“But 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
In the remote parts of the north.
‘I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;
I will make myself like the Most High.’
“But [in fact] you will be brought down to Sheol,
To the remote recesses of the pit (the region of the dead).
“Those who see you will gaze at you,
They will consider you, saying,
‘Is this the man who made the earth tremble,
Who shook kingdoms,
Who made the world like a wilderness
And overthrew its cities,
Who did not permit his prisoners to return home?’
“All the kings of the nations, all of them lie [dead] in glorious array,
Each one in his own sepulcher.
“But you [king of Babylon] have been cast out of your tomb (denied burial)
Like a rejected branch,
Clothed with the slain who are pierced by the sword,
Who go down to the stones of the pit [into which carcasses are thrown],
Like a dead body trampled [underfoot].
“You will not be united with them in burial,
Because you have destroyed your land,
You have slain your people.
May the descendants of evildoers never be named!
“Prepare a slaughtering place for his sons
Because of the wickedness [the sin, the injustice, the wrongdoing] of their fathers.
They must not rise and take possession of the earth,
And fill the face of the world with cities.”
“I will rise up against them,” says the LORD of hosts, “and will cut off from Babylon name and survivors, and son and grandson,” declares the LORD. “I will also make Babylon a possession of the hedgehog and of swamps of water, and I will sweep it away with the broom of destruction,” declares the LORD of hosts.
The LORD of hosts has sworn [an oath], saying, “Just as I have intended, so it has certainly happened, and just as I have planned, so it will stand— to break the Assyrian in My land, and on My mountains I will trample him underfoot. Then the Assyrian’s yoke will be removed from them (the people of Judah) and his burden removed from their shoulder. This is the plan [of God] decided for the whole earth [regarded as conquered and put under tribute by Assyria]; and this is the hand [of God] that is stretched out over all the nations. For the LORD of hosts has decided and planned, and who can annul it? His hand is stretched out, and who can turn it back?”
In the year that King Ahaz [of Judah] died this [mournful, inspired] oracle (a burden to be carried) came:
“Do not rejoice, O Philistia, any of you,
Because the rod [of Judah] that struck you is broken;
For out of the serpent’s root will come a viper [King Hezekiah of Judah],
And its offspring will be a flying serpent. [2 Kin 18:1, 3, 8]
“The firstborn of the helpless [of Judah] will feed [on My meadows],
And the needy will lie down in safety;
But I will kill your root with famine,
And your survivors will be put to death.
“Howl, O gate; cry, O city!
Melt away, O Philistia, all of you;
For smoke comes out of the north,
And there is no straggler in his ranks and no one stands detached [in Hezekiah’s battalions].
“Then what answer will one give the messengers of the [Philistine] nation?
That the LORD has founded Zion,
And the afflicted of His people will seek and find refuge in it.”
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