Isaiah 14:4–25

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

How the oppressor has ceased!

How his insolence^w has ceased!^*

⁵The Lord has broken the staff of the wicked,

the scepter of rulers,

⁶that struck down the peoples in wrath

with unceasing blows,

that ruled the nations in anger

with unrelenting persecution.^*

⁷The whole earth is at rest and quiet;

they break forth into singing.

⁸The cypresses exult over you,

the cedars of Lebanon, saying,

“Since you were laid low,

no one comes to cut us down.”^*

⁹Sheol beneath is stirred up

to meet you when you come;

it rouses the shades to greet you,

all who were leaders of the earth;

it raises from their thrones

all who were kings of the nations.^*

¹⁰All of them will speak

and say to you:

“You, too, have become as weak as we!

You have become like us!”

¹¹Your pomp is brought down to Sheol,

and the sound of your harps;

maggots are the bed beneath you,

and worms are your covering.^*

¹²How you are fallen from heaven,

O Morning Star, son of Dawn!

How you are cut down to the ground,

you who laid the nations low!^*

¹³You said to yourself,

“I will ascend to heaven;

I will raise my throne

above the stars of God;

I will sit on the mount of assembly

on the heights of Zaphon;^x*

¹⁴I will ascend to the tops of the clouds;

I will make myself like the Most High.”^*

¹⁵But you are brought down to Sheol,

to the depths of the Pit.^*

¹⁶Those who see you will stare at you

and ponder over you:

“Is this the man who made the earth tremble,

who shook kingdoms,^*

¹⁷who made the world like a desert

and overthrew its cities,

who would not let his prisoners go home?”^*

¹⁸All the kings of the nations lie in glory,

each in his own tomb,

¹⁹but you are cast out, away from your grave,

like loathsome carrion,^y

clothed with the dead, those pierced by the sword,

who go down to the stones of the Pit

like a corpse trampled underfoot.^*

²⁰You will not be joined with them in burial

because you have destroyed your land;

you have killed your people.

May the descendants of evildoers

nevermore be named!^*

²¹Prepare a place of slaughter for his sons

because of the guilt of their father.^z

Let them never rise to possess the earth

or cover the face of the world with cities.^*

²²I will rise up against them, says the Lord of hosts, and will cut off from Babylon name and remnant, offspring and posterity, says the Lord.^{* 23}And I will make it a possession of the screech owl^a and pools of water, and I will sweep it with the broom of destruction, says the Lord of hosts.^*

An Oracle concerning Assyria

²⁴The Lord of hosts has sworn:

As I have designed,

so shall it be,

and as I have planned,

so shall it come to pass:^*

²⁵I will break the Assyrian in my land

and on my mountains trample him under foot;

his yoke shall be removed from them

and his burden from their shoulders.^*