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 men shall nevermore call thee, 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 mill, and grind meal: uncover thy locks, lift up the train, 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.”
Thy nakedness shall be uncovered, yea, thy shame shall be seen: I will take vengeance, and I will not regard any man.
4 Our redeemer [is] YHWH of Hosts, His Name [is] the Holy One of Israel.
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 thou silent, and enter into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans; for men shall never more call thee, The mistress 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 over my people, I defiled my inheritance, and gave them into thy hand: [yet] thou didst grant them no mercy; upon the aged hast thou laid very heavily thy 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 thou saidst, For ever shall I be mistress; until that thou didst not lay these things to thy heart, thou didst not call to mind the result thereof.
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.
And now hear this, luxurious one, that dwellest in security, that sayest in thy heart, I am, and there is nothing 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.
Yet both these things shall come to thee in a moment in one day, the loss of children, and widowhood; in their full measure shall they come upon thee, despite of the multitude of thy sorceries, despite of the very great abundance of thy 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.
And thou didst trust in thy wickedness: thou saidst, No one seeth me. Thy wisdom and thy knowledge, —these were they that seduced thee; and thou saidst in thy heart, I am, and there is nothing 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.
And there shall come upon thee an evil, which thou shalt not know how to remove it by prayer; and there shall fall upon thee mischief, which thou shalt not be able to atone for; and there shall come upon thee suddenly desolation, which thou shalt 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 thy enchantments, and with the multitude of thy sorceries, wherein thou hast labored from thy youth; peradventure thou mayest be able to profit, peradventure thou mayest withstand.
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!
Thou art wearied with the multitude of thy counsels. Do let now those that divide off the heavens, that look at the stars, that announce [coming] events at new moons, stand up, and save thee from the things that are to come over thee.
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 are become as stubble; the fire burneth them; they shall not deliver themselves from the power of the flame: not a coal shall be left to warm at, no blaze 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 are they become unto thee with whom thou hast labored; those that had commerce with thee from thy youth, wander away every one on his road: there is no one to save thee.
