Isaiah 47
The Humiliation of Babylon
1“Go down and sit in the dust,
O Virgin Daughter of Babylon.
Sit on the ground without a throne,
O Daughter of the Chaldeans!a
For you will no longer be called
tender or delicate.
1“ Go down and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon! Sit on the ground without a throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans! For no longer will they call you tender and delicate.
6I was angry with My people;
I profaned My heritage,
and I placed them under your control.
You showed them no mercy;
even on the elderly you laid a most heavy yoke.
6I was angry with My people; I have profaned My heritage and I have given them into your hand. You did not appoint for them acts of mercy; upon the elderly you made your yoke very heavy.
8So now hear this,
O lover of luxury who sits securely,
who says to herself,
‘I am, and there is none besides me.
I will never be a widow
or know the loss of children.’
8And now, hear this, O luxurious one, dwelling in security, the one saying in her heart, ‘It is I and no one else! I will not sit as a widow, and I will not know bereavement.’
9These two things will overtake you in a moment,
in a single day:
loss of children, and widowhood.
They will come upon you in full measure,
in spite of your many sorceries
and the potency of your spells.
9And these two things will come to you in a moment, in a single day: Bereavement and widowhood. In full measure they will come upon you in the multitude of your sorceries, in the great abundance of you spells.
10You were secure in your wickedness;
you said, ‘No one sees me.’
Your wisdom and knowledge led you astray;
you told yourself, ‘I am, and there is none besides me.’
10For you have trusted in your wickedness; and you have said, ‘There is none seeing me!’ Your wisdom and your knowledge, it has turned you away, so that you have said in your heart, ‘It is I, and no one else!’
11But disaster will come upon you;
you will not know how to charm it away.
A calamity will befall you
that you will be unable to ward off.
Devastation will happen to you
suddenly and unexpectedly.
11And evil will come upon you, and you will not know its dawning; and disaster will fall upon you; you will not be able to wipe it away—and it will come upon you suddenly, devastation that you do not know!
12So take your stand with your spells
and with your many sorceries,
with which you have wearied yourself
from your youth.
Perhaps you will succeed;
perhaps you will inspire terror!
12Stand now with your spells, and with the multitude of your sorceries with which you have labored from your youth! Perhaps you will be able to profit, perhaps you will inspire terror!
13You are wearied by your many counselors;
let them come forward now and save you—
your astrologers who observe the stars,
who monthly predict your fate.
13You are wearied by the multitude of your counselors; let them stand up now and save you—those who divide up the heavens, and those gazing on the stars, declaring by month what will come upon you!
14Surely they are like stubble;
the fire will burn them up.
They cannot deliver themselves
from the power of the flame.
There will be no coals to warm them
or fire to sit beside.
14Behold, they have become like stubble, and the fire burns them up; they will not deliver their soul from the hand of the flame—there is not a coal to warm, nor fire to sit before it!
15This is what they are to you—
those with whom you have labored and traded from youth—
each one strays in his own direction;
not one of them can save you.
15Thus they have become to you—those with whom you have labored and traded from youth! Each man in his direction, they go astray; none can save you.