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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.

4. Then thou shalt take up this saying. ²¹³²¹³     That thou shalt take up this proverb, (or, taunting speech.) — Eng. Ver.
    ^FT205 The golden city ceased! — Eng. Ver.
    ^FT206 “מדהבה, (madhebah,) being a Chaldee word, was probably the epithet by which that people distinguished their capital, as the Italians say, Florence the fair, Padua the learned, etc.” — Stock
    ^FT207 With a continued stroke. (Heb. a stroke without removing.) — Eng Ver. A stroke without intermission. — Stock With a stroke unremitted. — Lowth
    ^FT208 Hell from beneath (or, the grave) is moved for thee. — Eng. Ver.
    ^FT209 The dead. — Eng. Ver. The mighty dead. — Stock. “Rephaim, the gigantic spectres. Ghosts are commonly magnified by vulgar terror to a stature superior to the human.” — Rosenmuller
    ^FT210 The allusion is obviously to a passage from Juvenal which the author, on a former occasion (See page 174), quoted at greater length. — Ed
   Mors sola fatetur,
Quantula sint hominum corpuscula.
Juven. Sat. 10:172,173. By the term witty saying, or parable, (for the Hebrew word משל (mashal) denotes “sayings that are weighty and remarkable, and worthy of being observed,”) he shows that the ruin of Babylon will be so great that it will even become a proverb, which usually happens in great and astonishing events.

How hath the oppressor ceased? The word How throws it into the form of a question expressive of astonishment and ridicule. It might be thought incredible that Babylon, furnished with such abundant wealth and forces, should be overturned and fall into the hands of the enemy. Justly, therefore, does he ridicule their foolish and vain confidence, that, being swelled with haughtiness, they thought that they were invincible, and were placed beyond the reach of all danger.

Yet it may be thought to be inconsistent with the modesty of godly persons to scoff at the misery of others, for they ought rather to have pitied them. But it is not inconsistent with compassion, when our zeal is regulated by the justice of the judgment of God; for in that case we may with human feelings compassionate those who perish through their folly, and at the same time laugh at their insolence and madness. As the Lord scoffs at them, laughing at their senselessness, so he bids us, through zeal for his glory, mock at them; not that we may be swelled with impudence, but that we may praise his goodness and power. By this example, therefore, we may scoff at the enemies of God, when they are vanquished or brought down, as we may scoff at Antichrist, whose power we daily see diminished and gradually falling into decay.

How hath the city covetous of gold ceased! ²¹⁴²¹⁴ {Bogus footnote} The word מדהבה, (madhebah,) in this clause, might be rendered golden, or ornamented with gold; but as it is connected with the word Oppressor or Tyrant, it probably denotes covetousness and insatiable greediness for gold, to which the Babylonians were subject. It is usually the case with great empires and states and wealthy nations, that the greater their abundance, the stronger is their greediness to possess more. ²¹⁵²¹⁵ {Bogus footnote}

²¹³ That thou shalt take up this proverb, (or, taunting speech.) — Eng. Ver. FT205 The golden city ceased! — Eng. Ver. FT206 “מדהבה, (madhebah,) being a Chaldee word, was probably the epithet by which that people distinguished their capital, as the Italians say, Florence the fair, Padua the learned, etc.” — Stock FT207 With a continued stroke. (Heb. a stroke without removing.) — Eng Ver. A stroke without intermission. — Stock With a stroke unremitted. — Lowth FT208 Hell from beneath (or, the grave) is moved for thee. — Eng. Ver. FT209 The dead. — Eng. Ver. The mighty dead. — Stock. “Rephaim, the gigantic spectres. Ghosts are commonly magnified by vulgar terror to a stature superior to the human.” — Rosenmuller FT210 The allusion is obviously to a passage from Juvenal which the author, on a former occasion (See page 174), quoted at greater length. — Ed Mors sola fatetur, Quantula sint hominum corpuscula. Juven. Sat. 10:172,173.

²¹⁴ {Bogus footnote}

²¹⁵ {Bogus footnote}