Isaiah 14

Modern English Version

How has the oppressor ceased!
    The golden city ceased!
⁵ The Lord has broken the staff of the wicked,
    and the scepter of the rulers;
⁶ he who struck the people in wrath with unceasing strokes,
    he who ruled the nations in anger, is persecuted, and no one hinders.
⁷ The whole earth is at rest and is quiet;
    they break forth into singing.
⁸ Indeed, the fir trees rejoice at you,
    and the cedars of Lebanon, saying,
“Since you are laid down,
    no tree cutter has come up against us.”

⁹ Hell from beneath is moved for you
    to meet you at your coming;
it stirs up the dead for you,
    even all the chief ones of the earth;
it has raised up from their thrones
    all the kings of the nations.
¹⁰ They all shall speak
    and say to you:
“Have you also become as weak as we have?
    Have you become like us?”
¹¹ Your pomp is brought down to Hell,
    and the noise of your harps;
maggots are spread under you,
    and the worms cover you.

¹² How are you fallen from heaven,
    O Lucifer, son of the morning!
How you are cut down to the ground,
    you who weaken the nations!
¹³ For you have said in your heart,
    “I will ascend into heaven,
I will exalt my throne
    above the stars of God;
I will sit also on the mount of the congregation,
    in the recesses of the north;
¹⁴ I will ascend above the heights of the clouds,
    I will be like the Most High.”
¹⁵ Yet you shall be brought down to Hell,
    to the sides of the pit.

¹⁶ Those who see you shall stare at you
    and ponder over you:
“Is this the man who made the earth
    to tremble and shook kingdoms,
¹⁷ who 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, even all of them, lie in glory,
    each one in his own tomb;
¹⁹ but you are cast out of your grave
    like an abominable branch
and clothed with those who are slain,
    thrust through with a sword,
    who go down to the stones of the pit
as a corpse trodden underfoot.
²⁰     You shall not be joined with them in burial
because you have destroyed your land
    and slain your people.

The seed of evildoers
    shall never be renowned.
²¹ Prepare a place of slaughter for his children
    for the iniquity of their fathers;
they must not rise nor possess the land,
    nor fill the face of the world with cities.

²² For I will rise up against them,
    says the Lord of Hosts,
and cut off from Babylon the name, and remnant,
    and son, and nephew,
    says the Lord.
²³ I will also make it a possession for the hedgehog
    and pools of water,
and I will sweep it with the broom of destruction,
    says the Lord of Hosts.

Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass,
    and as I have purposed, so shall it stand:
²⁵ that I will break the Assyrian in My land,
    and on My mountains tread him under foot.
Then shall his yoke depart from off them
    and his burden depart from off their shoulders.

²⁶ This is the purpose that is purposed on the whole earth,
    and this is the hand that is stretched out on all the nations.
²⁷ For the Lord of Hosts has purposed, and who shall disannul it?
    And His hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it back?

²⁹ Rejoice not, O Philistia, all of you,
    because the rod that struck you is broken;
for out of the serpent’s root shall come forth a viper,
    and his fruit shall be a fiery flying serpent.
³⁰ The firstborn of the poor shall feed,
    and the needy shall lie down in safety:
and I will kill your root with famine,
    and he shall slay your remnant.

³¹ Wail, O gate. Cry, O city.
    Melt away, O Philistia, all of you;
for smoke shall come from the north,
    and there is no straggler in his ranks.
³² What shall one then answer
    the messengers of the nation?
That the Lord has founded Zion,
    and the poor of His people shall trust in it.