Isaiah 14:4–21

⁴that thou shalt take up this proverb against the king of Babylon, and say, How hath the oppressor ceased, —the exactress of gold ceased! ⁵Jehovah hath broken the staff of the wicked, the sceptre of the rulers. ⁶He that smote the peoples in wrath with a relentless stroke, he that ruled the nations in anger, is persecuted unsparingly. ⁷The whole earth is at rest, is quiet: they break forth into singing. ⁸Even the cypresses rejoice at thee, the cedars of Lebanon, saying, Since thou art laid down, no feller is come up against us. ⁹Sheol from beneath is moved for thee to meet thee at thy coming, stirring up the dead for thee, all the he-goats of the earth; making to rise from their thrones all the kings of the nations. ¹⁰All of them shall answer and say unto thee, Art thou also become powerless as we; art thou become like unto us! ¹¹—Thy pomp is brought down to Sheol, the noise of thy lyres: the maggot is spread under thee, and worms cover thee. ¹²How art thou fallen from heaven, Lucifer, son of the morning! Thou art cut down to the ground, that didst prostrate the nations! ¹³And thou that didst say in thy heart, I will ascend into the heavens, I will exalt my throne above the stars of •God, and I will sit upon the mount of assembly, in the recesses of the north; ¹⁴I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High: ¹⁵none the less art thou brought down to Sheol, to the recesses of the pit. ¹⁶They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee; they shall consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that shook kingdoms; ¹⁷that made the world as a wilderness, and overthrew the cities thereof; that dismissed not his prisoners homewards? ¹⁸—All the kings of the nations, all of them, lie in glory, every one in his own house; ¹⁹but thou art cast out of thy grave like an abominable branch, covered with the slain—those thrust through with the sword, that go down to the stones of the pit: like a carcase trodden under foot. ²⁰Thou shalt not be joined with them in burial; for thou hast destroyed thy land, hast slain thy people. Of the seed of evildoers no mention shall be made for ever. ²¹Prepare ye slaughter for his children, because of the iniquity of their fathers; that they may not rise up and possess the earth, nor fill the face of the world with cities.