3 And it shall come to pass in the day that the LORD shall give thee rest from thy sorrow and from thy fear and from the hard bondage in which thou wast made to serve,
4 that thou shalt take up this proverb against the king of Babylon and say, How has the oppressor ceased! The city that covets gold has ceased! 5 The LORD has broken the staff of the wicked and the sceptre of the rulers 6 who smote the peoples in wrath with a continual stroke, he that ruled the Gentiles in anger and who did not defend the persecuted. 7 The whole earth is at rest and is quiet; they sing praises. 8 Even the fir trees rejoice at thee, and the cedars of Lebanon, saying, Since thou art laid down, no feller is come up against us. 9 Sheol from beneath is aghast at thee; it stirs up the dead to meet thee at thy coming; it has raised up from their thrones all the princes of the earth, all the kings of the Gentiles. 10 They all shall shout and say unto thee, Art thou also become sick as we? Art thou become like unto us? 11 Thy pride is brought down to Sheol, and the noise of thy viols: the worm is spread under thee, and the worms cover thee.
12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How art thou cut down to the ground, who didst claim the Gentiles as an inheritance! 13 Thou who said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven; upon high next to the stars of God I will exalt my throne: and I will sit upon the mount of the testimony and in the sides of the north; 14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. 15 Yet thou shalt be cast down to Sheol, to the sides of the pit. 16 Those that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble; that shook the kingdoms; 17 that made the world as a wilderness and destroyed the cities thereof; that did not open the prison to his prisoners? 18 All the kings of the Gentiles, even all of them, lie in glory, each one in his own house. 19 But thou art cast out of thy grave like an abominable branch, and as the raiment of those that are slain, thrust through with a sword, that went down to the bottom of the pit, as a carcase trodden under feet.
20 Thou shalt not be numbered with them in burial, because thou hast destroyed thy land and slain thy people; the seed of evildoers shall not be forever. 21 Prepare slaughter for his sons for the iniquity of their fathers that they do not rise, nor possess the land, nor fill the face of the world with cities.
22 For I will rise up upon them, saith the LORD of the hosts, and cut off from Babylon the name and remnant and son and nephew, saith the LORD. 23 I will also make it a possession for the bittern and pools of water, and I will sweep it with brooms of destruction, saith the LORD of the hosts.