Isaiah 14:4–21

⁴Then you will mock the king of Babylon with this saying, 

“How the tyrant has come to an end! 

How his attacks have come to an end!” 

⁵The Lord has broken the staff of the wicked, 

the scepter of rulers. 

⁶They struck the people with fury, 

with blows that didn’t stop. 

They ruled nations in anger, 

persecuting them without restraint. 

⁷The whole earth rests and is peaceful. 

It breaks out into shouts of joy. 

⁸Even the cypresses rejoice over you. 

The cedars of Lebanon say, 

“Since you have fallen, 

no lumberjack has come to attack us.” 

⁹Sheol below wakes up to meet you when you come. 

It wakes up the ghosts of the dead, 

all who were leaders on earth. 

It raises all who were kings of the nations from their thrones. 

¹⁰All of them will greet you, 

“You also have become weak like us! 

You have become like one of us!” 

¹¹Your pride has been brought down to Sheol 

along with the music of your harps. 

Maggots are spread out ⸤like a bed⸥ under you, 

and worms cover you. 

¹²How you have fallen from heaven, you morning star, son of the dawn! 

How you have been cut down to the ground, you conqueror of nations! 

¹³You thought, 

“I’ll go up to heaven and set up my throne above God’s stars. 

I’ll sit on the mountain far away in the north 

where the gods assemble. 

¹⁴I’ll go above the top of the clouds. 

I’ll be like the Most High.” 

¹⁵But you’ve been brought down to Sheol, 

to the deepest part of the pit. 

¹⁶Those who see you stare at you; they look at you closely and say, 

“Is this the man who made the earth tremble, 

who shook the kingdoms, 

¹⁷who made the world like a desert and tore down its cities, 

who didn’t let his prisoners go home?” 

¹⁸All the kings of the nations, all of them, 

have been buried with honor, each in his own tomb. 

¹⁹But you are thrown out of your tomb like a rejected branch. 

You are covered with those who were killed in battle. 

You go down to the stones of the pit like a trampled corpse. 

²⁰You won’t be joined by the kings in the tomb, 

because you have destroyed your land and killed your people. 

The descendants of the wicked will never be mentioned again. 

²¹Prepare a place to slaughter their sons 

because of their ancestors’ guilt. 

They won’t be able to rise, possess the earth, 

and rebuild cities all over it.