47 The destruction of Babylon, and the causes wherefore.
1 Come down and sit in the dust: O [a]virgin, daughter Babel, sit on the ground: there is no [b]throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans; for thou shalt no more be called, Tender and delicate.
2 Take the millstones, and [c]grind meal; loose thy locks: [d]make bare the feet: uncover the leg, and pass through the floods.
3 Thy filthiness shall be discovered, and thy shame shall be seen: I will take vengeance, and I will not meet thee as a [e]man.
4 [f]Our redeemer, the Lord of hosts is his Name, the holy One of Israel.
5 [g]Sit still, and get thee into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans; for thou shalt no more be called, The lady of kingdoms.
6 I was wroth with my people: I have polluted mine inheritance, and given them into thine hand, thou didst show them no [h]mercy, but thou didst lay thy very heavy yoke upon the ancient.
7 And thou saidest, I shall be a lady forever, so that thou didst not set thy mind to these things, neither didst thou remember the latter end thereof.
8 Therefore now hear, thou that art given to pleasures, and dwellest careless, She saith in her heart, I am and none else: I shall not sit as a widow, neither shall know the loss of children.
9 But these two things shall come to thee suddenly on one day, the loss of children and widowhood; they shall come upon thee in their [i]perfection, for the multitude of thy divinations, and for the great abundance of thine enchanters.
10 For thou hast trusted in thy wickedness; thou hast said, None seeth me. Thy [j]wisdom and thy knowledge, they have caused thee to rebel, and thou hast said in thine heart, I am, and none else.
11 Therefore shall evil come upon thee, and thou shalt not know the morning thereof; destruction shall fall upon thee, which thou shalt not be able to put away: destruction shall come upon thee suddenly, or thou beware.
12 Stand now among thine enchanters, and in the multitude of thy soothsayers (with whom thou hast [k]wearied thyself from thy youth) if so be thou mayest have profit, or if so be thou mayest have strength.
13 Thou art wearied in the multitude of thy counsels: let now the astrologers, the stargazers, and prognosticators stand up, and save thee from these things that shall come upon thee.
14 Behold, they shall be as stubble: the fire shall burn them; they shall not deliver their own lives from the power of the flame: there shall be no coals [l]to warm at, nor light to sit by.
15 Thus shall they serve thee, with whom thou hast wearied thee, even thy merchants from thy youth; every one shall wander to his own [m]quarters: none shall save thee.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 47:1 Which hast lived in wealth and wantonness, and hast not yet been overcome by any enemy.
- Isaiah 47:1 Thy government shall be taken from thee.
- Isaiah 47:2 Thou shalt be brought to most vile servitude: for to turn the mill was the office of slaves.
- Isaiah 47:2 The things wherein she setteth her greatest pride, shall be made vile, even from the head to the foot.
- Isaiah 47:3 I will use no humanity nor pity toward thee.
- Isaiah 47:4 The Israelites shall confess that the Lord doeth this for his Church’s sake.
- Isaiah 47:5 For very shame, and hide thyself.
- Isaiah 47:6 They abused God’s judgments, thinking that he punished the Israelites, because he would utterly cast them off, and therefore instead of pitying their misery, thou didst increase it.
- Isaiah 47:9 So that thy punishment shall be so great, as is possible to be imagined.
- Isaiah 47:10 Thou didst think that thine own wisdom and policy would have saved thee.
- Isaiah 47:12 He derideth their vain confidence, that put their trust in anything but in God, condemning also such vain sciences, which serve to no use, but to delude the people, and to bring them from depending only on God.
- Isaiah 47:14 They shall utterly perish, and no part of them remain.
- Isaiah 47:15 They shall flee everyone to that place, which he thought by his speculations to be most sure: but that shall deceive them.