Isaiah 47
1 Go down and sit in the dust, virgin daughter of Babylon. Sit on the ground without a throne, daughter of Babylonia! No longer will people call you gentle and delicate.
Come down, sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon, sit on the ground: there is no throne for the daughter of the Chaldeans, for thou shalt no more be called delicate and tender.
2 Go to work grinding flour with millstones. Remove your veil. Strip off your skirt, bare your legs, wade through rivers.
Take a millstone and grind meal: uncover thy shame, strip thy shoulder, make bare thy legs, pass over the rivers.
3 You will be seen naked; what should be kept private will be shamefully exposed. I will take vengeance—I won't spare anyone.
Thy nakedness shall be discovered, and thy shame shall be seen: I will take vengeance, and no man shall resist me.
4 Our Redeemer—his name is the Lord Almighty—is the Holy One of Israel.
Our redeemer, the Lord of hosts is his name, the Holy One of Israel.
5 Sit quietly, and go into the darkness, daughter of Babylonia. Never again will you be called queen of all kingdoms.
Sit thou silent, and get thee into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans: for thou shalt no more be called the lady of kingdoms.
6 I was angry with my people, and I abandoned those who belonged to me. I handed them over to you. But you didn't show them mercy—you even mistreated old people.
I was angry with my people, I have polluted my inheritance, and have given them into thy bend: thou hast shewn no mercy to them: upon the ancient thou hast laid thy yoke exceeding heavy.
7 You said, “I will reign forever as the eternal queen.” But you didn't think about what was coming; you didn't remember what would happen to you in the end.
And thou hast said: I shall be a lady for ever: thou hast not laid these things to thy heart, neither hast thou remembered thy latter end.
8 Now listen to this, you sensual woman, sitting there so sure of yourself, saying to yourself, “I am supreme—there's nobody besides me. I shall never be a widow or experience the loss of my children.”
And now hear these things, thou that art delicate, and dwellest confidently, that sayest in thy heart: I am, and there is none else besides me: I shall not sit as a widow, and I shall not know barrenness.
9 But both these things will happen to you in quick succession! In just one day you will lose your children and become a widow. You will have this experience in its totality, in spite of all your witchcraft, in spite of all your magic spells.
These two things shall come upon thee suddenly in one day, barrenness and widowhood. All things are come upon thee, because of the multitude of thy sorceries, and for the great hardness of thy enchanters.
10 You put your trust in your evil actions, saying “No one can see what I'm doing.” Your wisdom and knowledge seduced you, and you told yourself, “I am supreme—there's nobody besides me.”
And thou best trusted in thy wickedness, and hast said: There is none that seeth me. Thy wisdom, and thy knowledge, this hath deceived thee. And thou best said in thy heart: I am, and besides me there is no other.
11 Evil is going to strike you, and you won't be able to magic it away. Disaster will fall on you that you can't stop by paying a ransom. Destruction will suddenly hit you that you weren't expecting.
Evil shall come upon thee, and then shalt not know the rising thereof: and calamity shall fall violently upon thee, which thou canst not keep off: misery shall come upon thee suddenly, which thou shalt not know.
12 So keep going with your magic spells and all your witchcraft, which you have worked at since you were young. Maybe you'll be successful, maybe you'll terrify people!
Stand now with thy enchanters, and with the multitude of thy sorceries, in which thou hast laboured from thy youth, if so be it may profit thee any thing, or if thou mayst become stronger.
13 All the advice you've received has worn you out! Where are your astrologers, those who look to the stars for guidance, who give you their predictions every month? Let them stand up and save you from what's coming down on you!
Thou hast failed in the multitude or thy counsels: let now the astrologers stand and save thee, they that gazed at the stars, and counted the months, that from them they might tell the things that shall come to thee.
14 But look at them! They're like stubble that fire burns up completely—they can't even save their own lives from the flames. This is no fire to sit beside and grow warm!
Behold they are as stubble, fire hath burnt them, they shall not deliver themselves from the power of the dames: there are no coals wherewith they may be warmed, nor fire, that they may sit thereat.
15 All those people you've worked with, all those you've traded with from when you were young—they will all go their own way, nobody will come and save you.
Such are all the things become to thee, in which thou best laboured: thy merchants from thy youth, every one hath erred in his own way, there is none that can save thee.
