Day 1 · Restoration for Israel
Isaiah 14:1–14
1For the LORD will have compassion on Jacob; once again He will choose Israel and settle them in their own land. The foreigner will join them and unite with the house of Jacob. 2The nations will escort Israel and bring it to its homeland. Then the house of Israel will possess the nations as menservants and maidservants in the LORD’s land. They will make captives of their captors and rule over their oppressors. 3On the day that the LORD gives you rest from your pain and torment, and from the hard labor into which you were forced, 4you will sing this song of contempt against the king of Babylon: How the oppressor has ceased, and how his fury has ended! 5The LORD has broken the staff of the wicked, the scepter of the rulers. 6It struck the peoples in anger with unceasing blows; it subdued the nations in rage with relentless persecution. 7All the earth is at peace and at rest; they break out in song. 8Even the cypresses and cedars of Lebanon exult over you: “Since you have been laid low, no woodcutter comes against us.” 9Sheol beneath is eager to meet you upon your arrival. It stirs the spirits of the dead to greet you— all the rulers of the earth. It makes all the kings of the nations rise from their thrones. 10They will all respond to you, saying, “You too have become weak, as we are; you have become like us!” 11Your pomp has been brought down to Sheol, along with the music of your harps. Maggots are your bed and worms your blanket. 12How you have fallen from heaven, O day star, son of the dawn! You have been cut down to the ground, O destroyer of nations. 13You said in your heart: “I will ascend to the heavens; I will raise my throne above the stars of God. I will sit on the mount of assembly, in the far reaches of the north. 14I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.”
Berean Standard Bible
Observe
In verses 13–14, what five statements does the king make in his heart about elevating himself, and what contrast is drawn between his ambitions and his actual end in verses 11–12?
Apply
Where might you be tempted to rely on self-exaltation or pride this week, and how can resting in God's mercy change the way you approach that area?
In the app, each day also opens the words in the original language, what the passage meant to its first readers, pastors teaching it, a place to write, and a time to pray.