Isaiah 14:4–21

⁴you will sing this song of contempt about the king of Babylon ^sand say:

How the oppressor has quieted down,

and how the raging ^thas become quiet!

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 calm and at rest;

people shout with a ringing cry.

⁸Even the cypresses and the cedars of Lebanon

rejoice over you: ^u

“Since you have been laid low,

no woodcutter has come against us.”

⁹Sheol below is eager to greet your coming.

He stirs up the spirits of the departed for you—

all the rulers ^vof the earth.

He makes all the kings of the nations

rise from their thrones.

¹⁰They all respond to you, saying:

“You too have become as weak as we are;

you have become like us!

¹¹Your splendor has been brought down to Sheol,

along with the music of your harps.

Maggots are spread out under you,

and worms cover you.”

¹²Shining morning star, ^wx

how you have fallen from the heavens! ^y

You destroyer of nations,

you have been cut down to the ground.

¹³You said to yourself:

“I will ascend to the heavens; ^z

I will set up my throne

above the stars of God. ^a

I will sit on the mount of the gods’ assembly,

in the remotest parts of the North. ^bc

¹⁴I will ascend above the highest clouds;

I will make myself like the Most High.”

¹⁵But you will be brought down to Sheol

into the deepest regions of the Pit. ^d

¹⁶Those who see you will stare at you;

they will look closely at you:

“Is this the man who caused the earth to tremble,

who shook the kingdoms,

¹⁷who turned the world into a wilderness, ^e

who destroyed its cities

and would not release the prisoners to return home?”

¹⁸All the kings of the nations

lie in splendor, each in his own tomb.

¹⁹But you are thrown out without a grave,

like a worthless branch,

covered by those slain with the sword

and dumped into a rocky pit like a trampled corpse.

²⁰You will not join them in burial,

because you destroyed your land

and slaughtered your own people.

The offspring of evildoers

will never be remembered. ^f

²¹Prepare a place of slaughter for his sons,

because of the iniquity ^gof their fathers.

They will never rise up to possess a land

or fill the surface of the earth with cities.