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The Fall of Babylon’s King

In the day the Lord gives you rest from your sorrow, and from your fear, and from the hard bondage in which you were made to serve, you shall take up this proverb against the king of Babylon, and say:

How has the oppressor ceased!
    The golden city ceased!
The Lord has broken the staff of the wicked,
    and the scepter of the rulers;
he who struck the people in wrath with unceasing strokes,
    he who ruled the nations in anger, is persecuted, and no one hinders.
The whole earth is at rest and is quiet;
    they break forth into singing.
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.”

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.

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A Lament for the King of Tyre

11 Moreover the word of the Lord came to me, saying: 12 Son of man, take up a lamentation over the king of Tyre and say to him, Thus says the Lord God:

You had the seal of perfection,
    full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.
13 You were in Eden,
    the garden of God;
every precious stone was your covering:
    the sardius, topaz, and the diamond,
    the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper,
    the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold.
The workmanship of your settings and sockets was in you;
    on the day that you were created, they were prepared.
14 You were the anointed cherub that covers,
    and I set you there;
you were upon the holy mountain of God;
    you walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire.
15 You were perfect in your ways
    from the day that you were created,
    until iniquity was found in you.
16 By the multitude of your merchandise,
    you were filled with violence in your midst,
    and you sinned;
therefore I have cast you as profane out of the mountain of God;
    and I have destroyed you, O covering cherub,
    from the midst of the stones of fire.
17 Your heart was lifted up
    because of your beauty;
you have corrupted your wisdom
    by reason of your brightness;
I cast you to the ground,
    I lay you before kings, that they may see you.
18 You have defiled your sanctuaries
    by the multitude of your iniquities, by the iniquity of your trade;
therefore I have brought fire out from your midst;
    it has devoured you,
and I have turned you to ashes upon the earth
    in the sight of all those who see you.
19 All those who know you among the people
    are astonished at you;
you are a terror,
    and you shall cease to be forever.

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