Isaiah 14

¹For the Lord

²Then people will take them and bring them to their place, and the house of Israel will possess them for servants and maids in the land of the Lord

³It shall come to pass in the day the Lord

⁴that you will take up this proverb against the king of Babylon, and say: “How the oppressor has ceased, The golden city ceased!

⁵The Lord The scepter of the rulers;

⁶He who struck the people in wrath with a continual stroke, He who ruled the nations in anger, Is persecuted and no one hinders.

⁷The whole earth is at rest and quiet; They break forth into singing.

⁸Indeed the cypress trees rejoice over you, And the cedars of Lebanon, Saying, ‘Since you were cut down, No woodsman has come up against us.’

⁹“Hell from beneath is excited about you, To meet you at your coming; It stirs up the dead for you, All the chief ones of the earth; It has raised up from their thrones All the kings of the nations.

¹⁰They all shall speak and say to you: ‘Have you also become as weak as we? Have you become like us?

¹¹Your pomp is brought down to Sheol, And the sound of your stringed instruments; The maggot is spread under you, And worms cover you.’

¹²“How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, You who weakened the nations!

¹³For you have said in your heart: ‘I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation On the farthest sides of the north;

¹⁴I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.’

¹⁵Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, To the lowest depths of the Pit.

¹⁶“Those who see you will gaze at you, And consider you, saying: ‘Is this the man who made the earth tremble, Who shook kingdoms,

¹⁷Who made the world as a wilderness And destroyed its cities, Who did not open the house of his prisoners?’

¹⁸“All the kings of the nations, All of them, sleep in glory, Everyone in his own house;

¹⁹But you are cast out of your grave Like an abominable branch, Like the garment of those who are slain, Thrust through with a sword, Who go down to the stones of the pit, Like a corpse trodden underfoot.

²⁰You will not be joined with them in burial, Because you have destroyed your land And slain your people. The brood of evildoers shall never be named.

²¹Prepare slaughter for his children Because of the iniquity of their fathers, Lest they rise up and possess the land, And fill the face of the world with cities.”

²²“For I will rise up against them,” says the Lord “And cut off from Babylon the name and remnant, And offspring and posterity,” says the Lord

²³“I will also make it a possession for the porcupine, And marshes of muddy water; I will sweep it with the broom of destruction,” says the Lord

²⁴The Lord “Surely, as I have thought, so it shall come to pass, And as I have purposed, so it shall stand:

²⁵That I will break the Assyrian in My land, And on My mountains tread him underfoot. Then his yoke shall be removed from them, And his burden removed from their shoulders.

²⁶This is the purpose that is purposed against the whole earth, And this is the hand that is stretched out over all the nations.

²⁷For the Lord And who will annul it? His hand is stretched out, And who will turn it back?”

²⁸This is the burden which came in the year that King Ahaz died.

²⁹“Do not rejoice, all you of Philistia, Because the rod that struck you is broken; For out of the serpent’s roots will come forth a viper, And its offspring will be a fiery flying serpent.

³⁰The firstborn of the poor will feed, And the needy will lie down in safety; I will kill your roots with famine, And it will slay your remnant.

³¹Wail, O gate! Cry, O city! All you of Philistia are dissolved; For smoke will come from the north, And no one will be alone in his appointed times.”

³²What will they answer the messengers of the nation? That the Lord And the poor of His people shall take refuge in it.