4 you will take up this tauntp against the king of Babylon:q

How the oppressorr has come to an end!

How his furya has ended!

5 The Lord has broken the rods of the wicked,t

the scepteru of the rulers,

6 which in anger struck down peoplesv

with unceasing blows,

and in fury subduedw nations

with relentless aggression.x

7 All the lands are at rest and at peace;y

they break into singing.z

8 Even the junipersa and the cedars of Lebanon

gloat over you and say,

“Now that you have been laid low,

no one comes to cut us down.”b

9 The realm of the deadc below is all astir

to meet you at your coming;

it rouses the spirits of the departedd to greet you—

all those who were leaderse in the world;

it makes them rise from their thrones—

all those who were kings over the nations.f

10 They will all respond,

they will say to you,

“You also have become weak, as we are;

you have become like us.”g

11 All your pomp has been brought down to the grave,h

along with the noise of your harps;i

maggots are spread out beneath you

and wormsj cover you.k

12 How you have fallenl from heaven,

morning star,m son of the dawn!

You have been cast down to the earth,

you who once laid low the nations!n

13 You said in your heart,

“I will ascendo to the heavens;

I will raise my thronep

above the stars of God;

I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly,q

on the utmost heightsr of Mount Zaphon.b

14 I will ascend above the tops of the clouds;s

I will make myself like the Most High.”t

15 But you are brought downu to the realm of the dead,v

to the depthsw of the pit.x

16 Those who see you stare at you,

they ponder your fate:y

“Is this the man who shookz the earth

and made kingdoms tremble,

17 the man who made the world a wilderness,a

who overthrewb its cities

and would not let his captives go home?”c

18 All the kings of the nations lie in state,

each in his own tomb.d

19 But you are cast oute of your tomb

like a rejected branch;

you are covered with the slain,f

with those pierced by the sword,g

those who descend to the stones of the pit.h

Like a corpse trampled underfoot,

20 you will not join them in burial,i

for you have destroyed your land

and killed your people.

Let the offspringj of the wickedk

never be mentionedl again.

21 Prepare a place to slaughter his childrenm

for the sins of their ancestors;n

they are not to rise to inherit the land

and cover the earth with their cities.

22 “I will rise upo against them,”

declares the Lord Almighty.

“I will wipe out Babylon’s namep and survivors,

her offspring and descendants,q”

declares the Lord.

23 “I will turn her into a place for owlsr

and into swampland;

I will sweep her with the broom of destruction,s”

declares the Lord Almighty.t