Isaiah · Bible in Basic English
Isaiah 14 Bible in Basic English
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
1 For the Lord will have mercy on Jacob, and will again make Israel his special people, and will put them in their land; and the man from a strange country will take his place among them and be joined to the family of Jacob.
1 For Yahweh will have compassion on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel, and set them in their own land. The foreigner will join himself with them, and they will unite with the house of Jacob.
2 And the people will take them with them to their place: and the children of Israel will give them a heritage in the Lord's land as men-servants and women-servants, making them prisoners whose prisoners they were; and they will be rulers over their masters.
2 The peoples will take them, and bring them to their place. The house of Israel will possess them in Yahweh’s land for servants and for handmaids. They will take as captives those whose captives they were; and they shall rule over their oppressors.
3 And it will be, in the day when the Lord gives you rest from your sorrow, and from your trouble, and from the hard yoke which they had put on you,
3 It will happen in the day that Yahweh will give you rest from your sorrow, from your trouble, and from the hard service in which you were made to serve,
4 That you will take up this bitter song against the king of Babylon, and say, How has the cruel overseer come to an end! He who was lifted up in pride is cut off;
4 that you will take up this parable against the king of Babylon, and say, “How the oppressor has ceased! The golden city has ceased!”
5 The stick of the evil-doers, the rod of the rulers, is broken by the Lord;
5 Yahweh has broken the staff of the wicked, the scepter of the rulers,
6 He whose rod was on the peoples with an unending wrath, ruling the nations in passion, with an uncontrolled rule.
6 who struck the peoples in wrath with a continual stroke, who ruled the nations in anger, with a persecution that no one restrained.
7 All the earth is at rest and is quiet: they are bursting into song.
7 The whole earth is at rest, and is quiet. They break out in song.
8 Even the trees of the wood are glad over you, the trees of Lebanon, saying, From the time of your fall no wood-cutter has come up against us with an axe.
8 Yes, the cypress trees rejoice with you, with the cedars of Lebanon, saying, “Since you are humbled, no lumberjack has come up against us.”
9 The underworld is moved at your coming: the shades of the dead are awake before you, even the strong ones of the earth; all the kings of the world have got up from their seats.
9 Sheol from beneath has moved for you to meet you at your coming. It stirs up the departed spirits for you, even all the rulers of the earth. It has raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations.
10 They all make answer and say to you, Have you become feeble like us? have you been made even as we are?
10 They all will answer and ask you, “Have you also become as weak as we are? Have you become like us?”
11 Your pride has gone down into the underworld, and the noise of your instruments of music; the worms are under you, and your body is covered with them.
11 Your pomp is brought down to Sheol, with the sound of your stringed instruments. Maggots are spread out under you, and worms cover you.
12 How great is your fall from heaven, O shining one, son of the morning! How are you cut down to the earth, low among the dead bodies!
12 How you have fallen from heaven, shining one, son of the dawn! How you are cut down to the ground, who laid the nations low!
13 For you said in your heart, I will go up to heaven, I will make my seat higher than the stars of God; I will take my place on the mountain of the meeting-place of the gods, in the inmost parts of the north.
13 You said in your heart, “I will ascend into heaven! I will exalt my throne above the stars of God! I will sit on the mountain of assembly, in the far north!
14 I will go higher than the clouds; I will be like the Most High.
14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds! I will make myself like the Most High!”
15 But you will come down to the underworld, even to its inmost parts.
15 Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, to the depths of the pit.
16 Those who see you will be looking on you with care, they will be in deep thought, saying, Is this the troubler of the earth, the shaker of kingdoms?
16 Those who see you will stare at you. They will ponder you, saying, “Is this the man who made the earth to tremble, who shook kingdoms,
17 Who made the world a waste, overturning its towns; who did not let his prisoners loose from the prison-house.
17 who made the world like a wilderness, and overthrew its cities, who didn’t release his prisoners to their home?”
18 All the kings of the earth are at rest in glory, every man in his house,
18 All the kings of the nations sleep in glory, everyone in his own house.
19 But you, like a birth before its time, are stretched out with no resting-place in the earth; clothed with the bodies of the dead who have been put to the sword, who go down to the lowest parts of the underworld; a dead body, crushed under foot.
19 But you are cast away from your tomb like an abominable branch, clothed with the slain who are thrust through with the sword, who go down to the stones of the pit; like a dead body trodden under foot.
