vegetation is no more.^(AG)
7 Therefore the abundance they have gained
    and what they have laid up
they carry away
    over the Wadi of the Willows.^(AH)
8 For a cry has gone
    around the land of Moab;
the wailing reaches to Eglaim;
    the wailing reaches to Beer-elim.
⁹ For the waters of Dibon^[k] are full of blood,
    yet I will bring upon Dibon^[l] even more—
a lion for those of Moab who escape,
    for the remnant of the land.^(AI)

16 Send lambs
    to the ruler of the land,
from Sela, by way of the desert,
    to the mount of daughter Zion.^(AJ)
2 Like fluttering birds,
    like scattered nestlings,
so are the daughters of Moab
    at the fords of the Arnon.^(AK)
3 “Give counsel;
    grant justice;
make your shade like night
    at the height of noon;
hide the outcasts;
    do not betray the fugitive;^(AL)
4 let the outcasts of Moab
    settle among you;
be a refuge to them
    from the destroyer.”

When the oppressor is no more,
    and destruction has ceased,
and marauders have vanished from the land,^(AM)
5 then a throne shall be established in steadfast love
    in the tent of David,
    and on it shall sit in faithfulness
a ruler who seeks justice
    and is swift to do what is right.^(AN)

⁶ We have heard of the pride of Moab
    —how proud he is!—
of his arrogance, his pride, and his insolence;
    his boasts are false.^(AO)
7 Therefore let Moab wail;
    let everyone wail for Moab.
Mourn, utterly stricken,
    for the raisin cakes of Kir-hareseth.^(AP)

⁸ For the fields of Heshbon languish,
    and the vines of Sibmah,
whose clusters once made drunk
    the lords of the nations,
reached to Jazer
    and strayed to the desert;
their shoots once spread abroad
    and crossed over the sea.^(AQ)
9 Therefore I weep as Jazer weeps
    for the vines of Sibmah;
I drench you with my tears,
    O Heshbon and Elealeh,
for the shout over your fruit harvest
    and your grain harvest has ceased.^(AR)
10 Joy and gladness are taken away
    from the fruitful field,
and in the vineyards no exultation is heard;
    no shouts are raised;
no treader treads out wine in the presses;
    the vintage shout is hushed.^[m](AS)
11 Therefore my heart moans like a harp for Moab
    and my very soul for Kir-heres.^(AT)