< 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 thou shalt no more be called tender and delicate.
2 Take the millstones, and grind meal: uncover thy locks, make bare the leg, uncover the thigh, pass over the rivers.
3 Thy nakedness shall be uncovered, yes, thy shame shall be seen: I will take vengeance, and I will not meet [thee as] a man.
4 [As for] our Redeemer, the LORD of hosts [is] his name, the Holy One of Israel.
5 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 wroth with my people, I have polluted my inheritance, and given them into thy hand: thou didst show them no mercy; upon the ancient hast thou very heavily laid thy yoke.
7 And thou saidst, I shall be a lady for ever: [so] that thou didst not lay these [things] to thy heart, neither didst remember the latter end of it.
8 Therefore hear now this, [thou that art] given to pleasures, that dwellest carelessly, that sayest in thy heart, I [am], and none else besides me; I shall not sit [as] a widow, neither shall I know the loss of children:
9 But these two [things] shall come to thee in a moment in one day, the loss of children, and widowhood: they shall come upon thee in their perfection, for the multitude of thy sorceries, [and] for the great abundance of thy enchantments.
10 For thou hast trusted in thy wickedness: thou hast said, None seeth me. Thy wisdom and thy knowledge, it hath perverted thee; and thou hast said in thy heart, I [am], and none else besides me.
11 Therefore shall evil come upon thee; thou shalt not know from whence it riseth: and mischief shall fall upon thee; thou shalt not be able to put it off: and desolation shall come upon thee suddenly, [which] thou shalt not know.
12 Stand now with thy enchantments, and with the multitude of thy sorceries, in which thou hast labored from thy youth; if thou shalt be able to profit, if thou mayest prevail.
13 Thou art wearied in the multitude of thy counsels. Let now the astrologers, the star-gazers, the monthly prognosticators, stand up, and save thee from [these 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.
15 Thus shall they be to thee with whom thou hast labored, [even] thy merchants, from thy youth: they shall wander every one to his quarter; none shall save thee.