rom the hard
bondage, wherewith thou didst serve before,

14:4. Thou shalt take up this parable against the king of Babylon, and
shalt say: How is the oppressor come to nothing, the tribute hath
ceased?

14:5. The Lord hath broken the staff of the wicked, the rod of the
rulers,

14:6. That struck the people in wrath with an incurable wound, that
brought nations under in fury, that persecuted in a cruel manner.

14:7. The whole earth is quiet and still, it is glad and hath rejoiced.

14:8. The fir trees also have rejoiced over thee, and the cedars of
Libanus, saying: Since thou hast slept, there hath none come up to cut
us down.

14:9. Hell below was in an uproar to meet thee at thy coming, it stirred
up the giants for thee. All the princes of the earth are risen up from
their thrones, all the princes of nations.

14:10. All shall answer, and say to thee: Thou also art wounded as well
as we, thou art become like unto us.

14:11. Thy pride is brought down to hell, thy carcass is fallen down:
under thee shall the moth be strewed, and worms shall be thy covering.

14:12. How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, who didst rise in the
morning? how art thou fallen to the earth, that didst wound the nations?

O Lucifer... O day star. All this, according to the letter, is spoken of
the king of Babylon. It may also be applied, in a spiritual sense, to
Lucifer the prince of devils, who was created a bright angel, but fell
by pride and rebellion against God.

14:13. And thou saidst in thy heart: I will ascend into heaven, I will
exalt my throne above the stars of God, I will sit in the mountain of
the covenant, in the sides of the north.

14:14. I will ascend above the height of the clouds, I will be like the
most High.

14:15. But yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, into the depth of the
pit.

14:16. They that shall see thee, shall turn toward thee, and behold
thee. Is this the man that troubled the earth, that shook kingdoms,

14:17. That made the world a wilderness, and destroyed the cities
thereof, that opened not the prison to his prisoners?

14:18. All the kings of the nations have all of them slept in glory,
every one in his own house.

14:19. But thou art cast out of thy grave, as an unprofitable branch
defiled, and wrapped up among them that were slain by the sword, and art
gone down to the bottom of the pit, as a rotten carcass.

14:20. Thou shalt not keep company with them, even in burial: f