Isaiah 47
47
1Go down and sit in the dust, virgin daughter of Babylon. Sit on the ground without a throne, daughter of Babylonia!#47:1. “Babylonia”: literally, “Chaldea,” another name for Babylonia. Also verse 5, and 48:14. No longer will people call you gentle and delicate. 2Go to work grinding flour with millstones. Remove your veil. Strip off your skirt, bare your legs, wade through rivers. 3You will be seen naked; what should be kept private will be shamefully exposed. I will take vengeance—I won't spare anyone.
4Our Redeemer—his name is the Lord Almighty—is the Holy One of Israel.
5Sit quietly, and go into the darkness, daughter of Babylonia. Never again will you be called queen of all kingdoms. 6I was angry with my people, and I abandoned those who belonged to me.#47:6. “I abandoned those who belonged to me”: literally, “I profaned my inheritance.” I handed them over to you. But you didn't show them mercy—you even mistreated old people. 7You said, “I will reign forever as the eternal queen.” But you didn't think about what was coming; you didn't remember what would happen to you in the end.
8Now listen to this, you sensual woman,#47:8. Though the image of a woman continues, the subject is the kingdom of Babylon. sitting there so sure of yourself, saying to yourself, “I am supreme#47:8. “I am supreme”: the Hebrew simply has the emphatic “I.”—there's nobody besides me. I shall never be a widow or experience the loss of my children.”
9But both these things will happen to you in quick succession! In just one day you will lose your children and become a widow. You will have this experience in its totality, in spite of all your witchcraft, in spite of all your magic spells. 10You put your trust in your evil actions, saying, “No one can see what I'm doing.” Your wisdom and knowledge seduced you, and you told yourself, “I am supreme—there's nobody besides me.” 11Evil#47:11. The same word is used here as in verse 10. is going to strike you, and you won't be able to magic it away. Disaster will fall on you that you can't stop by paying a ransom. Destruction will suddenly hit you that you weren't expecting.
12So keep going with your magic spells and all your witchcraft, which you have worked at since you were young. Maybe you'll be successful, maybe you'll terrify people! 13All the advice you've received has worn you out! Where are your astrologers, those who look to the stars for guidance, who give you their predictions every month? Let them stand up and save you from what's coming down on you! 14But look at them! They're like stubble that fire burns up completely—they can't even save their own lives from the flames. This is no fire to sit beside and grow warm! 15All those people you've worked with, all those you've traded with from when you were young—they will all go their own way, nobody will come and save you.
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Dr. Jonathan Gallagher. Released under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 Unported License. Version 4.3. For corrections send email to jonathangallagherfbv@gmail.com
Isaiah 47
47
1 COME DOWN, and sit in the dust, O Virgin Daughter of Babylon; sit on the ground [in abject humiliation]; there is no throne for you, O Daughter of the Chaldeans, for you shall no longer be called dainty and delicate.
2 Take the millstones [like the poorest female slave of the household does] and grind meal; take off your veil and uncover your hair. Remove your skirt, bare your leg, wade through the rivers [at the command of your captors].
3 Your nakedness shall be exposed, and your shame shall be seen. I will take vengeance, and I will spare no man [none I encounter will be able to resist Me],
4 [Says] our Redeemer–the Lord of hosts is His name–the Holy One of Israel.
5 Sit in silence and go into darkness, O Daughter of the Chaldeans; for you shall no more be called the lady and mistress of kingdoms.
6 I was angry with My people, I profaned My inheritance [Judah]; and I gave them into your hand [Babylon]. You showed them no mercy; upon the old people you made your yoke very heavy.
7 And you said, I shall be the mistress forever! So you did not lay these things to heart, nor did you [seriously] remember the certain, ultimate end of such conduct.
8 Therefore now, hear this, you who love pleasures and are given over to them, you who dwell safely and sit securely, who say in your mind, I am [the mistress] and there is no one else besides me. I shall not sit as a widow, nor shall I know the loss of children.
9 But these two things shall come to you in a moment, in one day: loss of children and widowhood. They shall come upon you in full measure, in spite of the multitude of [your claims to] power given you by the assistance of evil spirits, in spite of the great abundance of your enchantments. [Rev. 18:7, 8.]
10 For you [Babylon] have trusted in your wickedness; you have said, No one sees me. Your wisdom and your knowledge led you astray, and you said in your heart and mind, I am, and there is no one besides me.
11 Therefore shall evil come upon you; you shall not know the dawning of it or how to charm it away. And a disaster and evil shall fall upon you that you shall not be able to atone for [with all your offerings to your gods]; and desolation shall come upon you suddenly, about which you shall know nothing or how to avert it.
12 Persist, then, with your enchantments and the multitude of your sorceries [Babylon], in which you have labored from your youth; and see if perhaps you will be able to profit, if you will prevail and strike terror!
13 You are wearied with your many counsels and plans. Let now the astrologers, the stargazers, and the monthly prognosticators stand up and make known to you and save you from the things that shall come upon you [Babylon].
14 Behold, they are like stubble; the fire consumes them. They cannot even deliver themselves from the power of the flame [much less deliver the nation]. There is no coal for warming or fire before which to sit!
15 Such to you shall they [the astrologers and their kind] be, those with whom you have labored and such their fate, those who have done business with you from your youth; they will wander, every one to his own quarter and in his own direction. No one will save you.
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1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation