< 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.
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.
2 Take millstones, and grind flour, Remove your veil, draw up the skirt, Uncover the leg, pass over the floods.
Take the millstones, and grind meal: uncover your locks, make bore the leg, uncover the thigh, pass over the rivers.
3 Your nakedness is revealed, indeed, your reproach is seen, I take vengeance, and I do not meet a man.”
Your nakedness shall be uncovered, yes, your shame shall be seen: I will take vengeance, and I will not meet you as a man.
4 Our redeemer [is] YHWH of Hosts, His Name [is] the Holy One of Israel.
As for our redeemer, the LORD of hosts is his name, 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 you silent, and get you into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans: for you shall no more be called, The lady 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 wroth with my people, I have polluted my inheritance, and given them into your hand: you did show them no mercy; on the ancient have you very heavily laid your 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.
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.
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.
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:
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.
But these two things shall come to you in a moment in one day, the loss of children, and widowhood: they shall come on you in their perfection for the multitude of your sorceries, and for the great abundance of your enchantments.
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.
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.
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.
Therefore shall evil come on you; you shall not know from where it rises: and mischief shall fall on you; you shall not be able to put it off: and desolation shall come on you suddenly, which you shall not know.
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!
Stand now with your enchantments, and with the multitude of your sorceries, wherein you have labored from your youth; if so be you shall be able to profit, if so be you may prevail.
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 in the multitude of your counsels. Let now the astrologers, the stargazers, the monthly prognosticators, stand up, and save you from these things that shall come on you.
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.
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.
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!”
Thus shall they be to you with whom you have labored, even your merchants, from your youth: they shall wander every one to his quarter; none shall save you.

< Isaiah 47 >