Isaiah 47

1 “Go down and sit in the dust, O Virgin Daughter of Babylon. Sit on the ground without a throne, O Daughter of Chaldea! For you will no longer be called tender or delicate.

Come down, sit on the ground, O virgin daughter of Babylon: sit on the ground, O daughter of the Chaldeans: for thou shalt no more be called tender and luxurious.

2 Take millstones and grind flour; remove your veil; strip off your skirt, bare your thigh, and wade through the streams.

Take a millstone, grind meal: remove thy veil, uncover thy white hairs, make bare the leg, pass through the rivers.

3 Your nakedness will be uncovered and your shame will be exposed. I will take vengeance; I will spare no one.”

Thy shame shall be uncovered, thy reproaches shall be brought to light: I will exact of thee due vengeance, I will no longer deliver thee to men.

4 Our Redeemer—the LORD of Hosts is His name— is the Holy One of Israel.

Thy deliverer is the Lord of hosts, the Holy One of Israel is his name.

5 “Sit in silence and go into darkness, O Daughter of Chaldea. For you will no longer be called the queen of kingdoms.

Sit thou down pierced with woe, go into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans: thou shalt no more be called the strength of a kingdom.

6 I was angry with My people; I profaned My heritage, and I placed them under your control. You showed them no mercy; even on the elderly you laid a most heavy yoke.

I have been provoked with my people; thou hast defiled mine inheritance: I gave them into thy hand, but thou didst not extend mercy to them: thou madest the yoke of the aged man very heavy,

7 You said, ‘I will be queen forever.’ You did not take these things to heart or consider their outcome.

and saidst, I shall be a princess for ever: thou didst not perceive these things in thine heart, nor didst thou remember the latter end.

8 So now hear this, O lover of luxury who sits securely, who says to herself, ‘I am, and there is none besides me. I will never be a widow or know the loss of children.’

But now hear these words, thou luxurious one, [who art] the one that sits [at ease], that is secure, that says in her heart, I am, and there is not another; I shall not sit a widow, neither shall I know bereavement.

9 These two things will overtake you in a moment, in a single day: loss of children, and widowhood. They will come upon you in full measure, in spite of your many sorceries and the potency of your spells.

But now these two things shall come upon thee suddenly in one day, the loss of children and widowhood shall come suddenly upon thee, for thy sorcery, for the strength of thine enchantments,

10 You were secure in your wickedness; you said, ‘No one sees me.’ Your wisdom and knowledge led you astray; you told yourself, ‘I am, and there is none besides me.’

for thy trusting in wickedness: for thou saidst, I am, and there is not another: know thou, the understanding of these things and thy harlotry shall be thy shame; for thou saidst in thy heart, I am, and there is not another.

11 But disaster will come upon you; you will not know how to charm it away. A calamity will befall you that you will be unable to ward off. Devastation will happen to you suddenly and unexpectedly.

And destruction shall come upon thee, and thou shalt not be aware; [there shall be a] pit, and thou shalt fall into it: and grief shall come upon thee, and thou shalt not be able to be clear; and destruction shall come suddenly upon thee, and thou shalt not know.

12 So take your stand with your spells and with your many sorceries, with which you have wearied yourself from your youth. Perhaps you will succeed; perhaps you will inspire terror!

Stand now with thine enchantments, and with the abundance of thy sorcery, which thou hast learned from thy youth; if thou canst be profited.

13 You are wearied by your many counselors; let them come forward now and save you— your astrologers who observe the stars, who monthly predict your fate.

Thou art wearied in thy counsels. Let now the astrologers of the heaven stand and deliver thee, let them that see the stars tell thee what is about to come upon thee.

14 Surely they are like stubble; the fire will burn them up. They cannot deliver themselves from the power of the flame. There will be no coals to warm them or fire to sit beside.

Behold, they all shall be burnt up as sticks in the fire; neither shall they at all deliver their life from the flame. Because thou hast coals of fire, sit thou upon them;

15 This is what they are to you— those with whom you have labored and traded from youth— each one strays in his own direction; not one of them can save you.

these shall be thy help. Thou hast wearied thyself with traffic from thy youth: every man has wandered to his own home, but thou shalt have no deliverance.