Isaiah 47

1 Come and take your seat in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon; come down from your seat of power, and take your place on the earth, O daughter of the Chaldaeans: for you will never again seem soft and delicate.

Come down, and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon; sit on the ground, there is no throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans; for men shall nevermore call thee, Tender and delicate.

2 Take the crushing-stones and get the meal crushed: take off your veil, put away your robe, let your legs be uncovered, go through the rivers.

Take the mill, and grind meal: uncover thy locks, lift up the train, uncover the thigh, pass over the rivers.

3 The shame of your unclothed condition will be seen by all: I will give punishment without mercy,

Thy nakedness shall be uncovered, yea, thy shame shall be seen: I will take vengeance, and I will not regard any man.

4 Says the Lord who takes up our cause; the Lord of armies is his name, the Holy One of Israel.

Our redeemer—the Lord of hosts is his name, the Holy One of Israel.

5 Be seated in the dark without a word, O daughter of the Chaldaeans: for you will no longer be named, The Queen of Kingdoms.

Sit thou silent, and enter into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans; for men shall never more call thee, The mistress of kingdoms.

6 I was angry with my people, I put shame on my heritage, and gave them into your hands: you had no mercy on them; you put a cruel yoke on those who were old;

I was wroth over my people, I defiled my inheritance, and gave them into thy hand: [yet] thou didst grant them no mercy; upon the aged hast thou laid very heavily thy yoke.

7 And you said, I will be a queen for ever: you did not give attention to these things, and did not keep in mind what would come after.

And thou saidst, For ever shall I be mistress; until that thou didst not lay these things to thy heart, thou didst not call to mind the result thereof.

8 So now take note of this, you who are given up to pleasure, living without fear of evil, saying in your heart, I am, and there is no one like me; I will never be a widow, or have my children taken from me.

And now hear this, luxurious one, that dwellest in security, that sayest in thy heart, I am, and there is nothing else beside me; I shall not sit as a widow, neither shall I know the loss of children:

9 But these two things will come on you suddenly in one day, the loss of children and of husband: in full measure they will come on you, for all your secret arts, and all your wonders.

Yet both these things shall come to thee in a moment in one day, the loss of children, and widowhood; in their full measure shall they come upon thee, despite of the multitude of thy sorceries, despite of the very great abundance of thy enchantments.

10 For you had faith in your evil-doing; you said, No one sees me; by your wisdom and knowledge you have been turned out of the way: and you have said in your heart, I am, and there is no other.

And thou didst trust in thy wickedness: thou saidst, No one seeth me. Thy wisdom and thy knowledge, —these were they that seduced thee; and thou saidst in thy heart, I am, and there is nothing else beside me.

11 Because of this evil will come on you, which may not be turned away for any price: and trouble will overtake you, from which no money will give salvation: destruction will come on you suddenly, without your knowledge.

And there shall come upon thee an evil, which thou shalt not know how to remove it by prayer; and there shall fall upon thee mischief, which thou shalt not be able to atone for; and there shall come upon thee suddenly desolation, which thou shalt not know.

12 Go on now with your secret arts, and all your wonder-working, to which you have given yourself up from your earliest days; it may be that they will be of profit to you, or by them you may put fear into your attackers.

Stand now with thy enchantments, and with the multitude of thy sorceries, wherein thou hast labored from thy youth; peradventure thou mayest be able to profit, peradventure thou mayest withstand.

13 But your mind is troubled by the number of your guides: let them now come forward for your salvation: the measurers of the heavens, the watchers of the stars, and those who are able to say from month to month what things are coming on you.

Thou art wearied with the multitude of thy counsels. Do let now those that divide off the heavens, that look at the stars, that announce [coming] events at new moons, stand up, and save thee from the things that are to come over thee.

14 Truly, they have become like dry stems, they have been burned in the fire; they are not able to keep themselves safe from the power of the flame: it is not a coal for warming them, or a fire by which a man may be seated.

Behold, they are become as stubble; the fire burneth them; they shall not deliver themselves from the power of the flame: not a coal shall be left to warm at, no blaze to sit before it.

15 Small profit have you had from those who, from your earliest days, got great profit out of you; they have gone in flight, every one straight before him, and you have no saviour.

Thus are they become unto thee with whom thou hast labored; those that had commerce with thee from thy youth, wander away every one on his road: there is no one to save thee.