Literature: Blenkinsopp considers verses 4b–11 and 12–21 as two separate poems inserted in the larger Isaianic text. His translation of the poem is as follows:
See how the tyrant has come to nothing,
How the persecutor has come to an end!
Yahveh has broken the staff of the reprobate,
The scepter of dominion;
he who in his fury struck down peoples,
striking again and again,
he who in his rage lorded it over nations
relentlessly hunting them down.
But now the whole earth rests and relaxes,
breaks out into joyful song;
the cypress too rejoices over you,
and the cedar of Lebanon:
“Since you were laid low,” they say,
“none comes to cut us down.”
Sheol below is astir,
Preparing to greet your arrival,
rousing the shades to meet you,
all the princes of the earth;
raising up from their thrones
all that were rulers of nations.
All will address you, saying,
“You too have become weak as we are,
you have become like us.
Your pride is brought down to Sheol
together with the throng of your dead,
maggots are the bed you lie on,
worms will be your blanket.”
Blenkinsopp discusses the form of this poem and the next: “Both poems are in the 3:2 “limping rhythm” proper to the qina [dirge], though the meter stumbles at times no doubt due in part to faulty textual transmission (vv. 9c, 10a, 12b, 19b–20, 21b). One feature of this genre is quotation. Most of the protagonists get to speak—the tyrant himself (13–14), the denizens of the underworld (10–11, 16–17), even the cypresses and cedars of Lebanon (8).”
Symbolism: This song is meant to be read both historically (from the prophetic perspective that announces future events as though they had already occurred), and eschatologically. During the last days, the righteous of Israel will be reunited and triumphant. On yet another level, the Messiah conquers the Accuser (Satan). The power and glory manifest by the forces of evil will be stripped away. Satan, like Babylon, will become desolate.
Comparison: The Book of Mormon adds: “And it shall come to pass in that day” at the beginning of verse 4, an addition grammatically necessitated by the change in verse 3 from “the day” to “that day.” The general intent of the verses has not changed.