God’s people will return to Judah

1But Yahweh will act mercifully toward the Israeli people; he will choose the people of Israel to be his people again,
and he will allow them to return here and live in their own land again. Then people from many other countries will come here and unite with the Israeli people.

2People of other nations will help them to return to their own land, and those who come from other countries will ◄work for/become the servants of► the Israeli people. Those who captured people of Israel will be captured by Israeli soldiers, and the people of Israel will rule over the people who previously oppressed them.

The king of Babylon will be killed

3Some day Yahweh will free you Israeli people from suffering and trouble and from being afraid, and from being cruelly treated as slaves [MTY].

4When that happens, you will make fun of the King of Babylon by saying this: “You treated us cruelly, but that has ended! Your insolently causing others to suffer is finished!

5You evil ruler, Yahweh will get rid of your power, and you will oppress people no longer!

6You attacked people many times because you were very angry with them, and you subdued/conquered other nations by causing them to suffer endlessly.

7But soon everything will be quiet and peaceful on the earth. Everyone [PRS] will sing again!

8It will be as though even the trees in the forests will joyfully sing this song, the cyprus/pine trees and the cedar trees in Lebanon will sing it: ‘You ◄have been overthrown/are no longer a ruler►, and now no one comes to get rid of us [MET].’

9The dead people are [PRS] are eagerly waiting for you to come to the place where they are.
The spirits of the world leaders will be delighted to welcome you; those who were kings of many nations before they died will stand up to welcome you.

10They will all shout to you together, ‘Now you are as weak as we are!’

11You were very proud and powerful, but all that ended when you died,
along with the sounds of harps being played in your palace. Now in your grave maggots will be under you like a sheet [MET], and worms will cover you like a blanket [MET].

12You have disappeared from the earth like [MET] a star which has fallen from the sky;
you were very well-known like [MET] the morning star which is seen by everyone; you destroyed many nations, but now you have been destroyed.

13You proudly said to yourself, ‘I will ascend to heaven, to my throne above God’s stars. I will rule on the mountain where the gods gather together, far in the north.

14I will ascend above the clouds and become like the highest/greatest god!’

15But you were not able to do that; instead, you were carried down to your grave, and you went to the place where the dead people are.

16The other dead people there stare at you; they wonder what happened to you. They say, ‘Is this the man who caused the earth to shake and caused the people in many kingdoms to tremble?

17Is this the man who tried to cause the world to become a desert, who conquered its cities and did not allow the people whom he captured to return to their homes?’

18All the kings of the earth who have died were greatly honored when they were buried,

19but your corpse will not be buried; it will be thrown away like [SIM] a worthless branch of a tree. Your corpse will be under a heap of other corpses of soldiers that were killed by their enemies’ swords, and their corpses were not buried;
you will be with those who have gone down to the stony ground in a big pit.

20Your corpse will not be buried
because you have destroyed your nation and have caused your people to be killed.
The descendants of wicked people like you will never be honored again.

21People will say, ‘Slaughter this man’s children because of the sins that their ancestors committed! Do not allow them to become rulers and conquer all the nations in the world, and fill the world with the cities that they rule!’ ”

22This is what the Commander of the armies of angels says: “I myself will cause Babylon to be conquered. I will get rid of Babylon and its people and their descendants.

23I will cause Babylon to be a place where owls live, a place full of swamps; I will get rid of it completely as though [MET] I were sweeping it with a broom. That is what I, the Commander of the armies of angels, say.”

Yahweh will punish Assyria

24The Commander of the armies of angels has also solemnly promised this:
“The things that I have planned will surely happen [DOU].

25When the army of Assyria is in my land of Israel,
I will crush them. It will be as though I will trample them on my mountains. My people will no longer be the slaves [MET] of the people of Assyria; it will be as though [MET] I will take away the burdens that are on their shoulders.

26I have a plan for everyone on the earth, a plan to show my power [MTY] to punish all the nations.

27I, the Commander of the armies of angels, have spoken, and no one can [RHQ] change my mind. When I raise my fist to strike Assyria, no one [RHQ] will be able to stop me from doing that.”

Yahweh will punish Philistia

28I received this message from Yahweh during the year that King Ahaz died:

29You people of Philistia, do not rejoice that the enemy army [MET] that attacked you has been defeated and that their king is dead. He was as dangerous as [MET] a snake, but there will be another king, who will be more dangerous than a cobra; he will be like [MET] a quick-moving poisonous snake.

30Those of my people who are very poor will take care of their flocks of sheep, and the needy people will lie down safely, but I will cause you people of Philistia who are still alive [DOU] to die from famine.

31So, you people of Philistia, wail at the gates of your cities! You should be extremely afraid, because a very powerful army will come from the north to attack you; their chariots will stir up the dust like [MET] a cloud of smoke. Each of their soldiers is ready to fight.

32If messengers from Philistia come to us Israeli people, this is what we must [RHQ] tell them: “Yahweh has established Jerusalem, not Philistia, and his people who are oppressed will be safe inside the walls of Jerusalem.”