Esias 47

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

“Come down, and sit on the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon, Sit on the earth, there is no throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans, For they no longer cry to you, O tender and delicate one.

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

Take millstones, and grind flour, Remove your veil, draw up the skirt, Uncover the leg, pass over the floods.

3 Your shame shall be uncovered, your reproaches shall be brought to light: I will exact of you due vengeance, I will no longer deliver you to men.

Your nakedness is revealed, indeed, your reproach is seen, I take vengeance, and I do not meet a man.”

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

Our redeemer [is] YHWH of Hosts, His Name [is] the Holy One of Israel.

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

“Sit silent, and go into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans, For they no longer cry to you, Mistress of kingdoms.

6 I have been provoked with my people; you have defiled mine inheritance: I gave them into your hand, but you did not extend mercy to them: you made the yoke of the aged man very heavy,

I have been angry against My people, I have defiled My inheritance And I give them into your hand, You have not appointed mercies for them, You have made your yoke very heavy on the aged,

7 and said, I shall be a princess for ever: you did not perceive these things in your heart, nor did you remember the latter end.

And you say, I am mistress for all time, While you have not laid these things to your heart, You have not remembered the latter end of it.

8 But now hear these words, you luxurious one, [who are] 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.

And now, hear this, O luxurious one, Who is sitting confidently—Who is saying in her heart, I [am], and none else, I do not sit [as] a widow, nor know bereavement.

9 But now these two things shall come upon you suddenly in one day, the loss of children and widowhood shall come suddenly upon you, for your sorcery, for the strength of your enchantments,

And these two things come to you, In a moment, in one day: childlessness and widowhood, They have come on you according to their perfection, In the multitude of your sorceries, In the exceeding might of your charms.

10 for your trusting in wickedness: for you said, I am, and there is not another: know you, the understanding of these things and your harlotry shall be your shame; for you said in your heart, I am, and there is not another.

And you are confident in your wickedness, You have said, There is none seeing me, Your wisdom and your knowledge, It is turning you back, And you say in your heart, I [am], and none else.

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

And evil has come in on you, You do not know its rising, And disaster falls on you, You are not able to pacify it, And desolation comes on you suddenly, You do not know.

12 Stand now with your enchantments, and with the abundance of your sorcery, which you have learnt from your youth; if you can be profited.

Now stand in your charms, And in the multitude of your sorceries, In which you have labored from your youth, It may be you are able to profit, It may be you terrify!

13 You are wearied in your counsels. Let now the astrologers of the heaven stand and deliver you, let them that see the stars tell you what is about to come upon you.

You have been wearied in the multitude of your counsels, Now stand up and let them save you—The charmers of the heavens, Those looking on the stars, Those teaching concerning the months—From those things that come on you!

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

Behold, they have been as stubble! Fire has burned them, They do not deliver themselves from the power of the flame, There is not a coal to warm them, a light to sit before it.

15 these shall be your help. You have wearied yourself with traffic from your youth: every man has wandered to his own home, but you shall have no deliverance.

So they have been to you with whom you have labored, Your merchants from your youth, They have each wandered to his passage, None is saving you!”