Isaiah 47
47
Babylon Will Fall
The Lord said:
1 #
Is 13.1—14.23; Jr 50.1—51.64. City of Babylon,
You are delicate
and untouched,
but that will change.
Surrender your royal power
and sit in the dirt.
2Start grinding grain!
Take off your veil.
Strip off your fancy clothes
and wade across rivers.#47.2 Strip … rivers: This may be a command to get ready for work that requires wading in the river, or it may be a warning that they are going to be taken away as slaves.
3You will suffer the shame
of going naked,
because I will take revenge,
and no one can escape.#47.3 escape: Or “oppose me.”
4I am the Lord All-Powerful,
the holy God of Israel.
I am their Savior.
5Babylon, be silent!
Sit in the dark.
No longer will nations
accept you as their queen.
6I was angry with my people.
So I let you take their land
and bring disgrace on them.
You showed them no mercy,
but were especially cruel
to those who were old.
7You thought that you
would be queen forever.
You didn't care what you did;
it never entered your mind
that you might get caught.
8 #
Rev 18.7,8. You think that you alone
are all-powerful,
that you won't be a widow
or lose your children.
All you care about is pleasure,
but listen to what I say.
9Your magic powers and charms
will suddenly fail,
then you will be a widow
and lose your children.
10You hid behind evil
like a shield and said,
“No one can see me!”
You were fooled by your wisdom
and your knowledge;
you felt sure that you alone
were in full control.
11But without warning,
disaster will strike—
and your magic charms
won't help at all.
12Keep using your magic powers
and your charms
as you have always done.
Maybe—just maybe—
you will frighten somebody!
13You have worn yourself out,
asking for advice
from those who study the stars
and tell the future
month after month.
Go ask them how to be saved
from what will happen.
14People who trust the stars
are as helpless as straw
in a flaming fire.
No one can even keep warm,#47.14 keep warm: Or “cook food.”
sitting by a fire
that feeds only on straw.
15These are the fortunetellers
you have done business with
all of your life.
But they don't know
where they are going,
and they can't save you.
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Isaiah 47: CEV
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Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)
© 2006 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.
Isaiah 47
47
The Humiliation of Babylon
1“Go down and sit in the dust,
O Virgin Daughter of Babylon.
Sit on the ground without a throne,
O Daughter of Chaldea!#47:1 That is, Babylon; also in verse 5
For you will no longer be called
tender or delicate.
2Take millstones and grind flour;
remove your veil;
strip off your skirt, bare your thigh,
and wade through the streams.
3Your nakedness will be uncovered
and your shame will be exposed.
I will take vengeance;
I will spare no one.”
4Our Redeemer—the Lord of Hosts is His name—
is the Holy One of Israel.
5“Sit in silence and go into darkness,
O Daughter of Chaldea.
For you will no longer be called
the queen of kingdoms.
6I was angry with My people;
I profaned My heritage,
and I placed them under your control.
You showed them no mercy;
even on the elderly you laid a most heavy yoke.
7You said, ‘I will be queen forever.’
You did not take these things to heart
or consider their outcome.
8So now hear this,
O lover of luxury who sits securely,
who says to herself,
‘I am, and there is none besides me.
I will never be a widow
or know the loss of children.’
9These two things will overtake you in a moment,
in a single day:
loss of children, and widowhood.
They will come upon you in full measure,
in spite of your many sorceries
and the potency of your spells.
10You were secure in your wickedness;
you said, ‘No one sees me.’
Your wisdom and knowledge led you astray;
you told yourself, ‘I am, and there is none besides me.’
11But disaster will come upon you;
you will not know how to charm it away.
A calamity will befall you
that you will be unable to ward off.
Devastation will happen to you
suddenly and unexpectedly.
12So take your stand with your spells
and with your many sorceries,
with which you have wearied yourself
from your youth.
Perhaps you will succeed;
perhaps you will inspire terror!
13You are wearied by your many counselors;
let them come forward now and save you—
your astrologers who observe the stars,
who monthly predict your fate.
14Surely they are like stubble;
the fire will burn them up.
They cannot deliver themselves
from the power of the flame.
There will be no coals to warm them
or fire to sit beside.
15This is what they are to you—
those with whom you have labored and traded from youth—
each one strays in his own direction;
not one of them can save you.
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The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible, BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee. This text of God's Word has been dedicated to the public domain.