1 Jehovah will have compassion on Jacob and again choose Israel. He will resettle them in their own country. Foreigners will join them and unite with the descendants of Jacob.
2 People will take them and bring them to their own place. The nation of Israel will possess nations as male and female slaves in Jehovah's land. They will take their captors captive and rule their oppressors.
3 When that day comes, Jehovah will give you relief from your pain and suffering, from the hard slavery you were forced to do.
4 You will mock the king of Babylon with this saying: How the tyrant has come to an end! How his attacks have come to an end!
5 Jehovah has broken the staff of the wicked, the scepter of rulers.
6 They struck the people with fury, with blows that did not stop. They ruled nations in anger, persecuting them without restraint.
7 The whole earth rests and is quiet. It breaks out into shouts of joy.
8 Even the cypress trees rejoice over you. The cedars of Lebanon say: 'Since you have fallen, no lumberjack has come to attack us.'
9 The grave below wakes up to meet you when you come. It wakes up those who are dead, all who were leaders on earth. It raises all who were kings of the nations from their thrones.
10 All of them will greet you: 'You also have become weak like us! You have become like one of us!
11 Your pride has been brought down to the grave along with the music of your harps. Maggots are spread out like a bed under you, and worms cover you.'
12 O how you have fallen from heaven, you morning star (shining one), and son of the dawn! How you have been cut down to the ground, you who conquered nations!
13 You thought: 'I will go up to heaven (Mount Zion) and set up my throne above God's stars (messengers). I will sit on the mountain of meeting far away in the north where the gods assemble.
14 I will go above the top of the clouds. I will be like the Most High.'
15 But you have been brought down to the grave, to the deepest part of the pit.
16 Those who see you stare at you. They look at you closely and say: 'Is this the man who made the earth tremble, who shook the kingdoms,
17 who made the world like a desert and tore down its cities and did not let his prisoners go home?'
18 All the kings of the nations, all of them, have been buried with honor, each in his own tomb.
19 However you are thrown out of your tomb like a rejected branch. You are covered with those who were killed in battle. You go down to the stones (bottom) of the pit like a trampled corpse.
20 You ruined your country and killed your own people. For that reason, you will not be buried like other kings. None of your evil family will survive.
21 Prepare a slaughtering place! The sons of this king will die because of their ancestors' sins. None of them will ever rule the earth or cover it with cities.
22 Jehovah of Hosts declares: I will attack Babylon and bring it to ruin. I will leave nothing! There will be no children, no survivors at all. I, Jehovah, have spoken.
23 I will turn Babylon into a marsh. Porcupines will live there. I will sweep Babylon with a broom that will sweep everything away. I, the Sovereign Lord Jehovah have spoken.
24 Jehovah of Hosts has sworn an oath: What I have intended (devised) will happen. What I have determined to do will be done.
25 In my land of Israel I will trample them on my mountains. I will free my people from the Assyrian yoke and from the burdens they have had to bear.
26 This is my purpose (plan) (advise) for the world, and my arm (extended power) is stretched out to punish the nations.
27 Jehovah of Hosts is determined to do this. He has stretched out his arm to punish, and no one can stop him.
29 The rod that beat you is broken, but you have no reason to be glad. When one snake dies, a worse one comes in its place. A snake's egg hatches a flying dragon.
30 Jehovah will be a shepherd to the poor of his people and will let them live in safety. But he will send a terrible famine on you Philistines. It will not leave any of you alive.
31 Howl and cry for help, all you Philistine cities! Be terrified, all of you! A cloud of dust is coming from the north. It is an army with no cowards in its ranks.
32 What then will one answer the messengers that come to us from Philistia? We will tell them that Jehovah has established Zion and in her the poor and afflicted of his people find refuge.