Isaiah 14:9-19

The place of the dead is excited to meet you when you come. It wakes the spirits of the dead, the leaders of the world. It makes kings of all nations stand up from their thrones to greet you. All these leaders will make fun of you and will say, “Now you are weak, as we are. Now you are just like us.” Your pride has been sent down to the place of the dead. The music from your harps goes with it. Flies are spread out like your bed beneath you, and worms cover your body like a blanket. King of Babylon, morning star, you have fallen from heaven, even though you were as bright as the rising sun! In the past all the nations on earth bowed down before you, but now you have been cut down. You told yourself, “I will go up to heaven. I will put my throne above God’s stars. I will sit on the mountain of the gods, on the slopes of the sacred mountain. I will go up above the tops of the clouds. I will be like God Most High.” But you were brought down to the grave, to the deep places where the dead are. Those who see you stare at you. They think about what has happened to you and say, “Is this the same man who caused great fear on earth, who shook the kingdoms, who turned the world into a desert, who destroyed its cities, who captured people in war and would not let them go home?” Every king of the earth has been buried with honor, each in his own grave. But you are thrown out of your grave, like an unwanted branch. You are covered by bodies that died in battle, by bodies to be buried in a rocky pit. You are like a dead body other soldiers walk on.