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Her time is drawing near, and her days will not be prolonged. For the Lord will take pity on Jacob, and he will still choose from Israel, and he will cause them to rest upon their own soil. And the new arrival will be joined to them, and he will adhere to the house of Jacob.
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And the people will take them, and lead them to their place. And the house of Israel will possess them, in the land of the Lord, as men and women servants. And they will take captive those who had taken them captive. And they will subjugate their oppressors.
The Fall of the King of Babylon
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And this shall be in that day: when God will have given you rest from your labor, and from your oppression, and from the difficult servitude under which you served before,
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you will accept this parable against the king of Babylon, and you will say: “How is it that the oppressor has ceased, along with his tribute?
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The Lord has crushed the staff of the impious, the scepter of despots,
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which struck the people in wrath with an incurable wound, which subjugated the nations in fury, which persecuted with cruelty.
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All the earth has become quiet and still; it has been gladdened and has rejoiced.
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The evergreens, too, have rejoiced over you, and the cedars of Lebanon, saying: ‘Since you have slept, no one has ascended who would cut us down.’
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Hell below was stirred up to meet you at your advent; it has awakened the giants for you. All the leaders of the earth have risen from their thrones, all the leaders among the nations.”
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Everyone will respond and will say to you: “Now you are wounded, just as we were; you have become like us.
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Your arrogance has been dragged down to Hell. Your body has fallen dead. The moths will be strewn beneath you, and the worms will be your covering.
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How is it that you have fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, who used to rise like the sun? How is it that you have fallen to the earth, you who wounded the peoples?(a)
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And you said in your heart: ‘I will climb up to heaven. I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. I will be enthroned upon the mountain of the covenant, on the northern parts.
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I will ascend above the tops of the clouds. I will be like the Most High.’
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Yet truly, you shall be dragged down to Hell, into the depths of the pit.
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Those who see you, will lean toward you, and will gaze upon you, saying: ‘Could this be the man who disturbed the earth, who shook kingdoms,
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who made the world into a desert and destroyed its cities, who would not even open a prison for his prisoners?’ ”
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All the kings of the nations throughout the whole world have slept in glory, each man in his own house.
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But you have been rejected from your grave, like a useless polluted plant, and you have been bound up with those who were slain by the sword, and who descended to the bottom of the pit, like a rotting carcass.
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You will not be associated with them, even in the grave. For you have destroyed your own land; you have slain your own people. The offspring of the wicked ones will not be called upon for eternity.
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Prepare his sons for the slaughter, according to the iniquity of their fathers. They will not rise up, nor inherit the earth, nor fill the face of the world with cities.
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But I will rise up against them, says the Lord of hosts. And I will perish the name of Babylon and its remnants: both the plant and its progeny, says the Lord.
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And I will appoint it as a possession for the hedgehog, with swamps of water. And I will sweep it out and wear it away with a brush, says the Lord of hosts.
God’s Purpose against Assyria
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The Lord of hosts has sworn, saying: Surely, just as I have considered it, so shall it be, and in the same manner as I have drawn it through my mind,
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so shall it occur. So shall I crush the Assyrian in my land, and I will trample him upon my mountains, and his yoke will be taken away from them, and his burden will be removed from their shoulder.
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This is the plan that I have decided, concerning the entire earth, and this is the hand which is extended over all the nations.
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For the Lord of hosts has decreed it, and who is able to weaken it? And his hand is extended, so who can avert it?
Philistia Will Be Destroyed
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In the year in which king Ahaz died, this burden was given:
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You should not rejoice, all you of Philistia, that the rod of him who struck you has been crushed. For from the root of the serpent will go forth a king snake, and his offspring will engulf that which flies.
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And the firstborn of the poor will be pastured, and the poor will rest in faithfulness. And I will cause your root to pass away by famine, and I will put to death your remnant.
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Wail, O gate! Cry out, O city! All of Philistia has been prostrated. For a smoke will arrive from the north, and there is no one who will escape his army.
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And what will be the response to this news among the nations? It will be that the Lord has established Zion, and that the poor of his people will hope in him.
Footnotes