Verse

Isaiah 14:2

ESV And the peoples will take them and bring them to their place, and the house of Israel will possess them in the Lord 's land as male and female slaves. They will take captive those who were their captors, and rule over those who oppressed them.
NIV Nations will take them and bring them to their own place. And Israel will take possession of the nations and make them male and female servants in the Lord’s land. They will make captives of their captors and rule over their oppressors.
NASB The peoples will take them along and bring them to their place, and the house of Israel will make them their own possession in the land of the Lord as male and female servants; and they will take their captors captive and will rule over their oppressors.
CSB The nations will escort Israel and bring it to its homeland. Then the house of Israel will possess them as male and female slaves in the Lord’s land. They will make captives of their captors and will rule over their oppressors.
NLT The nations of the world will help the people of Israel to return, and those who come to live in the Lord’s land will serve them. Those who captured Israel will themselves be captured, and Israel will rule over its enemies.
KJV And the people shall take them, and bring them to their place: and the house of Israel shall possess them in the land of the Lord for servants and handmaids: and they shall take them captives, whose captives they were; and they shall rule over their oppressors.
NKJV Then people will take them and bring them to their place, and the house of Israel will possess them for servants and maids in the land of the Lord; they will take them captive whose captives they were, and rule over their oppressors.

What does Isaiah 14:2 mean?

In the middle of his prophecy against Babylon, Isaiah has paused to briefly describe the restoration of Israel. The fall of Babylon will lead to the release of God's people from captivity. That will be the Lord's doing. In compassion for His chosen nation, He will once more return the Israelites to the Promised Land (Isaiah 14:1).

Isaiah has added that "sojourners" will join them in the return to Israel. The term "sojourner" refers to a person who is not in their own home. This word is sometimes translated "foreigner" or "exile." The concept is the person is not in their own land. Isaiah writes that the Israelites will take slaves from these Gentiles, non-Jewish people, who are dependent on them for survival due to being in a foreign land. Instead of Israel being captives to the Babylonians, they will take Gentiles as their own captives and rule over them. The implication is that some of these Gentiles may have belonged to the Babylonian nation before it was defeated.

The message to Israel in Isaiah's day was clear: Do not attempt to save yourselves by becoming dependent on other nations. You are to depend on the Lord alone. In the future, the Lord will make you a powerful nation again. He will make other nations dependent on you. You are to trust in God alone to save you.
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