Isaiah 14:2-4

14:2 Nations will take them and bring them back to their own place. Then the family of Jacob will make foreigners their servants as they settle in the Lord’s land. 1  They will make their captors captives and rule over the ones who oppressed them. 14:3 When the Lord gives you relief from your suffering and anxiety, 2  and from the hard labor which you were made to perform, 14:4 you will taunt the king of Babylon with these words: 3 

“Look how the oppressor has met his end!

Hostility 4  has ceased!

1 tn Heb “and the house of Jacob will take possession of them [i.e., the nations], on the land of the Lord, as male servants and female servants.”

2 tn The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.

3 tn Heb “you will lift up this taunt over the king of Babylon, saying.”

4 tc The word in the Hebrew text (מַדְהֵבָה, madhevah) is unattested elsewhere and of uncertain meaning. Many (following the Qumran scroll 1QIsaa) assume a dalet-resh (ד-ר) confusion and emend the form to מַרְהֵבָה (marhevah, “onslaught”). See HALOT 548 s.v. II *מִדָּה and HALOT 633 s.v. *מַרְהֵבָה.