14. You said you would climb to the tops of the clouds and be like the Almighty.
15. But instead, you have been brought down to the deepest part of the world of the dead.
16. “The dead will stare and gape at you. They will ask, ‘Is this the man who shook the earth and made kingdoms tremble?
17. Is this the man who destroyed cities and turned the world into a desert? Is this the man who never freed his prisoners or let them go home?’
18. All the kings of the earth lie in their magnificent tombs,
19. but you have no tomb, and your corpse is thrown out to rot. It is covered by the bodies of soldiers killed in battle, thrown with them into a rocky pit, and trampled down.
20. Because you ruined your country and killed your own people, you will not be buried like other kings. None of your evil family will survive.
21. Let the slaughter begin! The sons of this king will die because of their ancestors' sins. None of them will ever rule the earth or cover it with cities.”
22. The Lord Almighty says, “I will attack Babylon and bring it to ruin. I will leave nothing — no children, no survivors at all. I, the Lord, have spoken.
23. I will turn Babylon into a marsh, and owls will live there. I will sweep Babylon with a broom that will sweep everything away. I, the Lord Almighty, have spoken.”
24. The Lord Almighty has sworn an oath: “What I have planned will happen. What I have determined to do will be done.