Mourning for Babylon

47 (A)Come down and sit in the dust,
(B)Virgin (C)daughter of Babylon;
Sit on the ground without a throne,
Daughter of the Chaldeans!
For you will no longer be called (D)tender and delicate.
Take the (E)millstones and (F)grind flour.
Remove your (G)veil, (H)strip off the skirt,
Uncover the leg, cross the rivers.
Your (I)nakedness will be uncovered,
Your shame will also be exposed;
I will (J)take vengeance and will not spare anyone.”
Our (K)Redeemer, the Lord of armies is His name,
The Holy One of Israel.
(L)Sit silently, and go into (M)darkness,
Daughter of the Chaldeans;
For you will no longer be called
The (N)queen of (O)kingdoms.
I was angry with My people,
I profaned My heritage
And handed them over to you.
You did not show mercy to them,
On the (P)aged you made your yoke very heavy.
Yet you said, ‘I will be a (Q)queen forever.’
These things you did not (R)consider
Nor remember the (S)outcome of [a]them.

“Now, then, hear this, you (T)luxuriant one,
Who (U)lives securely,
Who says in her heart,
(V)I am, and there is no one besides me.
I will (W)not sit as a widow,
Nor know the loss of children.’
But these (X)two things will come on you (Y)suddenly in one day:
Loss of children and widowhood.
They will come on you in full measure
In spite of your many (Z)sorceries,
In spite of the great power of your spells.
10 You felt (AA)secure in your wickedness and said,
(AB)No one sees me,’
Your (AC)wisdom and your knowledge, [b]they have led you astray;
For you have said in your heart,
(AD)I am, and there is no one besides me.’
11 But (AE)evil 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 (AF)destruction about which you do not know
Will come on you (AG)suddenly.

12 “Persist now in your (AH)spells
And in your many sorceries
With which you have labored from your youth;
Perhaps you will be able to benefit,
Perhaps you may cause trembling.
13 You are (AI)wearied with your many counsels;
Let now the (AJ)astrologers,
Those who prophesy by the stars,
Those who predict by the new moons,
Stand up and (AK)save you from what will come upon you.
14 Behold, they have become (AL)like stubble,
(AM)Fire burns them;
They cannot save themselves from the power of the flame;
There will be (AN)no coal to warm by
Nor a fire to sit before!
15 So have those become to you with whom you have labored,
Those who have (AO)done business with you from your youth;
Each has wandered in his own [c]way;
There is (AP)no one to save you.

Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 47:7 Lit it
  2. Isaiah 47:10 Lit it has
  3. Isaiah 47:15 Lit side, region

47 Come down, and sit on the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon, Sit on the earth, there is no throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans, For no more do they cry to thee, `O tender and delicate one.'

Take millstones, and grind flour, Remove thy veil, draw up the skirt, Uncover the leg, pass over the floods.

Revealed is thy nakedness, yea, seen is thy reproach, Vengeance I take, and I meet not a man.

Our redeemer [is] Jehovah of Hosts, His name [is] the Holy One of Israel.

Sit silent, and go into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans, For no more do they cry to thee, `Mistress of kingdoms.'

I have been wroth against My people, I have polluted Mine inheritance And I give them into thy hand, Thou hast not appointed for them mercies, On the aged thou hast made thy yoke very heavy,

And thou sayest, `To the age I am mistress,' While thou hast not laid these things to thy heart, Thou hast not remembered the latter end of it.

And now, hear this, O luxurious one, Who is sitting confidently -- Who is saying in her heart, `I [am], and none else, I sit not a widow, nor know bereavement.'

And come in to thee do these two things, In a moment, in one day, childlessness and widowhood, According to their perfection they have come upon thee, In the multitude of thy sorceries, In the exceeding might of thy charms.

10 And thou art confident in thy wickedness, Thou hast said, `There is none seeing me,' Thy wisdom and thy knowledge, It is turning thee back, And thou sayest in thy heart, `I [am], and none else.'

11 And come in on thee hath evil, Thou knowest not its rising, And fall on thee doth mischief, Thou art not able to pacify it, And come on thee suddenly doth desolation, Thou knowest not.

12 Stand, I pray thee, in thy charms, And in the multitude of thy sorceries, In which thou hast laboured from thy youth, It may be thou art able to profit, It may be thou dost terrify!

13 Thou hast been wearied in the multitude of thy counsels, Stand up, I pray thee, and save thee, Let the charmers of the heavens, Those looking on the stars, Those teaching concerning the months, From those things that come on thee!

14 Lo, they have been as stubble! Fire hath burned them, They deliver not themselves from the power of the flame, There is not a coal to warm them, a light to sit before it.

15 So have they been to thee with whom thou hast laboured, Thy merchants from thy youth, Each to his passage they have wandered, Thy saviour is not!