12 So take your stand with your spells
and your many sorceries,
which you have wearied yourself with from your youth.
Perhaps you will be able to succeed;
perhaps you will inspire terror!
13 You are worn out with your many consultations.
So let the astrologers stand and save you—
those who observe the stars,(A)
those who predict monthly
what will happen to you.
14 Look, they are like stubble;(B)
fire burns them.(C)
They cannot rescue themselves
from the power of the flame.
This is not a coal for warming themselves,
or a fire to sit beside!
15 This is what they are to you—
those who have wearied you
and have traded with you from your youth—
each wanders on his own way;
no one can save you.

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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.[a]
13 You struggle with your many consultations;[b]
    let them stand, now, and save you—
those who see the stars, divide the celestial sphere,[c]
    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[d] from the power[e] of the flame;
there is no coal for warming oneself,[f]
    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.

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Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 47:12 Literally “terrify”
  2. Isaiah 47:13 Or “advice”
  3. Isaiah 47:13 Literally “heavens,” that is, for astrology
  4. Isaiah 47:14 Literally “their lives”
  5. Isaiah 47:14 Literally “hand”
  6. Isaiah 47:14 Literally “to grow warm”