Downfall of the King of Babylon

3 When the Lord has given you rest from your pain and turmoil and the hard service with which you were made to serve, 4 you will take up this taunt against the king of Babylon:

How the oppressor has ceased!

How his insolenceb has ceased!

5 The Lord has broken the staff of the wicked,

the scepter of rulers,

6 that struck down the peoples in wrath

with unceasing blows,

that ruled the nations in anger

with unrelenting persecution.

7 The whole earth is at rest and quiet;

they break forth into singing.

8 The cypresses exult over you,

the cedars of Lebanon, saying,

“Since you were laid low,

no one comes to cut us down.”

9 Sheol 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.

10 All of them will speak

and say to you:

“You too have become as weak as we!

You have become like us!”

11 Your pomp is brought down to Sheol,

and the sound of your harps;

maggots are the bed beneath you,

and worms are your covering.

12 How you are fallen from heaven,

O Day Star, son of Dawn!

How you are cut down to the ground,

you who laid the nations low!

13 You said in your heart,

“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;c

14 I will ascend to the tops of the clouds,

I will make myself like the Most High.”

15 But you are brought down to Sheol,

to the depths of the Pit.

16 Those who see you will stare at you,

and ponder over you:

“Is this the man who made the earth tremble,

who shook kingdoms,

17 who made the world like a desert

and overthrew its cities,

who would not let his prisoners go home?”

18 All the kings of the nations lie in glory,

each in his own tomb;

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

like loathsome carrion,d

clothed with the dead, those pierced by the sword,

who go down to the stones of the Pit,

like a corpse trampled underfoot.

20 You 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!

21 Prepare slaughter for his sons

because of the guilt of their father.e

Let them never rise to possess the earth

or cover the face of the world with cities.

22 I 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 hedgehog, and pools of water, and I will sweep it with the broom of destruction, says the Lord of hosts.