1‘Go down, sit in the dust, Virgin Daughter Babylon; sit on the ground without a throne, queen city of the Babylonians.[1] No more will you be called tender or delicate.2Take millstones and grind flour; take off your veil. Lift up your skirts, bare your legs, and wade through the streams.3Your nakedness will be exposed and your shame uncovered. I will take vengeance; I will spare no-one.’4Our Redeemer – the Lord Almighty is his name – is the Holy One of Israel.5‘Sit in silence, go into darkness, queen city of the Babylonians; no more will you be called queen of kingdoms.6I was angry with my people and desecrated my inheritance; I gave them into your hand, and you showed them no mercy. Even on the aged you laid a very heavy yoke.7You said, “I am for ever – the eternal queen!” But you did not consider these things or reflect on what might happen.8‘Now then, listen, you lover of pleasure, lounging in your security and saying to yourself, “I am, and there is none besides me. I will never be a widow or suffer the loss of children.”9Both of these will overtake you in a moment, on a single day: loss of children and widowhood. They will come upon you in full measure, in spite of your many sorceries and all your potent spells.10You have trusted in your wickedness and have said, “No-one sees me.” Your wisdom and knowledge mislead you when you say to yourself, “I am, and there is none besides me.”11Disaster will come upon you, and you will not know how to conjure it away. A calamity will fall upon you that you cannot ward off with a ransom; a catastrophe you cannot foresee will suddenly come upon you.12‘Keep on, then, with your magic spells and with your many sorceries, which you have laboured at since childhood. Perhaps you will succeed, perhaps you will cause terror.13All the counsel you have received has only worn you out! Let your astrologers come forward, those stargazers who make predictions month by month, let them save you from what is coming upon you.14Surely they are like stubble; the fire will burn them up. They cannot even save themselves from the power of the flame. These are not coals for warmth; this is not a fire to sit by.15That is all they are to you – these you have dealt with and laboured with since childhood. All of them go on in their error; there is not one that can save you.
Isaiah 47
English Standard Version
The Humiliation of Babylon
1Come down and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon; sit on the ground without a throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans! For you shall no more be called tender and delicate. (Ps 137:8; Isa 3:26; Isa 13:19; Isa 23:13; Isa 43:14; Isa 47:5; Isa 48:14)2Take the millstones and grind flour, put off your veil, strip off your robe, uncover your legs, pass through the rivers. (Jud 16:21; Isa 20:4; Mt 24:41)3Your nakedness shall be uncovered, and your disgrace shall be seen. I will take vengeance, and I will spare no one.4Our Redeemer—the Lord of hosts is his name— is the Holy One of Israel. (Isa 43:14)5Sit in silence, and go into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans; for you shall no more be called the mistress of kingdoms. (Isa 47:1; Jer 8:14)6I was angry with my people; I profaned my heritage; I gave them into your hand; you showed them no mercy; on the aged you made your yoke exceedingly heavy. (Isa 14:17; Isa 51:23; Zec 1:15)7You said, “I shall be mistress forever,” so that you did not lay these things to heart or remember their end. (Isa 47:1)8Now therefore hear this, you lover of pleasures, who sit securely, who say in your heart, “I am, and there is no one besides me; I shall not sit as a widow or know the loss of children”: (Isa 45:6; Isa 45:18; Isa 47:7; Jer 50:29; La 1:1; Zep 2:15; Re 18:7)9These two things shall come to you in a moment, in one day; the loss of children and widowhood shall come upon you in full measure, in spite of your many sorceries and the great power of your enchantments. (Isa 47:12; Isa 51:19; Jer 50:31; Na 3:4)10You felt secure in your wickedness; you said, “No one sees me”; your wisdom and your knowledge led you astray, and you said in your heart, “I am, and there is no one besides me.” (Isa 45:6; Isa 45:18; Jer 50:29)11But evil shall come upon you, which you will not know how to charm away; disaster shall fall upon you, for which you will not be able to atone; and ruin shall come upon you suddenly, of which you know nothing. (Ps 35:8; Jer 51:41)12Stand fast in your enchantments and your many sorceries, with which you have labored from your youth; perhaps you may be able to succeed; perhaps you may inspire terror. (Isa 47:9)13You are wearied with your many counsels; let them stand forth and save you, those who divide the heavens, who gaze at the stars, who at the new moons make known what shall come upon you. (Isa 44:25; Da 2:2; Da 2:10)14Behold, they are like stubble; the fire consumes them; they cannot deliver themselves from the power of the flame. No coal for warming oneself is this, no fire to sit before! (Isa 10:17; Isa 41:2; Na 1:10; Mal 4:1)15Such to you are those with whom you have labored, who have done business with you from your youth; they wander about, each in his own direction; there is no one to save you.