Isaiah 47
47
Chapter 47
God's message to Babylon
1‘Babylon, get down on the ground, and sit in the dirt!
Come down off your throne, young lady!
In the past, nobody has touched you,
but people will no longer say that you are so pretty.
2Use heavy stones to make grain into flour.
Take the veil off your face.
Lift up your skirt.
Walk through streams of water with bare legs.
3Stand there with your body completely bare!
Everybody will see your great shame.
I will punish you for your sins,
and nobody will escape.’
4This is what the Lord Almighty says. He is our Redeemer, Israel's Holy God.
5‘You city of the Babylonians, sit there quietly!
Go and hide in a dark place.
People will no longer call you the queen of all kingdoms.
6I was angry with my own people.
They belonged to me as my special people,
but I punished them like ordinary people.
I gave you the power to hurt them,
and you were not kind to them.
You were very cruel to old people.
7You boasted,
“I will rule other nations as queen for ever!”
But you did not think about what you were doing.
You did not think about what would happen in the end.
8So listen to me, Babylon!
You love to enjoy expensive things.
You think that you are strong and safe.
You say to yourself, “Here I am!
There is nobody as good as I am.
I will never be alone as a widow.
I will never lose my children.”
9But both of those things will happen to you!
They will happen suddenly, in only one day.
You will lose your children
and you will become a widow.
All these troubles will come to hurt you.
You can use all your powerful magic
but you will not stop this trouble!
10You thought that your evil deeds would keep you safe.
You said, “Nobody sees me!”
You think that you are very wise
and that you know everything.
But your wisdom has deceived you.
You say, “Here I am!
There is nobody as good as I am.”
11But trouble will suddenly come to you.
Your magic words will not stop it.
Trouble will come and destroy you.
You cannot pay anyone to take it away.
It will suddenly hit you,
before you even recognize it.
12So continue with your magic, if you want to.
Say your magic words.
You have always used that magic,
since you were young.
Perhaps your magic will help you.
Perhaps you will frighten your enemies!
13You receive a lot of advice,
and it has made you become tired.
Let your advisors come and stand there.
They study the sky and the stars to decide what will happen.
They say what will happen each month.
So let them come and help you!
See if they can rescue you from the trouble that is coming!
14But they are as useless as straw
that quickly burns in a fire.
They cannot save themselves,
because the fire is too hot!
This is not a nice fire to sit beside and enjoy the heat.
15You have worked with those magicians since you were young,
but you will have no help from them now.
They have gone their own separate ways.
There is nobody left who can save you.’
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Isaiah 47
47
Judgement on Babylon
1 #
Is 13.1—14.23; Jer 50.1; 51.64 The LORD says,
“Babylon, come down from your throne,
and sit in the dust on the ground.
You were once like a virgin, a city unconquered,
but you are soft and delicate no longer!
You are now a slave!
2Turn the millstone! Grind the flour!
Off with your veil! Strip off your fine clothes!
Lift up your skirts to cross the streams!#47.2 cross the streams: This probably refers to going into exile.
3People will see you naked;
they will see you humbled and shamed.
I will take vengeance, and no one will stop me.”
4The holy God of Israel sets us free —
his name is the LORD Almighty.
5The LORD says to Babylon,
“Sit in silence and darkness;
no more will they call you the queen of nations!
6I was angry with my people;
I treated them as no longer mine:
I put them in your power,
and you showed them no mercy;
even the aged you treated harshly.
7You thought you would always be a queen,
and did not take these things to heart
or think how it all would end.
8 #
Rev 18.7–8
“Listen to this, you lover of pleasure,
you that think you are safe and secure.
You claim you are as great as God —
that there is no one else like you.
You thought that you would never be a widow
or suffer the loss of your children.
9But in a moment, in a single day,
both of these things will happen.
In spite of all the magic you use,
you will lose your husband and children.
10“You felt sure of yourself in your evil;
you thought that no one could see you.
Your wisdom and knowledge led you astray,
and you said to yourself, ‘I am God —
there is no one else like me.’
11Disaster will come upon you,
and none of your magic can stop it.
Ruin will come on you suddenly —
ruin you never dreamt of!
12Keep all your magic spells and charms;
you have used them since you were young.
Perhaps they will be of some help to you;
perhaps you can frighten your enemies.
13You are powerless in spite of the advice you get.
Let your astrologers come forward and save you —
those people who study the stars,
who map out the zones of the heavens
and tell you from month to month
what#47.13 Some ancient translations what; Hebrew from what. is going to happen to you.
14“They will be like bits of straw,
and a fire will burn them up!
They will not even be able to save themselves —
the flames will be too hot for them,
not a cosy fire to warm themselves by.
15That is all the good they will do you —
those astrologers you've consulted all your life.
They all will leave you and go their own way,
and none will be left to save you.”
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Good News Bible. Scripture taken from the Good News Bible (r) (Today's English Version Second Edition, UK/British Edition). Copyright © 1992 British & Foreign Bible Society. Used by permission.