Isaiah 14:11

Modern

Your pomp has been brought down to Sheol, along with the music of your harps. Maggots are your bed and worms your blanket.

Traditional

Thy pomp is brought down to the grave, and the noise of thy viols: the worm is spread under thee, and the worms cover thee.

Literal

Your pride has been brought down to Sheol, the sound of your harps; under you is spread out the maggot, and your covering is the worm.

Latin

Detracta est ad inferos superbia tua, concidit cadaver tuum; subter te sternetur tinea, et operimentum tuum erunt vermes.

Hebrew

English

Your pomp has been brought down to Sheol, along with the music of your harps. Maggots are your bed and worms your blanket.

Babylon's strength, power, and music from the harp ended, and its greatness was destroyed (see also Revelation 18:22).
Maggots and worms represented death and decay (Isaiah 66:24).

This taunting song about the king of Babylon is written like a funeral song. It speaks as if the king has already died.

The song mocks him and announces his downfall (compare Revelation 18).

Theme notes and profiles

Daniel 5:25–30
Now this is the inscription that was written: MENE, MENE, TEKEL, PARSIN.
Daniel 5:1–4
Later, King Belshazzar held a great feast for a thousand of his nobles, and he drank wine with them.
Ezekiel 26:13
So I will silence the sound of your songs, and the music of your lyres will no longer be heard.
Isaiah 21:4–5
My heart falters; fear makes me tremble. The twilight I desired has turned to horror.
Job 17:13–14
If I look for Sheol as my home, if I spread out my bed in darkness,
Job 24:19–20
As drought and heat consume the melting snow, so Sheol steals those who have sinned.
Amos 6:3–7
You dismiss the day of calamity and bring near a reign of violence.
Ezekiel 32:19–20
Whom do you surpass in beauty? Go down and be placed with the uncircumcised!
Job 21:11–15
They send forth their little ones like a flock; their children skip about,
Isaiah 22:2
O city of commotion, O town of revelry? Your slain did not die by the sword, nor were they killed in battle.
Isaiah 66:24
“As they go forth, they will see the corpses of the men who have rebelled against Me; for their worm will never die, their fire will never be quenched, and they will be a horror to all mankind.”
Mark 9:43–48
If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than to have two hands and go into hell, into the unquenchable fire.