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47 “Come down and sit in the dust, virgin daughter of Babylon.

    Sit on the ground without a throne, daughter of the Chaldeans.
    For you will no longer be called tender and delicate.
Take the millstones and grind flour.
    Remove your veil, lift up your skirt, uncover your legs,
    and wade through the rivers.
Your nakedness will be uncovered.
    Yes, your shame will be seen.
I will take vengeance,
    and will spare no one.”

Our Redeemer, Yahweh of Armies is his name,
    is the Holy One of Israel.

“Sit in silence, and go into darkness,
    daughter of the Chaldeans.
For you shall no longer be called
    the mistress of kingdoms.
I was angry with my people.
    I profaned my inheritance
    and gave them into your hand.
You showed them no mercy.
    You laid a very heavy yoke on the aged.
You said, ‘I will be a princess forever,’
    so that you didn’t lay these things to your heart,
    nor did you remember the results.

“Now therefore hear this, you who are given to pleasures,
    who sit securely,
who say in your heart,
    ‘I am, and there is no one else besides me.
I won’t sit as a widow,
    neither will I know the loss of children.’
But these two things will come to you in a moment in one day,
    the loss of children and widowhood.
They will come on you in their full measure,
    in the multitude of your sorceries,
    and the great abundance of your enchantments.
10 For you have trusted in your wickedness.
    You have said, ‘No one sees me.’
Your wisdom and your knowledge has perverted you.
    You have said in your heart, ‘I am, and there is no one else besides me.’
11 Therefore disaster will come on you.
    You won’t know when it dawns.
Mischief will fall on you.
    You won’t be able to put it away.
Desolation will come on you suddenly,
    which you don’t understand.

12 “Stand now with your enchantments
    and with the multitude of your sorceries,
    in which you have labored from your youth,
as if you might profit,
    as if you might prevail.
13 You are wearied in the multitude of your counsels.
    Now let the astrologers, the stargazers, and the monthly prognosticators stand up and save you from the things that will happen to you.
14 Behold, they are like stubble.
    The fire will burn them.
    They won’t deliver themselves from the power of the flame.
It won’t be a coal to warm at
    or a fire to sit by.
15 The things that you labored in will be like this:
    those who have trafficked with you from your youth will each wander in his own way.
    There will be no one to save you.

Babylon’s Fall

47 Come down and sit on the dust, virgin daughter of Babylon!
    Sit on the ground without a throne, daughter of Chaldea!
For they shall no longer call[a] you tender and delicate.
    Take the pair of mill stones and grind flour!
Uncover your veil,
    strip off your skirt,
uncover your thigh,
    pass through the rivers!
Your nakedness shall be exposed;
    indeed, your shame shall become visible.
I will take vengeance
    and I will not spare[b] a person.

Our redeemer, Yahweh of hosts is his name, the holy one of Israel.

Sit silently and go into the darkness, daughter of Chaldea,
    for they shall no longer call[c] you mistress of kingdoms.
I was angry with my people;
    I profaned my inheritance,
and I gave them into your hand.
    You did not give[d] them mercy;
on the aged you made your yoke very heavy.
    And you said, “I shall be an eternal mistress forever!”
You did not set these things upon your heart;
    you did not remember its end.
Therefore now hear this, luxuriant one who sits[e] in security,
    who says[f] in her heart, “I am, and besides me there is no one.
I shall not sit as a widow,
    and I shall not know the loss of children.”
And these two shall come to you in a moment, in one day:
    the loss of children and widowhood shall come on you completely,[g]
in spite of your many sorceries,
    in spite of the power of your great enchantments.
10 And you felt secure in your wickedness;
    you said, “No one[h] sees[i] me.”
Your wisdom and your knowledge led you astray,
    and you said in your heart, “I am, and besides me there is no one.”
11 And evil shall come upon you, you will not know;
    it will be on the lookout for her.
And disaster shall fall upon you; you will not be able to avert[j] it.
    And ruin shall come on you suddenly; you do not know.
12 Stand, now, in your enchantments,
    and in your many sorceries with which you have labored from your youth.
Perhaps you may be able to benefit;
    perhaps you may scare away.[k]
13 You struggle with your many consultations;[l]
    let them stand, now, and save you—
those who see the stars, divide the celestial sphere,[m]
    who inform by new moons—
        from those things that are coming upon you.
14 Look! They are like stubble;
    the fire burns them completely.
        They cannot deliver themselves[n] from the power[o] of the flame;
there is no coal for warming oneself,[p]
    no fire before which to sit.
15 So are to you those with whom you have labored,
    your traders from your youth.
They wander, each to his side;
    there is no one who can save you.

Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 47:1 Literally “you shall not add they shall call to”
  2. Isaiah 47:3 Literally “plead with”
  3. Isaiah 47:5 Literally “you shall not add they shall call to”
  4. Isaiah 47:6 Literally “set up”
  5. Isaiah 47:8 Or “sitting”
  6. Isaiah 47:8 Or “saying”
  7. Isaiah 47:9 Literally “as their fullness”
  8. Isaiah 47:10 Literally “none”
  9. Isaiah 47:10 Or “is seeing”
  10. Isaiah 47:11 Literally “make amends”
  11. Isaiah 47:12 Literally “terrify”
  12. Isaiah 47:13 Or “advice”
  13. Isaiah 47:13 Literally “heavens,” that is, for astrology
  14. Isaiah 47:14 Literally “their lives”
  15. Isaiah 47:14 Literally “hand”
  16. Isaiah 47:14 Literally “to grow warm”