3 And it will be in the day when Yahweh gives you rest from your pain and turmoil and harsh slavery in which you have been enslaved, 4 that you will take up this taunt against the king of Babylon, and say,“How the taskmaster has ceased,
And how fury has ceased!
5 Yahweh has broken the staff of the wicked,
The scepter of rulers
6 Which used to strike the peoples in fury with unceasing strokes,
Which had dominion over the nations in anger with unrestrained persecution.
7 The whole earth is at rest and is quiet;
They break forth into shouts of joy.
8 Even the cypress trees are glad over you, and the cedars of Lebanon, saying,
‘Since you were laid low, no tree cutter comes up against us.’
9 Sheol from beneath trembles excitedly over you to meet you when you come;
It wakens for you the spirits of the dead, all the leaders of the earth;
It raises all the kings of the nations from their thrones.
10 They will all answer and say to you,
‘Even you have been made weak as we,
You have become like us.
11 Your pride and the music of your harps
Have been brought down to Sheol;
Maggots are spread out as your bed beneath you
And worms are your covering.’
12 How you have fallen from heaven,
O star of the morning, son of the dawn!
You have been cut down to the earth,
You who have weakened the nations!
13 But you said in your heart,
‘I will ascend to heaven;
I will raise my throne above the stars of God,
And I will sit on the mount of assembly
In the recesses of the north.
14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;
I will make myself like the Most High.’
15 Nevertheless you will be brought down to Sheol,
To the recesses of the pit.
16 Those who see you will gaze at you,
They will carefully consider you, saying,
‘Is this the man who made the earth tremble,
Who caused kingdoms to quake,
17 Who made the world like a wilderness
And pulled down its cities,
Who did not allow his prisoners to go home?’
18 All the kings of the nations lie in glory,
Each in his own place.
19 But you have been cast out of your grave
Like an abhorred branch,
Clothed with those killed who are pierced with a sword,
Who go down to the stones of the pit
Like a trampled corpse.
20 You will not be united with them in burial,
Because you have ruined your country,
You have killed your people.
May the seed of evildoers not be called upon forever.
21 Prepare for his sons a place of slaughter
Because of the iniquity of their fathers.
They must not arise and take possession of the earth
And fill the face of the world with cities.”
22 “I will rise up against them,” declares Yahweh of hosts, “and will cut off from Babylon name and remnant, offspring and posterity,” declares Yahweh. 23 “I will also make it a possession for the hedgehog and swamps of water, and I will sweep it with the broom of destruction,” declares Yahweh of hosts.