Passage Resources Hebrew/Greek Your Content
Previous Next
Add parallel Print Page Options
Close NET

Isaiah 47
New English Translation

Babylon Will Fall

47 “Fall down! Sit in the dirt,
O virgin[a] daughter Babylon!
Sit on the ground, not on a throne,
O daughter of the Babylonians!
Indeed,[b] you will no longer be called delicate and pampered.
2 Pick up millstones and grind flour.
Remove your veil,
strip off your skirt,
expose your legs,
cross the streams.
3 Let your naked body be exposed.
Your shame will be on display![c]
I will get revenge;
I will not have pity on anyone,”[d]
4 says our Protector—
the Lord of Heaven’s Armies is his name,
the Holy One of Israel.[e]
5 “Sit silently! Go to a hiding place,[f]
O daughter of the Babylonians!
Indeed,[g] you will no longer be called ‘Queen of kingdoms.’
6 I was angry at my people;
I defiled my special possession
and handed them over to you.
You showed them no mercy;[h]
you even placed a very heavy burden on old people.[i]
7 You said,
‘I will rule forever as permanent queen!’[j]
You did not think about these things;[k]
you did not consider how it would turn out.[l]
8 So now, listen to this,
O one who lives so lavishly,[m]
who lives securely,
who says to herself,[n]
‘I am unique! No one can compare to me![o]
I will never have to live as a widow;
I will never lose my children.’[p]
9 Both of these will come upon you
suddenly, in one day!
You will lose your children and be widowed.[q]
You will be overwhelmed by these tragedies,[r]
despite[s] your many incantations
and your numerous amulets.[t]
10 You were complacent in your evil deeds;[u]
you thought,[v] ‘No one sees me.’
Your self-professed[w] wisdom and knowledge lead you astray,
when you say, ‘I am unique! No one can compare to me!’[x]
11 Disaster will overtake you;
you will not know how to charm it away.[y]
Destruction will fall on you;
you will not be able to appease it.
Calamity will strike you suddenly,
before you recognize it.[z]
12 Persist[aa] in trusting[ab] your amulets
and your many incantations,
which you have faithfully recited[ac] since your youth!
Maybe you will be successful[ad]—
maybe you will scare away disaster.[ae]
13 You are tired out from listening to so much advice.[af]
Let them take their stand—
the ones who see omens in the sky,
who gaze at the stars,
who make monthly predictions—
let them rescue you from the disaster that is about to overtake you![ag]
14 Look, they are like straw,
that the fire burns up;
they cannot rescue themselves
from the heat[ah] of the flames.
There are no coals to warm them,
no firelight to enjoy.[ai]
15 They will disappoint you,[aj]
those you have so faithfully dealt with since your youth.[ak]
Each strays off in his own direction,[al]
leaving no one to rescue you.”

Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 47:1 tn בְּתוּלַה (betulah) often refers to a virgin, but the phrase “virgin daughter” is apparently stylized (see also 23:12; 37:22). In the extended metaphor of this chapter, where Babylon is personified as a queen (vv. 5, 7), she is depicted as being both a wife and mother (vv. 8-9).
  2. Isaiah 47:1 tn Or “For” (NASB, NRSV).
  3. Isaiah 47:3 tn Heb In this context “shame” is a euphemism referring to their naked bodies.
  4. Isaiah 47:3 tn Heb “I will not meet a man.” The verb פָּגַע (paga‘) apparently carries the nuance “meet with kindness” here (cf. 64:5, and see BDB 803 s.v. Qal.2).
  5. Isaiah 47:4 tc The Hebrew text reads, “Our redeemer—the Lord of armies [traditionally, “the Lord of hosts”] is his name, the Holy One of Israel.” The ancient Greek version adds “says” before “our redeemer.” אָמַר (ʾamar) may have accidentally dropped from the text by virtual haplography. Note that the preceding word אָדָם (ʾadam) is graphically similar.sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.
  6. Isaiah 47:5 tn Heb “darkness,” which may indicate a place of hiding where a fugitive would seek shelter and protection.
  7. Isaiah 47:5 tn Or “For” (NASB, NRSV).
  8. Isaiah 47:6 tn Or “compassion.”
  9. Isaiah 47:6 tn Heb “on the old you made very heavy your yoke.”
  10. Isaiah 47:7 tn Heb “Forever I [will be] permanent queen”; NIV “the eternal queen”; CEV “queen forever.”
  11. Isaiah 47:7 tn Heb “you did not set these things upon your heart [or “mind”].”
  12. Isaiah 47:7 tn Heb “you did not remember its outcome”; NAB “you disregarded their outcome.”
  13. Isaiah 47:8 tn Or perhaps, “voluptuous one” (NAB); NAB “you sensual one”; NLT “You are a pleasure-crazy kingdom.”
  14. Isaiah 47:8 tn Heb “the one who says in her heart.”
  15. Isaiah 47:8 tn Heb “I [am], and besides me there is no other.” See Zeph 2:15.
  16. Isaiah 47:8 tn Heb “I will not live [as] a widow, and I will not know loss of children.”
  17. Isaiah 47:9 tn Heb “loss of children and widowhood.” In the Hebrew text the phrase is in apposition to “both of these” in line 1.
  18. Isaiah 47:9 tn Heb “according to their fullness, they will come upon you.”
  19. Isaiah 47:9 tn For other examples of the preposition bet (בְּ) having the sense of “although, despite,” see BDB 90 s.v. III.7.
  20. Isaiah 47:9 sn Reference is made to incantations and amulets, both of which were important in Mesopotamian religion. They were used to ward off danger and demons.
  21. Isaiah 47:10 tn Heb “you trusted in your evil”; KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV “wickedness.”
  22. Isaiah 47:10 tn Or “said”; NAB “said to yourself”’ NASB “said in your heart.”
  23. Isaiah 47:10 tn The words “self-professed” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
  24. Isaiah 47:10 tn See the note at v. 8.
  25. Isaiah 47:11 tc The Hebrew text has שַׁחְרָהּ (shakhrah), which is either a suffixed noun (“its dawning,” i.e., origin) or infinitive (“to look early for it”). Some have suggested an emendation to שַׁחֲדָהּ (shakhadah), a suffixed infinitive from שָׁחַד (shakhad, “[how] to buy it off”; see BDB 1005 s.v. שָׁחַד). This forms a nice parallel with the following couplet. The above translation is based on a different etymology of the verb in question. HALOT 1466 s.v. III שׁחר references a verbal root with these letters (שׁחד) that refers to magical activity.
  26. Isaiah 47:11 tn Heb “you will not know”; NIV “you cannot foresee.”
  27. Isaiah 47:12 tn Heb “stand” (so KJV, ASV); NASB, NRSV “Stand fast.”
  28. Isaiah 47:12 tn The word “trusting” is supplied in the translation for clarification. See v. 9.
  29. Isaiah 47:12 tn Heb “in that which you have toiled.”
  30. Isaiah 47:12 tn Heb “maybe you will be able to profit.”
  31. Isaiah 47:12 tn Heb “maybe you will cause to tremble.” The object “disaster” is supplied in the translation for clarification. See the note at v. 9.
  32. Isaiah 47:13 tn Heb “you are tired because of the abundance of your advice.”
  33. Isaiah 47:13 tn Heb “let them stand and rescue you—the ones who see omens in the sky, who gaze at the stars, who make known by months—from those things which are coming upon you.”
  34. Isaiah 47:14 tn Heb “hand,” here a metaphor for the strength or power of the flames.
  35. Isaiah 47:14 tn The Hebrew text reads literally, “there is no coal [for?] their food, light to sit before it.” Some emend לַחְמָם (lakhmam, “their food”) to לְחֻמָּם (lekhummam, “to warm them”; see HALOT 328 s.v. חמם). This statement may allude to Isa 44:16, where idolaters are depicted warming themselves over a fire made from wood, part of which was used to form idols. The fire of divine judgment will be no such campfire; its flames will devour and destroy.
  36. Isaiah 47:15 tn Heb “So they will be to you”; NIV “That is all they can do for you.”
  37. Isaiah 47:15 tn Heb “that for which you toiled, your traders from your youth.” The omen readers and star gazers are likened to merchants with whom Babylon has had an ongoing economic relationship.
  38. Isaiah 47:15 tn Heb “each to his own side, they err.”
Close ISV

