Isaiah 47

1 “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.

“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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

6 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,

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.

7 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.

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

8 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.

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.’

9 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.

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.

10 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.

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.’

11 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.

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.

12 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!

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!

13 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!

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.

14 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.

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.

15 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!”

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.