Isaiah 14:24-27

14:24 ¹ The Lord who commands armies makes this solemn vow:

“Be sure of this:

Just as I have intended, so it will be;

just as I have planned, it will happen.

14:25 I will break Assyria ²  in my land,

I will trample them ³  underfoot on my hills.

Their yoke will be removed from my people,

the burden will be lifted from their shoulders. ⁴ 

14:26 This is the plan I have devised for the whole earth;

my hand is ready to strike all the nations.” ⁵ 

14:27 Indeed, ⁶  the Lord who commands armies has a plan,

and who can possibly frustrate it?

His hand is ready to strike,

and who can possibly stop it? ⁷ 

[14:24]  ¹ sn Having announced the downfall of the Chaldean empire, the Lord appends to this prophecy a solemn reminder that the Assyrians, the major Mesopotamian power of Isaiah’s day, would be annihilated, foreshadowing what would subsequently happen to Babylon and the other hostile nations.

[14:25]  ² tn Heb “to break Assyria.”

[14:25]  ³ tn Heb “him.” This is a collective singular referring to the nation, or a reference to the king of Assyria who by metonymy stands for the entire nation.

[14:25]  ⁴ tn Heb “and his [i.e., Assyria’s] yoke will be removed from them [the people?], and his [Assyria’s] burden from his [the nation’s?] shoulder will be removed.” There are no antecedents in this oracle for the suffixes in the phrases “from them” and “from his shoulder.” Since the Lord’s land and hills are referred to in the preceding line and the statement seems to echo 10:27, it is likely that God’s people are the referents of the suffixes; the translation uses “my people” to indicate this.

[14:26]  ⁵ tn Heb “and this is the hand that is outstretched over all the nations.”

[14:27]  ⁶ tn Or “For” (KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[14:27]  ⁷ tn Heb “His hand is outstretched and who will turn it back?”