Isaiah 47
International Standard Version

The Fall of Babylon

47 “Come down and sit in the dust,
    Virgin Daughter of Babylon.
Sit on[a] the ground without a chair,
    Daughter of the Chaldeans!
For no longer will they call you
    tender and attractive.
2 Take millstones and grind flour.
    Remove your veil,
strip off your robes,[b]
    bare your legs,
        and wade through the rivers.
3 Your nakedness will be[c] exposed,
    and your disgrace will also be seen.
I’ll take vengeance,
    and I will spare no mortal.

4 “Our Redeemer—
    the Lord of the Heavenly Armies is his name—
        is the Holy One of Israel.

5 “Sit silent,[d] and enter into the darkness,
    you daughter of the Chaldeans;
for no more will they call you
    Queen of Kingdoms.
6 I was angry with my people,
    and[e] I desecrated my heritage,
and gave them into your control.
    You showed them no mercy;
        even on the aged you laid your yoke most heavily.
7 You said, ‘I will always continue—Queen forever!’
    You didn’t take these things into your thinking,
        nor did you think about their consequences.[f]

8 “Now hear this, you wanton creature,
    lounging with no cares,
and saying to herself:
    ‘I am the one, and there will be none besides me;
I won’t live as a widow,
    nor will I see[g] the loss of children.’
9 Both of these things will overtake you
    suddenly on a single day:
loss of children and widowhood.
    They will come upon you in full measure,
despite the multitude of your incantations
    and the great power of your spells.”

Self-Deception of the Babylonians

10 “You trusted in your own knowledge.[h]
    You said, ‘No one sees me.’
Your wisdom and knowledge have misled you.
    You said in your heart,
        ‘I am the one, and there will be none besides me.’

11 “But disaster will come[i] upon you,
    and[j] you will not know how to charm it away.
A calamity will befall you
    that you will not be able to[k] ward off;
and devastation will come upon you suddenly,
    and[l] you won’t anticipate it.

12 “But[m] stand up now with your spells
    and your many incantations,
at which you have labored from your childhood until today,[n]
13 according to[o] your multiple schemes.
Let them stand up now—
    those who conjure[p] the heavens
and[q] gaze at the stars,
    predicting at the new moons—
        and save you from what is about to happen to them.[r]

14 “See, they are just like stubble;
    fire burns them up.
They could not[s] even save themselves
    from the power of the flame.
There will be no coals for warming oneself,
    no fire to sit by.
15 So will they be to you—those with whom you toiled
    and did business since your childhood—
they wander about, each in his own direction;
    there is not one who can save you.

Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 47:1 So 1QIsaa; 1QIsab MT use another preposition
  2. Isaiah 47:2 So 1QIsaa; 1QIsab 4QIsad MT read skirt
  3. Isaiah 47:3 So 1QIsaa; 1QIsab MT read let it be
  4. Isaiah 47:5 1QIsaa and MT use alternate forms of the same term
  5. Isaiah 47:6 So 1QIsaa; 1QIsab MT lack and
  6. Isaiah 47:7 1QIsaa and MT use alternate forms; LXX reads the last things
  7. Isaiah 47:8 So 1QIsaa; 4QIsad MT LXX read know
  8. Isaiah 47:10 So 1QIsaa; MT LXX read evil
  9. Isaiah 47:11 So 1QIsaa (feminine); MT (masculine [incorrectly])
  10. Isaiah 47:11 So 1QIsaa LXX; MT lacks and
  11. Isaiah 47:11 So 1QIsaa; MT lacks to
  12. Isaiah 47:11 So 1QIsaa LXX; MT lacks and
  13. Isaiah 47:12 So 1QIsaa; 1QIsab MT LXX lack But
  14. Isaiah 47:12 So 1QIsaa; 1QIsab MT read childhood. Perhaps you can gain some profit; perhaps you may inspire fear. LXX reads if you can gain some profit.
  15. Isaiah 47:13 So 1QIsaa; MT LXX read You are wearied by
  16. Isaiah 47:13 So 1QIsaa LXX; MT reads divide
  17. Isaiah 47:13 So 1QIsaa; MT LXX lack and
  18. Isaiah 47:13 So 1QIsaa; MT reads what things are about to happen to you; LXX reads what is about to happen to you
  19. Isaiah 47:14 So 1QIsaa; MT reads cannot
Listen to Isaiah 47
Close NIV

