< Isaiah 47 >

1 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 you shall no more be called tender and delicate.
Come down, and sit in the dust, O virgin, daughter of Babylon! Sit on the ground without a throne, O daughter of the Chaldaeans! For thou shalt no longer be called the tender and delicate!
2 Take the millstones, and grind meal: uncover your locks, make bare the leg, uncover the thigh, pass over the rivers.
Take the mill-stones and grind meal; Raise thy veil, lift up thy train; Make bare the leg, wade through the streams!
3 Your nakedness shall be uncovered, yea, your shame shall be seen: I will take vengeance, and I will not meet you as a man.
Thy nakedness shall be uncovered, And thy shame shall be seen. I will take vengeance; I will make peace with none.
4 As for our redeemer, the LORD of hosts is his name, the Holy One of Israel.
Our Redeemer, Jehovah of hosts is his name, The Holy One of Israel.
5 Sit you silent, and get you into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans: for you shall no more be called, The lady of kingdoms.
Sit thou in silence; go into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldaeans! For thou shalt no more be called the mistress of kingdoms.
6 I was angry with my people, I have polluted mine inheritance, and given them into your hand: you did show them no mercy; upon the ancient have you very heavily laid your yoke.
I was angry with my people; I profaned my inheritance, And gave them into thy hand; Thou didst show them no mercy; Even upon the aged didst thou lay a very grievous yoke.
7 And you said, I shall be a lady for ever: so that you did not lay these things to your heart, neither did remember the latter end of it.
Thou saidst, “I shall be mistress forever”; So that thou didst not lay these things to thy heart, Nor consider what would be the end of them.
8 Therefore hear now this, you that are given to pleasures, that dwell carelessly, that say in your heart, I am, and none else beside me; I shall not sit as a widow, neither shall I know the loss of children:
But hear thou this, thou that art given to pleasure! That sittest in security, And sayest in thy heart, “I am, and there is none besides me; I shall not be a widow, Nor see myself childless!”
9 But these two things shall come to you in a moment in one day, the loss of children, and widowhood: they shall come upon you in their perfection for the multitude of your sorceries, and for the great abundance of your enchantments.
Behold, both these things shall come upon thee suddenly, in one day, Loss of children, and widowhood; In full measure shall they come upon thee, In spite of thy many sorceries, And the great abundance of thy enchantments.
10 For you have trusted in your wickedness: you have said, None sees me. Your wisdom and your knowledge, it has perverted you; and you have said in your heart, I am, and none else beside me.
Thou didst trust in thy wickedness, and saidst, “No one seeth me”; Thy wisdom and thy knowledge have led thee astray; Thou saidst in thy heart, “I am, and there is none besides me”;
11 Therefore shall evil come upon you; you shall not know from whence it rises: and mischief shall fall upon you; you shall not be able to put it off: and desolation shall come upon you suddenly, which you shall not know.
Therefore shall evil come upon thee, of which thou shalt not know the dawn; And mischief shall fall upon thee, which thou shalt not be able to expiate; Suddenly shall desolation come upon thee, when thou thinkest not of it.
12 Stand now with your enchantments, and with the multitude of your sorceries, wherein you have laboured from your youth; if so be you shall be able to profit, if so be you may prevail.
Persevere now in thy enchantments; In the multitude of thy sorceries, in which thou hast labored from thy youth; Perhaps thou mayst be profited by them! Perhaps thou mayst make thyself feared!
13 You are wearied in the multitude of your counsels. Let now the astrologers, the stargazers, the monthly sign tellers, stand up, and save you from these things that shall come upon you.
Art thou wearied with thy many devices? Let them stand up, then, and save thee, The observers of the heavens, the star-gazers, They that prognosticate at every new moon The things that shall come upon thee!
14 Behold, they shall be as stubble; the fire shall burn them; they shall not deliver themselves from the power of the flame: there shall not be a coal to warm at, nor fire to sit before it.
Behold, they shall be like stubble; the fire shall burn them up; They shall not deliver themselves from the power of the flame; Not a coal shall be left of them to warm one, Nor a spark of fire to sit by.
15 Thus shall they be unto you with whom you have laboured, even your merchants, from your youth: they shall wander every one to his quarter; none shall save you.
Thus shall it be with them with whom thou hast labored; Thus with them with whom thou hast trafficked from thy youth; They shall go every one his own way; None shall help thee.

< Isaiah 47 >