Isaiah 47:1-15
47 Come down and sit in the dust,O virgin daughter of Babylon.+
Sit down on the ground where there is no throne,+O daughter of the Chal·deʹans,For never again will people call you delicate and pampered.
2 Take a hand mill and grind flour.
Remove your veil.
Strip off your skirt, uncover your legs.
Cross over the rivers.
3 Your nakedness will be uncovered.
Your shame will be exposed.
I will take vengeance,+ and no man will stand in my way.*
4 “The One repurchasing us—Jehovah of armies is his name—Is the Holy One of Israel.”+
5 Sit there silently and go into darkness,O daughter of the Chal·deʹans;+No more will they call you Mistress* of Kingdoms.+
6 I grew indignant at my people.+
I profaned my inheritance,+And I gave them into your hand.+
But you showed them no mercy.+
Even on the elderly you placed a heavy yoke.+
7 You said: “I will always be the Mistress,* forever.”+
You did not take these things to heart;You did not consider how the matter would end.
8 Now hear this, O lover of pleasure,+Who sits in security, who says in her heart:
“I am the one, and there is no one else.+
I will not become a widow.
I will never know the loss of children.”+
9 But these two things will come upon you suddenly, in one day:+
Loss of children and widowhood.
In full measure they will come upon you+Because of* your many sorceries and all your powerful spells.+
10 You trusted in your wickedness.
You said: “No one sees me.”
Your wisdom and knowledge are what led you astray,And you say in your heart: “I am the one, and there is no one else.”
11 But calamity will come upon you,And none of your charms will stop it.*
Adversity will befall you; you will not be able to avert it.
Sudden ruin will come upon you like you have never known.+
12 Go ahead, then, with your spells and your many sorceries,+With which you have toiled from your youth.
Perhaps you may be able to benefit;Perhaps you may strike people with awe.
13 You have grown weary with the multitude of your advisers.
Let them stand up now and save you,Those who worship the heavens,* who gaze at the stars,+Those giving out knowledge at the new moonsAbout the things that will come upon you.
14 Look! They are like stubble.
A fire will burn them up.
They cannot save themselves* from the power of the flame.
These are not charcoals for keeping warm,And this is not a fire to sit in front of.
15 So your charmers will become to you,Those with whom you toiled from your youth.
They will wander, each one in his own direction.*
There will be no one to save you.+
Footnotes
^ Or possibly, “and I will not meet anyone kindly.”
^ Or “Queen.”
^ Or “Queen.”
^ Or possibly, “Despite.”
^ Or “And you will not know how to charm it away.”
^ Or possibly, “Those who divide the heavens; The astrologers.”
^ Or “their soul.”
^ Lit., “to his own region.”