Isaiah 14:4–21

⁴you will taunt the king of Babylon. You will say,

“The mighty man has been destroyed.

Yes, your insolence is ended.

⁵For the Lord has crushed your wicked power

and broken your evil rule.

⁶You struck the people with endless blows of rage

and held the nations in your angry grip

with unrelenting tyranny.

⁷But finally the earth is at rest and quiet.

Now it can sing again!

⁸Even the trees of the forest—

the cypress trees and the cedars of Lebanon—

sing out this joyous song:

‘Since you have been cut down,

no one will come now to cut us down!’

⁹“In the place of the dead there is excitement

over your arrival.

The spirits of world leaders and mighty kings long dead

stand up to see you.

¹⁰With one voice they all cry out,

‘Now you are as weak as we are!

¹¹Your might and power were buried with you.

The sound of the harp in your palace has ceased.

Now maggots are your sheet,

and worms your blanket.’

¹²“How you are fallen from heaven,

O shining star, son of the morning!

You have been thrown down to the earth,

you who destroyed the nations of the world.

¹³For you said to yourself,

‘I will ascend to heaven and set my throne above God’s stars.

I will preside on the mountain of the gods

far away in the north.

¹⁴I will climb to the highest heavens

and be like the Most High.’

¹⁵Instead, you will be brought down to the place of the dead,

down to its lowest depths.

¹⁶Everyone there will stare at you and ask,

‘Can this be the one who shook the earth

and made the kingdoms of the world tremble?

¹⁷Is this the one who destroyed the world

and made it into a wasteland?

Is this the king who demolished the world’s greatest cities

and had no mercy on his prisoners?’

¹⁸“The kings of the nations lie in stately glory,

each in his own tomb,

¹⁹but you will be thrown out of your grave

like a worthless branch.

Like a corpse trampled underfoot,

you will be dumped into a mass grave

with those killed in battle.

You will descend to the pit.

²⁰You will not be given a proper burial,

for you have destroyed your nation

and slaughtered your people.

The descendants of such an evil person

will never again receive honor.

²¹Kill this man’s children!

Let them die because of their father’s sins!

They must not rise and conquer the earth,

filling the world with their cities.”