Isaiah 47
1Come down and sit in the dust, virgin daughter of Babylon; 1 sit on the ground without a throne, daughter of the Chaldeans. 1 You will no longer be called dainty and delicate. 1
2Take the millstone and grind flour; remove your veil, 1 strip off your flowing robe, uncover your legs, cross the streams. 1
3Your nakedness will be uncovered, yes, your shame will be seen: 1 I will take vengeance and will not spare a man. 1
4Our Redeemer, Yahweh of hosts is his name, the Holy One of Israel. 1
5Sit in silence and go into darkness, daughter of the Chaldeans; 1 for you will no longer be called queen of kingdoms. 1
6I was angry with my people; I defiled my heritage 1 and gave them over into your hand, but you showed them no mercy; 1 you placed a very heavy yoke on the old people. 1
7You said, “I will rule forever as sovereign queen.” 1 You did not take these things to heart, nor did you consider how they would turn out. 1
8So now hear this, you who love pleasure and sit securely; 1 you who say in your heart, “I exist, and there is no one else like me; 1 I will never sit as a widow, nor will I ever experience loss of children.” 1
9But these two things will come to you in a moment in one day: 1 the loss of children and widowhood; in full force they will come on you, 1 despite your sorceries and your many incantations and amulets. 1
10You have trusted in your wickedness; you have said, “No one sees me”; 1 your wisdom and your knowledge lead you astray, 1 but you say in your heart, “I exist, and there is no one else like me.” 1
11Disaster will overcome you; you will not be able to drive it away with your incantations. 1 Destruction will fall on you; you will not be able to ward it off. 1 Calamity will strike you suddenly, before you know it. 1
12Persist in casting your spells and your many sorceries 1 which you have faithfully recited since your childhood; 1 perhaps you will be successful, perhaps you will scare away disaster. 1
13You are tired out with your many consultations; let those men stand up 1 and save you—those who chart the heavens and look at the stars, 1 those who declare the new moons—let them save you from what will happen to you. 1
14See, they will become like stubble. The fire will burn them up. 1 They will not save themselves from the hand of the flame. 1 There are no coals to warm them and no fire for them to sit by! 1
15This is what they have become to you— 1 those with whom you have worked, 1 and you have bought and sold with them since your youth— 1 they wandered about each one in his own direction; 2 there is no one who can rescue you.”