20 As for your fathers, you will not be united with them in their resting-place, because you have been the cause of destruction to your land, and of death to your people; the seed of the evil-doer will have no place in the memory of man.
20 You will not join them in burial, because you have destroyed your land. You have killed your people. The offspring of evildoers will not be named forever.
21 Make ready a place of death for his children, because of the evil-doing of their father; so that they may not come up and take the earth for their heritage, covering the face of the world with waste places.
21 Prepare for slaughter of his children because of the iniquity of their fathers, that they not rise up and possess the earth, and fill the surface of the world with cities.
22 For I will come up against them, says the Lord of armies, cutting off from Babylon name and offspring, son and son's son, says the Lord.
22 “I will rise up against them,” says Yahweh of Armies, “and cut off from Babylon name and remnant, and son and son’s son,” says Yahweh.
23 And I will make you a heritage for the hedgehog, and pools of water: and I will go through it with the brush of destruction, says the Lord of armies.
23 “I will also make it a possession for the porcupine, and pools of water. I will sweep it with the broom of destruction,” says Yahweh of Armies.
24 The Lord has taken an oath, saying, My design will certainly come about, and my purpose will be effected:
24 Yahweh of Armies has sworn, saying, “Surely, as I have thought, so shall it happen; and as I have purposed, so shall it stand:
25 To let the Assyrian be broken in my land, and crushed under foot on my mountains: there will his yoke be taken away from them, and his rule over them come to an end.
25 that I will break the Assyrian in my land, and tread him under foot on my mountains. Then his yoke will leave them, and his burden leave their shoulders.
26 This is the purpose for all the earth: and this is the hand stretched out over all nations.
26 This is the plan that is determined for the whole earth. This is the hand that is stretched out over all the nations.
27 For it is the purpose of the Lord of armies, and who will make it of no effect? when his hand is stretched out, by whom may it be turned back?
27 For Yahweh of Armies has planned, and who can stop it? His hand is stretched out, and who can turn it back?”
28 In the year of the death of King Ahaz this word came to the prophet:
28 This burden was in the year that King Ahaz died.
29 Be not glad, O Philistia, all of you, because the rod which was on you is broken: for out of the snake's root will come a poison-snake, and its fruit will be a winged poison-snake.
29 Don’t rejoice, O Philistia, all of you, because the rod that struck you is broken; for out of the serpent’s root an adder will emerge, and his fruit will be a fiery flying serpent.
30 And the poorest of the land will have food, and those in need will be given a safe resting-place: but your seed will come to an end for need of food, and the rest of you will be put to the sword.
30 The firstborn of the poor will eat, and the needy will lie down in safety; and I will kill your root with famine, and your remnant will be killed.
31 Send out a cry, O door! Make sounds of sorrow, O town! All your land has come to nothing, O Philistia; for there comes a smoke out of the north, and everyone keeps his place in the line.
31 Howl, gate! Cry, city! You are melted away, Philistia, all of you; for smoke comes out of the north, and there is no straggler in his ranks.
32 What answer, then, will my people give to the representatives of the nation? That the Lord is the builder of Zion, and she will be a safe place for the poor of his people.
32 What will they answer the messengers of the nation? That Yahweh has founded Zion, and in her the afflicted of his people will take refuge.
