Isaiah 47
47
The Party’s Over
1-3“Get off your high horse and sit in the dirt,
virgin daughter of Babylon.
No more throne for you—sit on the ground,
daughter of the Chaldeans.
Nobody will be calling you ‘charming’
and ‘alluring’ anymore. Get used to it.
Get a job, any old job:
Clean gutters, scrub toilets.
Pawn your gowns and scarves,
put on your working pants—the party’s over.
Your nude body will be on public display,
exposed to vulgar taunts.
It’s vengeance time, and I’m taking vengeance.
No one gets let off the hook.”
You’re Acting Like the Center of the Universe
4-13Our Redeemer speaks,
named God-of-the-Angel-Armies, The Holy of Israel:
“Shut up and get out of the way,
daughter of Chaldeans.
You’ll no longer be called
‘First Lady of the Kingdoms.’
I was fed up with my people,
thoroughly disgusted with my progeny.
I turned them over to you,
but you had no compassion.
You put old men and women
to cruel, hard labor.
You said, ‘I’m the First Lady.
I’ll always be the pampered darling.’
You took nothing seriously, took nothing to heart,
never gave tomorrow a thought.
Well, start thinking, party girl.
You’re acting like the center of the universe,
Smugly saying to yourself, ‘I’m Number One. There’s nobody but me.
I’ll never be a widow, I’ll never lose my children.’
Those two things are going to hit you both at once,
suddenly, on the same day:
Spouse and children gone, a total loss,
despite your many enchantments and charms.
You were so confident and comfortable in your evil life,
saying, ‘No one sees me.’
You thought you knew so much, had everything figured out.
What delusion!
Smugly telling yourself, ‘I’m Number One. There’s nobody but me.’
Ruin descends—
you can’t charm it away.
Disaster strikes—
you can’t cast it off with spells.
Catastrophe, sudden and total—
and you’re totally at sea, totally bewildered!
But don’t give up. From your great repertoire
of enchantments there must be one you haven’t yet tried.
You’ve been at this a long time.
Surely something will work.
I know you’re exhausted trying out remedies,
but don’t give up.
Call in the astrologers and stargazers.
They’re good at this. Surely they can work up something!
14-15“Fat chance. You’d be grasping at straws
that are already in the fire,
A fire that is even now raging.
Your ‘experts’ are in it and won’t get out.
It’s not a fire for cooking venison stew,
not a fire to warm you on a winter night!
That’s the fate of your friends in sorcery, your magician cronies
you’ve been colluding with all your life.
They reel, confused, bumping into one another.
None of them bother to help you.”
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Isaiah 47: MSG
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THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved. Used by permission of NavPress. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.
Isaiah 47
47
Babylon’s Fall
1Come down and sit on the dust, virgin daughter of Babylon!
Sit on the ground without a throne, daughter of Chaldea!
For they shall no longer call#Literally “you shall not add they shall call to” you tender and delicate.
2Take the pair of mill stones and grind flour!
Uncover your veil,
strip off your skirt,
uncover your thigh,
pass through the rivers!
3Your nakedness shall be exposed;
indeed, your shame shall become visible.
I will take vengeance
and I will not spare#Literally “plead with” a person.
4Our redeemer, Yahweh of hosts is his name, the holy one of Israel.
5Sit silently and go into the darkness, daughter of Chaldea,
for they shall no longer call#Literally “you shall not add they shall call to” you mistress of kingdoms.
6I was angry with my people;
I profaned my inheritance,
and I gave them into your hand.
You did not give#Literally “set up” them mercy;
on the aged you made your yoke very heavy.
7And you said, “I shall be an eternal mistress forever!”
You did not set these things upon your heart;
you did not remember its end.
8Therefore now hear this, luxuriant one who sits#Or “sitting” in security,
who says#Or “saying” in her heart, “I am, and besides me there is no one.
I shall not sit as a widow,
and I shall not know the loss of children.”
9And these two shall come to you in a moment, in one day:
the loss of children and widowhood shall come on you completely,#Literally “as their fullness”
in spite of your many sorceries,
in spite of the power of your great enchantments.
10And you felt secure in your wickedness;
you said, “No one#Literally “none” sees#Or “is seeing” me.”
Your wisdom and your knowledge led you astray,
and you said in your heart, “I am, and besides me there is no one.”
11And evil shall come upon you, you will not know;
it will be on the lookout for her.
And disaster shall fall upon you; you will not be able to avert#Literally “make amends” it.
And ruin shall come on you suddenly; you do not know.
12Stand, now, in your enchantments,
and in your many sorceries with which you have labored from your youth.
Perhaps you may be able to benefit;
perhaps you may scare away.#Literally “terrify”
13You struggle with your many consultations;#Or “advice”
let them stand, now, and save you—
those who see the stars, divide the celestial sphere,#Literally “heavens,” that is, for astrology
who inform by new moons—
from those things that are coming upon you.
14Look! They are like stubble;
the fire burns them completely.
They cannot deliver themselves#Literally “their lives” from the power#Literally “hand” of the flame;
there is no coal for warming oneself,#Literally “to grow warm”
no fire before which to sit.
15So are to you those with whom you have labored,
your traders from your youth.
They wander, each to his side;
there is no one who can save you.
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