Isaiah 47
47
Babylon’s Fall
1Go, sit in the dirt,
virgin princess of Babylon!
Sit on the ground, not on a throne,
princess of the Babylonians!
You will no longer be called soft and delicate.
2Take millstones and grind flour.
Remove your veil.
Take off your skirt.
Uncover your legs, and cross the river.
3People will see you naked.
People will see your shame.
I will take revenge.
I won’t spare anyone.
4Our defender is the Holy One of Israel.
His name is the Lord of Armies.
5Go into the dark, and sit in silence,
princess of the Babylonians!
You will no longer be called the queen of kingdoms.
6I was angry with my people.
I dishonored those who belong to me.
I put them under your control.
You showed them no mercy.
You placed a heavy burden on old people.
7You said, “I will always be a queen.”
You didn’t carefully consider these things
or keep in mind how they would end.
8Now then, listen to this, you lover of pleasure.
You live securely and say to yourself,
“I’m the only one, and there’s no one else.
I won’t live as a widow.
I won’t suffer the loss of children.”
9In one day both of these will happen to you instantly:
the loss of your children and your husband.
All this will happen to you in spite of
your evil magic and your many spells.
10You feel safe in your wickedness
and say, “No one can see me.”
Your wisdom and knowledge have led you astray,
so you say to yourself,
“I’m the only one, and there’s no one else.”
11But evil will happen to you.
You won’t know how to keep it away.
Disaster will strike you.
You won’t be able to stop it.
Destruction will overtake you suddenly.
You won’t expect it.
12Keep practicing your spells and your evil magic.
You have practiced them ever since you were young.
You may succeed.
You may cause terror.
13You are worn out by your many plans.
Let your astrologers and your stargazers,
who foretell the future month by month,
come to you, rise up, and save you.
14They are like straw.
Fire burns them.
They can’t rescue themselves from the flames.
There are no glowing coals to keep them warm
and no fire for them to sit by.
15This is how it will be for those who have worked with you,
for those who have been with you ever since you were young.
They will go their own ways,
and there will be no one to save you.
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Isaiah 47: GW
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GOD'S WORD® Translation ©1995, 2003, 2013, 2014, 2019, 2020 by God's Word to the Nations Mission Society. All rights reserved.
Isaiah 47
47
XLVII
1Come down, and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon I
Sit on the ground, without a throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans:
For thou shalt no longer be called the tender, and the delicate.
2Take the mill, and grind meal:
Take off thy veil, take up the train of thy garment;
Make bare thy leg; wade through the rivers.
3Thy nakedness shall be disclosed; yea, thy shame shall be seen:
I will take vengeance, and will not spare a man.
4 Thus saith our Redeemer, Jehovah of hosts is his name,
The Holy One of Israel:
5Sit thou silent, and get thee into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans;
For thou shalt no longer be called. The lady of Kingdoms.
6I was angry with my people, I polluted mine inheritance,
And gave them up into thine hand:
Thou didst shew them no mercy;
Upon the aged didst thou very heavily lay thy yoke.
7And thou saidst: I shall be a lady for ever:
So that thou didst not lay these things to thy heart,
Neither didst thou think upon the latter end thereof.
8Now, therefore, hear this, O thou voluptuous, that sittest in security:
Thou that sayest in thine heart: I am, and there is none besides;
I shall not sit a widow; neither shall I know the loss of children.
9Yet these two things shall come to thee in a moment,
In one day, loss of children and widowhood:
They shall come upon thee in their perfection,
Notwithstanding the multitude of thy sorceries;
Notwithstanding the great strength of thine enchantments.
10But thou didst trust in thy wickedness, and saidst: None seeth me.
Thy wisdom and thy knowledge, they perverted thee;
So that thou saidst in thine heart: I am, and there is none besides.
11Therefore shall evil come upon thee,
The dawn whereof thou shalt not perceive;
And mischief shall fall upon thee,
Which thou shalt not be able to expiate;
And destruction shall come upon thee suddenly, of which thou shalt have no apprehension.
12Persist now in thine enchantments,
And in the multitude of thy sorceries, wherein thou hast laboured from thy youth;
Perhaps thou mayest be able to profit,
Perhaps thou mayest prevail.
13Thou art wearied in the multiplicity of thy counsels:
Let them stand up now, and save thee,
The astrologers, the gazers on the stars;
They that prognosticate at every new moon
What are the events that shall happen unto thee.
14Behold, they shall be as stubble; the fire shall burn them up;
They shall not deliver their own souls from the power of the flame:
There shall not be a coal to warm at,
Nor a fire to sit before it.
15Thus will they prove to be unto thee, amongst whom thou hast laboured,
Those with whom thou hast had dealing from thy youth:
They shall become bewildered, every one in his quarter;
Not one will there be to save thee.
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Translated by Rev John Jones (Ioan Tegid).Published at Oxford in 1830, second edition 1842.