¶ But the LORD will be merciful unto Iacob, and will take up Israel again, and set them in their own land. Strangers shall cleave unto them, and get them to the house of Iacob.
They shall take the people, and carry them home with them. And the house of Israel shall have them in possession for servants and maidens in the land of the LORD. They shall take those prisoners, whose captives they had been afore: and rule those that had oppressed them.
When the LORD now shall bring thee to rest, from the travail, fear, and hard bondage that thou wast laden with all:
¶ Then shalt thou use this mockage upon the king of Babylon, and say: How happeneth that the oppressor leaveth off? Is the gold tribute come to an end?
Doubtless the LORD hath broken the staff of the ungodly, and the scepter of the lordly.
Which when he is wroth, smiteth the people with durable strokes, and in his wonders he persecuteth them, and tameth them continually.
And therefore the whole world is at rest and quietness, and men sing for joy.
Yea even the fir trees and Cedars of Libanus rejoice at thy fall, saying: Now that thou art laid down, there come no more up to destroy us.
Hell also trembleth at thy coming, all mighty men and princes of the earth, step forth before thee. All kings of the earth stond up from their seats,
that they may all (one after another) sing and speak unto thee. Art thou wounded also as we? art thou become like unto us?
Thy pomp and thy pride is gone down to hell: Moths shall be laid under thee, and worms shall be thy covering.
How art thou fallen from heaven, (O Lucifer) thou fair morning child? hast thou gotten a fall even to the ground, thou that (notwithstanding) diddest subdue the people?
And yet thou thoughtest in thine heart: I will climb up into heaven, and make my seat above the stars of God, I will sit upon the glorious mount toward the North,
I will climb up above the clouds, and will be like the highest of all.
Yet dare I lay, that thou shalt be brought down to the deep of hell.
They that see thee, shall narrowly look upon thee, and think in themselves, saying: Is this the man, that brought all lands in fear, and made the kingdoms afraid:
Is this he that made the world in a manner waste, and laid the cities to the ground, which let not his prisoners go home?
How happeneth it, that the kings of all people lie, every one at home in his own palace, with worship,
and thou art cast out of thy grave like a wild branch: like as dead men's raiment that are shot thorow with the sword: as they that go down to the stones of the deep: as a dead corpse that is trodden under feet:
and art not buried with them? Even because that thou hast wasted thy land, and destroyed thy people. For the generation of the wicked shall be without honour, forever.
There shall a way be sought to destroy their children, for their fathers' wickedness: They shall not rise up again to possess the land, and fill the world full of castles and towns.
I will stond up against them, (sayeth the LORD of Hosts) and root out the name and generation of Babylon (sayeth the LORD)
and will give it to the Otters, and will make water puddles of it; and I will sweep them out with the besom of destruction, sayeth the LORD of Hosts.
¶ The LORD of Hosts hath sworn an oath, saying: It shall come to pass as I have determined: and shall be fulfilled as I have devised.
The Assyrians shall be destroyed in my land, and upon my mountains will I tread them under foot. Where thorow his yoke shall come from you, and his burthen shall be taken from your shoulders.
This device hath God taken thorow the whole world, and thus is his hand stretched out over all people.
For if the LORD of Hosts determine a thing, who will disannul it? And if he stretch forth his hand, who will hold it in again?
The same year that king Ahaz died, God threatened by Esay on this manner:
Rejoice not (thou whole Palestina) as though the rod of him that beateth thee were broken: For out of the serpent's root, there shall wax a cockatrice, and the fruit shall be a fiery worm.
But the poor shall feed of the best things, and the simple shall dwell in safety. Thy roots will I destroy with hunger, and it shall slay thy remnant.
Mourn ye ports, weep ye cities, and fear thou (O whole Palestina) for there shall come from the North a smoke, whose power no man may abide.
Who shall then maintain the messages of the Gentiles? But the LORD stablisheth Sion, and the poor of my people shall put their trust in him.
Praise the Everlasting Lord for His Faithful Word.