The Fall of Babylon

47 “Go down, sit in the dust,u

Virgin Daughterv Babylon;

sit on the ground without a throne,

queen city of the Babylonians.a w

No more will you be called

tender or delicate.x

2 Take millstonesy and grindz flour;

take off your veil.a

Lift up your skirts,b bare your legs,

and wade through the streams.

3 Your nakednessc will be exposed

and your shamed uncovered.

I will take vengeance;e

I will spare no one.f”

4 Our Redeemerg—the Lord Almightyh is his namei—

is the Holy Onej of Israel.

5 “Sit in silence,k go into darkness,l

queen city of the Babylonians;m

no more will you be called

queenn of kingdoms.o

6 I was angryp with my people

and desecrated my inheritance;q

I gave them into your hand,r

and you showed them no mercy.s

Even on the aged

you laid a very heavy yoke.

7 You said, ‘I am forevert—

the eternal queen!’u

But you did not consider these things

or reflectv on what might happen.w

8 “Now then, listen, you lover of pleasure,

lounging in your securityx

and saying to yourself,

‘I am, and there is none besides me.y

I will never be a widowz

or suffer the loss of children.’

9 Both of these will overtake you

in a moment,a on a single day:

loss of childrenb and widowhood.c

They will come upon you in full measure,

in spite of your many sorceriesd

and all your potent spells.e

10 You have trustedf in your wickedness

and have said, ‘No one sees me.’g

Your wisdomh and knowledge misleadi you

when you say to yourself,

‘I am, and there is none besides me.’

11 Disasterj 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 suddenlyk come upon you.

12 “Keep on, then, with your magic spells

and with your many sorceries,l

which you have labored at since childhood.

Perhaps you will succeed,

perhaps you will cause terror.

13 All the counsel you have received has only worn you out!m

Let your astrologersn come forward,

those stargazers who make predictions month by month,

let them saveo you from what is coming upon you.

14 Surely they are like stubble;p

the fireq will burn them up.

They cannot even save themselves

from the power of the flame.r

These are not coals for warmth;

this is not a fire to sit by.

15 That is all they are to you—

these you have dealt with

and laboreds with since childhood.

All of them go on in their error;

there is not one that can savet you.