Isaiah 47

Chapter 47

Lament for Babylon

¹“^aCome down and sit in the dust,

O ^bvirgin ^cdaughter of Babylon;

Sit on the ground without a throne,

O daughter of the Chaldeans!

For you shall no longer be called ^dtender and delicate.

²“Take the ^amillstones and ^bgrind meal.

Remove your ^cveil, ^dstrip off the skirt,

Uncover the leg, cross the rivers.

³“Your ^anakedness will be uncovered,

Your shame also will be exposed;

I will ^btake vengeance and will not ¹spare a man.”

⁴Our ^aRedeemer, the Lord of hosts is His name,

The Holy One of Israel.

⁵“^aSit silently, and go into ^bdarkness,

O daughter of the Chaldeans,

For you will no longer be called

The ^cqueen of ^dkingdoms.

⁶“I was angry with My people,

I profaned My heritage

And gave them into your hand.

You did not show mercy to them,

On the ^aaged you made your yoke very heavy.

⁷“Yet you said, ‘I will be a ^aqueen forever.’

These things you did not ^bconsider

Nor remember the ^coutcome of ¹them.

⁸“Now, then, hear this, you ^asensual one,

Who ^bdwells securely,

Who says in ¹your heart,

‘^cI am, and there is no one besides me.

I will ^dnot sit as a widow,

Nor know loss of children.’

⁹“But these ^atwo things will come on you ^bsuddenly in one day:

Loss of children and widowhood.

They will come on you in full measure

In spite of your many ^csorceries,

In spite of the great power of your spells.

¹⁰“You felt ^asecure in your wickedness and said,

‘^bNo one sees me,’

Your ^cwisdom and your knowledge, ¹they have deluded you;

For you have said in your heart,

‘^dI am, and there is no one besides me.’

¹¹“But ^aevil will come on you

Which you will not know how to charm away;

And disaster will fall on you

For which you cannot atone;

And ^bdestruction about which you do not know

Will come on you ^csuddenly.

¹²“Stand fast now in your ^aspells

And in your many sorceries

With which you have labored from your youth;

Perhaps you will be able to profit,

Perhaps you may cause trembling.

¹³“You are ^awearied with your many counsels;

Let now the ^bastrologers,

Those who prophesy by the stars,

Those who predict by the new moons,

Stand up and ^csave you from what will come upon you.

¹⁴“Behold, they have become ^alike stubble,

^bFire burns them;

They cannot deliver themselves from the power of the flame;

There will be ^cno coal to warm by

Nor a fire to sit before!

¹⁵“So have those become to you with whom you have labored,

Who have ^atrafficked with you from your youth;

Each has wandered in his own ¹way;

There is ^bnone to save you.