Isaiah 47

The Fall of Babylon

47“Go down, sit in the dust,^u

Virgin Daughter^v Babylon;

sit on the ground without a throne,

queen city of the Babylonians.^aw

No more will you be called

tender or delicate.^x

²Take millstones^y and grind^z flour;

take off your veil.^a

Lift up your skirts,^b bare your legs,

and wade through the streams.

³Your nakedness^c will be exposed

and your shame^d uncovered.

I will take vengeance;^e

I will spare no one.^f”

⁴Our Redeemer^g—the Lord Almighty^h is his nameⁱ—

is the Holy One^j 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

⁶I was angry^p 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.

⁷You said, ‘I am forever^t—

the eternal queen!’^u

But you did not consider these things

or reflect^v on what might happen.^w

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

lounging in your security^x

and saying to yourself,

‘I am, and there is none besides me.^y

I will never be a widow^z

or suffer the loss of children.’

⁹Both of these will overtake you

in a moment,^a on a single day:

loss of children^b and widowhood.^c

They will come upon you in full measure,

in spite of your many sorceries^d

and all your potent spells.^e

¹⁰You have trusted^f in your wickedness

and have said, ‘No one sees me.’^g

Your wisdom^h and knowledge misleadⁱ you

when you say to yourself,

‘I am, and there is none besides me.’

¹¹Disaster^j 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^k 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.

¹³All 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 save^o you from what is coming upon you.

¹⁴Surely they are like stubble;^p

the fire^q 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.

¹⁵That is all they are to you—

these you have dealt with

and labored^s with since childhood.

All of them go on in their error;

there is not one that can save^t you.