Isaiah 14:1-23

The Proverb against the King of Babylon

14¹ Because Jehovah loveth Jacob, And hath fixed again on Israel, And given them rest on their own land, And joined hath been the sojourner to them, And they have been admitted to the house of Jacob. ² And peoples have taken them, And have brought them in unto their place, And the house of Israel have inherited them, On the land of Jehovah, For men-servants and for maid-servants, And they have been captors of their captors, And have ruled over their exactors. ³ And it hath come to pass, In the day of Jehovah's giving rest to thee, From thy grief, and from thy trouble, And from the sharp bondage, That hath been served upon thee,

⁴ That thou hast taken up this simile Concerning the king of Babylon, and said, How hath the exactor ceased, ⁵ Ceased hath the golden one. Broken hath Jehovah the staff of the wicked, The sceptre of rulers. ⁶ He who is smiting peoples in wrath, A smiting without intermission, He who is ruling in anger nations, Pursuing without restraint! ⁷ At rest—quiet hath been all the earth, They have broken forth 'into' singing. ⁸ Even firs have rejoiced over thee, Cedars of Lebanon—'saying': Since thou hast lain down, The hewer cometh not up against us. ⁹ Sheol beneath hath been troubled at thee, To meet thy coming in, It is waking up for thee Rephaim, All chiefs ones of earth, It hath raised up from their thrones All kings of nations. ¹⁰ All of them answer and say unto thee, Even thou hast become weak like us! Unto us thou hast become like! ¹¹ Brought down to Sheol hath been thine excellency, The noise of thy psaltery, Under thee spread out hath been the worm, Yea, covering thee is the worm. ¹² How hast thou fallen from the heavens, O shining one, son of the dawn! Thou hast been cut down to earth, O weakener of nations. ¹³ And thou saidst in thy heart: the heavens I go up, Above stars of God I raise my throne, And I sit in the mount of meeting in the sides of the north. ¹⁴ I go up above the heights of a thick cloud, I am like to the Most High. ¹⁵ Only—unto Sheol thou art brought down, Unto the sides of the pit. ¹⁶ Thy beholders look to thee, to thee they attend, Is this the man causing the earth to tremble, Shaking kingdoms? ¹⁷ He hath made the world as a wilderness, And his cities he hath broken down, Of his bound ones he opened not the house. ¹⁸ All kings of nations—all of them, Have lain down in honour, each in his house, ¹⁹ And—thou hast been cast out of thy grave, As an abominable branch, raiment of the slain, Thrust through ones of the sword, Going down unto the sons of the pit, As a carcase trodden down. ²⁰ Thou art not united with them in burial, For thy land thou hast destroyed, Thy people thou hast slain, Not named to the age is the seed of evil doers. ²¹ Prepare ye for his sons slaughter; Because of the iniquity of their fathers, They rise not, nor have possessed the land, Nor filled the face of the world 'with' cities. ²² And I have risen up against them, (The affirmation of Jehovah of Hosts,) And have cut off, in reference to Babylon, Name and remnant, and continuator and successor, The affirmation of Jehovah. ²³ And have made it for a possession of a bittern, And ponds of waters, And daubed it with the mire of destruction, The affirmation of Jehovah of Hosts!