Isaiah 14

How the oppressor has ceased!

How his insolence 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 Day Star, son of Dawn!

How you are cut down to the ground,

you who laid the nations low!

¹³You 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;

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,

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 slaughter for his sons

because of the guilt of their father.

Let them never rise to possess the earth

or cover the face of the world with cities.

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.

²⁶This is the plan that is planned

concerning the whole earth;

and this is the hand that is stretched out

over all the nations.

²⁷For the Lord of hosts has planned,

and who will annul it?

His hand is stretched out,

and who will turn it back?

²⁹Do not rejoice, all you Philistines,

that the rod that struck you is broken,

for from the root of the snake will come forth an adder,

and its fruit will be a flying fiery serpent.

³⁰The firstborn of the poor will graze,

and the needy lie down in safety;

but I will make your root die of famine,

and your remnant I will kill.

³¹Wail, O gate; cry, O city;

melt in fear, O Philistia, all of you!

For smoke comes out of the north,

and there is no straggler in its ranks.

³²What will one answer the messengers of the nation?

“The Lord has founded Zion,

and the needy among his people

will find refuge in her.”