Cross references (32)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 Psalm 102:13; Zechariah 1:17; Ephesians 2:12–19; Isaiah 54:7–8; Zechariah 8:22–23
- 2 Isaiah 61:5; Isaiah 60:14; Jeremiah 30:16; Daniel 7:25–27; Isaiah 60:9–12
- 3 Jeremiah 30:10; Ezra 9:8–9; Isaiah 32:18; Jeremiah 46:27–28; Zechariah 8:8
- 4 Isaiah 49:26; Jeremiah 50:22–23; Revelation 18:16; Revelation 18:5–8; Revelation 16:5–6
- 5 Psalm 125:3; Isaiah 9:4; Isaiah 14:29; Jeremiah 48:15–17; Isaiah 10:5
- 6 Daniel 7:19–21; Jeremiah 50:31; Revelation 17:16–17; James 2:13; Revelation 18:8–10
- 7 Psalm 126:1–3; Psalm 96:11–13; Isaiah 49:13; Psalm 98:7–9; Proverbs 11:10
- 8 Ezekiel 31:16; Isaiah 55:12–13; Zechariah 11:2
- 9 Ezekiel 32:21–32; Jeremiah 50:8; Proverbs 15:24
- 10 Psalm 82:6–7; Ezekiel 32:21; Ecclesiastes 2:16; Psalm 49:6–14; Psalm 49:20
- 11 Daniel 5:25–30; Ezekiel 32:19–20; Isaiah 21:4–5; Job 17:13–14; Job 21:11–15
- 12 Ezekiel 28:13–17; Luke 10:18; Revelation 12:7–10; Revelation 8:10; Revelation 22:16
- 13 Daniel 8:10–12; Ezekiel 28:2; Ezekiel 28:12–16; 2 Thessalonians 2:4; Ezekiel 29:3
- 14 Isaiah 47:8; Genesis 3:5; 2 Thessalonians 2:4; Isaiah 37:23–24
- 15 Matthew 11:23; Acts 12:22–23; Ezekiel 32:23; Revelation 19:20; Luke 10:15
- 16 Jeremiah 50:23; Psalm 58:10–11; Jeremiah 51:20–23; Isaiah 14:4–5; Psalm 52:7
- 17 Joel 2:3; Ezekiel 6:14; Isaiah 58:6; Isaiah 13:19–22; Ezra 1:2–4
- 18 2 Chronicles 24:16; Ezekiel 32:18–32; 2 Chronicles 24:25; Job 30:23; Isaiah 22:16
- 19 Jeremiah 41:9; Jeremiah 41:7; 2 Kings 9:34–36; Jeremiah 22:19; 1 Kings 21:19
- 20 Psalm 21:10; Job 18:19; Psalm 37:28; Psalm 109:13; Job 18:16
- 21 Matthew 23:35; Leviticus 26:39; Habakkuk 2:8–12; Exodus 20:5; Isaiah 27:6
- 22 1 Kings 14:10; Jeremiah 50:29–35; Proverbs 10:7; Isaiah 43:14; Jeremiah 51:62–64
- 23 Zephaniah 2:14; Isaiah 13:21–22; 1 Kings 14:10; Isaiah 34:11–15; Revelation 14:8
- 24 Proverbs 19:21; Job 23:13; Isaiah 46:10–11; Jeremiah 29:11; Acts 4:28
- 25 Isaiah 9:4; Isaiah 37:36–38; Nahum 1:13; Isaiah 10:12; Isaiah 10:32–34
- 26 Isaiah 23:9; Zephaniah 3:6–8; Exodus 15:12; Isaiah 5:25
- 27 Isaiah 43:13; Job 23:13; 2 Chronicles 20:6; Proverbs 21:30; Job 9:12
- 28 2 Kings 16:20; 2 Chronicles 28:27; Isaiah 13:1; Isaiah 6:1
- 29 Isaiah 11:8; 2 Chronicles 26:6; Isaiah 30:6; 2 Chronicles 28:18; Hosea 9:1
- 30 Isaiah 7:21–22; Zephaniah 2:4–7; Isaiah 8:21; Zechariah 9:5–7; Isaiah 30:23–24
- 31 Jeremiah 1:14; Isaiah 20:1; Jeremiah 25:16–20; Isaiah 14:29; Isaiah 13:6
- 32 Psalm 87:5; Psalm 102:16; Psalm 87:1; James 2:5; Zephaniah 3:12
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
… loved and feared, not for Thy sake, but in Thy stead, by which means, being made like unto him, he may have them as his, not in harmony of love, but in the fellowship of punishment; who aspired to exalt his throne in the north, that dark and cold they might serve him, imitating Thee in perverse and distorted ways.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 1 (1886)
Such an one was he that saith, "I will exalt my throne above the Heavens." and did not account himself to be worthy so much as of the title of the apostles, after so many and so great deeds of goodness.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 10 (1888)
And how do they answer the prophetic proofs,--either what Isaiah says when he represents the devil under the person of the king of Babylon, "How art thou fallen, O Lucifer, son of the morning!" or what Ezekiel says, "Thou hast been in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering," where it is meant that he was …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 2 (1887)
For example, what is said in Isaiah, "How he is fallen from heaven, Lucifer, son of the morning!" and the other statements of the context which, under the figure of the king of Babylon, are made about the same person, are of course to be understood of the devil; and yet the statement which is made in the same place, …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 2 (1887)