Isaiah 14:4-23

4you will sing this song of contempt about the king of Babylon and say: How the oppressor has quieted down, and how the raging has 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.

7The whole earth is calm and at rest; people shout with a ringing cry.

8Even the cypresses and the cedars of Lebanon rejoice over you: “Since you have been laid low, no lumberjack has come against us.”

9Sheol below is eager to greet your coming, stirring up the spirits of the departed for you — all the rulers of the earth — making 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, how you have fallen from the heavens! You destroyer of nations, you have been cut down to the ground.

13You said to yourself, “I will ascend to the heavens; I will set up my throne above the stars of God. I will sit on the mount of the gods’ assembly, in the remotest parts of the North.

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.

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, 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 mentioned again.

21Prepare a place of slaughter for his sons, because of the iniquity of their ancestors. They will never rise up to possess a land or fill the surface of the earth with cities.

22“I will rise up against them” — this is the declaration of the Lord of Armies — “and I will cut off from Babylon her reputation, remnant, offspring, and posterity” — this is the Lord’s declaration.

23“I will make her a swampland and a region for herons, and I will sweep her away with the broom of destruction.” This is the declaration of the Lord of Armies.