Isaiah 47
New International Version

The Fall of Babylon

47 “Go down, sit in the dust,(A)
    Virgin Daughter(B) Babylon;
sit on the ground without a throne,
    queen city of the Babylonians.[a](C)
No more will you be called
    tender or delicate.(D)
2 Take millstones(E) and grind(F) flour;
    take off your veil.(G)
Lift up your skirts,(H) bare your legs,
    and wade through the streams.
3 Your nakedness(I) will be exposed
    and your shame(J) uncovered.
I will take vengeance;(K)
    I will spare no one.(L)”

4 Our Redeemer(M)—the Lord Almighty(N) is his name(O)—
    is the Holy One(P) of Israel.

5 “Sit in silence,(Q) go into darkness,(R)
    queen city of the Babylonians;(S)
no more will you be called
    queen(T) of kingdoms.(U)
6 I was angry(V) with my people
    and desecrated my inheritance;(W)
I gave them into your hand,(X)
    and you showed them no mercy.(Y)
Even on the aged
    you laid a very heavy yoke.
7 You said, ‘I am forever(Z)—
    the eternal queen!’(AA)
But you did not consider these things
    or reflect(AB) on what might happen.(AC)

8 “Now then, listen, you lover of pleasure,
    lounging in your security(AD)
and saying to yourself,
    ‘I am, and there is none besides me.(AE)
I will never be a widow(AF)
    or suffer the loss of children.’
9 Both of these will overtake you
    in a moment,(AG) on a single day:
    loss of children(AH) and widowhood.(AI)
They will come upon you in full measure,
    in spite of your many sorceries(AJ)
    and all your potent spells.(AK)
10 You have trusted(AL) in your wickedness
    and have said, ‘No one sees me.’(AM)
Your wisdom(AN) and knowledge mislead(AO) you
    when you say to yourself,
    ‘I am, and there is none besides me.’
11 Disaster(AP) will come upon you,
    and you will not know how to conjure it away.
A calamity will fall upon you
    that you cannot ward off with a ransom;
a catastrophe you cannot foresee
    will suddenly(AQ) come upon you.

12 “Keep on, then, with your magic spells
    and with your many sorceries,(AR)
    which you have labored at since childhood.
Perhaps you will succeed,
    perhaps you will cause terror.
13 All the counsel you have received has only worn you out!(AS)
    Let your astrologers(AT) come forward,
those stargazers who make predictions month by month,
    let them save(AU) you from what is coming upon you.
14 Surely they are like stubble;(AV)
    the fire(AW) will burn them up.
They cannot even save themselves
    from the power of the flame.(AX)
These are not coals for warmth;
    this is not a fire to sit by.
15 That is all they are to you—
    these you have dealt with
    and labored(AY) with since childhood.
All of them go on in their error;
    there is not one that can save(AZ) you.

Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 47:1 Or Chaldeans; also in verse 5
Next
Isaiah 46
Isaiah 48
Next
dropdown
New English Translation (NET)

NET Bible® copyright ©1996-2017 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. http://netbible.com All rights reserved.

International Standard Version (ISV)

Copyright © 1995-2014 by ISV Foundation. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED INTERNATIONALLY. Used by permission of Davidson Press, LLC.

ISV Bible
New International Version (NIV)

Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.

July Summer Surge

More on the NIV