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Restoration of Judah

But the L ord will have compassion on Jacob and will again choose Israel, and will set them in their own land; and aliens will join them and attach themselves to the house of Jacob. ²And the nations will take them and bring them to their place, and the house of Israel will possess the nations as male and female slaves in the L ord’s land; they will take captive those who were their captors, and rule over those who oppressed them.

Downfall of the King of Babylon

³ When the L ord has given you rest from your pain and turmoil and the hard service with which you were made to serve, ⁴you will take up this taunt against the king of Babylon:

How the oppressor has ceased!

How his insolence has ceased!

The L ord has broken the staff of the wicked,

the scepter of rulers,

that struck down the peoples in wrath

with unceasing blows,

that ruled the nations in anger

with unrelenting persecution.

The whole earth is at rest and quiet;

they break forth into singing.

The cypresses exult over you,

the cedars of Lebanon, saying,

“Since you were laid low,

no one comes to cut us down.”

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.

All of them will speak

and say to you:

“You too have become as weak as we!

You have become like us!”

Your pomp is brought down to Sheol,

and the sound of your harps;

maggots are the bed beneath you,

and worms are your covering.

How you are fallen from heaven,

O Day Star, son of Dawn!

How you are cut down to the ground,

you who laid the nations low!

You said in your heart,

“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;

I will ascend to the tops of the clouds,

I will make myself like the Most High.”

But you are brought down to Sheol,

to the depths of the Pit.

Those who see you will stare at you,

and ponder over you:

“Is this the man who made the earth tremble,

who shook kingdoms,

who made the world like a desert

and overthrew its cities,

who would not let his prisoners go home?”

All the kings of the nations lie in glory,

each in his own tomb;

but you are cast out, away from your grave,

like loathsome carrion,

clothed with the dead, those pierced by the sword,

who go down to the stones of the Pit,

like a corpse trampled underfoot.

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!

Prepare slaughter for his sons

because of the guilt of their father.

Let them never rise to possess the earth

or cover the face of the world with cities.

²² I will rise up against them, says the L ord of hosts, and will cut off from Babylon name and remnant, offspring and posterity, says the L ord. ²³And I will make it a possession of the hedgehog, and pools of water, and I will sweep it with the broom of destruction, says the L ord of hosts.

An Oracle concerning Assyria

The L ord of hosts has sworn:

As I have designed,

so shall it be;

and as I have planned,

so shall it come to pass:

I will break the Assyrian in my land,

and on my mountains trample him under foot;

his yoke shall be removed from them,

and his burden from their shoulders.

This is the plan that is planned

concerning the whole earth;

and this is the hand that is stretched out

over all the nations.

For the L ord of hosts has planned,

and who will annul it?

His hand is stretched out,

and who will turn it back?

An Oracle concerning Philistia

In the year that King Ahaz died this oracle came:

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.

The firstborn of the poor will graze,

and the needy lie down in safety;

but I will make your root die of famine,

and your remnant I will kill.

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.

What will one answer the messengers of the nation?

“The L ord has founded Zion,

and the needy among his people

will find refuge in her.”

New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

19. But thou art cast out of thy grave like an abominable branch. He shows that the kings of Babylon will be loaded with such disgrace, that they will even be cast out of the sepulcher which they possessed by inheritance, and will exhibit a disgraceful spectacle. It may be asked, Is it of so great value in the sight of God to be buried with our fathers, that to be deprived of it should be reckoned a punishment and a curse? I answer, he does not here speak of the grave, as if it were necessary for salvation; but it ought justly to be reckoned disgraceful to be denied burial. And first, we ought to consider why burial has been so highly valued among all nations. This undoubtedly arose from the patriarchs, whose bodies the Lord commanded to be buried in the hope of the last resurrection. The carcases of beasts are cast out, because they are only fit for rotting; but ours are laid in the earth, that being kept there, they may await the last day, when they shall rise to enjoy a blessed and immortal life in union with the soul.

Various superstitions have arisen as to the interment of bodies. This has undoubtedly been occasioned by the craftiness of Satan, who usually corrupts and perverts everything that is good and useful, for he devised innumerable contrivances by which he might dazzle the eyes of men. We need not wonder that the Jews had a great variety of ceremonies connected with this subject, and they cannot be blamed on account of it, for Christ had not yet been revealed, and consequently they had not so clear a revelation of the resurrection. But in our time the case is very different, for we plainly see the resurrection in Christ, and, every vail having now been removed, we behold clear promises which were more obscure to the Jews. If any one, therefore, were again to introduce and renew those ancient rites, he would undoubtedly darken the light, and, by putting a vail on Christ who has been revealed to us, would offer to him a high insult. Yet it is not useless to pay attention to burial, for it is the symbol of the last resurrection, which we still look for; but let there be no superstition and ostentatious display in funerals, which all godly persons ought to detest.

Now, if any one has been entirely deprived of burial, we must examine the cause. Many of the prophets, martyrs, and holy men have been deprived of it. We hear the Church bewailing that

the dead bodies of the servants of God have been thrown down to wild beasts and to the fowls of heaven, and that there is none to bury them, (Psalm 79:2, 3;)

and every day we see the servants of Christ burned, or drowned, or hanged; and yet their death is glorious and blessed in the sight of God. As the cross of Christ was blessed, so crosses, chains, prisons, and deaths, which are endured by his members, share in the same blessing, and far exceed the prosperity and trappings and splendor and majesty of kings, so that, following the example of Paul, they boldly venture even to glory in them. (Romans 5:3; 2 Corinthians 12:5; Galatians 6:14.)

But as to those whom the Lord permits to remain unburied, when we see nothing else than a token of his anger, we must fall back on this statement and others of the same kind. For example, Jeremiah threatened Jehoiakim with the burial of an ass, because he deserved to be ranked with beasts rather than with men, who, even after death, are distinguished from beasts by being buried. Thus it was proper that the king of Babylon, who had exalted himself above all men, should be cast down below all men, so as even to be deprived of ordinary burial. Isaiah, therefore, foretells that he will not be buried in his own house, that is, in the sepulcher of his fathers, which came to him by inheritance; for we must not suppose that sepulchres were within houses. ²²⁶²²⁶ {Bogus footnote} The comparisons which are added express more strongly the disgrace which was due to that tyrant. As hurtful or useless trees are rooted out, so he shows that the king of Babylon does not deserve to have any place among men.

As the garments of those who are slain. They who fall in the field of battle are not buried in the ordinary way, but their bloody and stinking bodies are trodden down, and are thrown into a ditch along with their rotten garments, that they may not infect the air with their offensive smell; and no one deigns to touch the very garments defiled by mire and blood, lest he should be polluted by them. Which of the kings of Babylon it was that suffered this we cannot tell; but undoubtedly it was fulfilled.

²²⁶ {Bogus footnote}