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ISAIAH INSTITUTE TRANSLATION

  Isaiah

47

Isaiah 47

The Harlot Babylon, who rules as Mistress of Kingdoms, descends into the dust in Jehovah’s Day of Judgment.

1 Get down and sit in the dust,O Virgin Daughter of Babylon;squat on the ground, dethroned,O Daughter of the Chaldeans.You shall no more be spoken ofas delicate and refined. 2 Take two grindstones and grind flour;unveil, disrobe, bare your legs,wade through streams: 3 your nakedness shall be exposedand your shame uncovered.I will take vengeanceand not be entreated of men, 4 says our Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel,whose name is Jehovah of Hosts.
5 Sit speechless; retire into obscurity,O Daughter of the Chaldeans.No longer shall you be called,Mistress of Kingdoms. 6 I was provoked by my people,so I let my inheritance be defiled.I gave them into your hand,and you showed them no mercy;even the aged you weighed down heavily with your yoke. 7 You thought, I, the Eternal Mistress, exist forever!and did not consider these,aor remember hera final destiny.
8 Now therefore hear this, O pampered lady,securely enthroned, thinking to herself,I exist, and other than me there is nothing;I shall not be widowed or bereaved of children: 9 Bereavement and widowhoodshall suddenly overtake you, both in one day.They shall come upon you in full,notwithstanding your many magical featsand exceedingly strong combinations.
10 Secure in your wickedness,you thought, No one discerns me.By your skill and science you were led astray,thinking to yourself, I exist,and there is none besides me! 11 Catastrophe shall overtake you,which you shall not know how to avert by bribes;bdisaster shall befall youfrom which you cannot ransom yourself:there shall come upon you sudden ruinsuch as you have not imagined.
12 Persist, then, with your combinationsand with your many magical feats,at which you have exerted yourself since your youth.It may still be of use to you;perhaps you can hinderc it. 13 But you are powerless, despite all your tactics.Now let those who unravel the heavens,who observe the starsand make predictions month by month,stand by you and save you!
14 See, as stubble they are burnt up in the fire,unable themselves to escape the hand of the flame.These are no embers to warm anyone;such is no fire to sit by! 15 This is what your procurersd have profited you—those for whom you have exerted yourselfsince your youth—each deviates his own way;none is there to save you.

  • a7 For the subject of these terms, see verse 6.
  • b11 Hebrew šaḥrāh (obscure) emended to šaḥdāh; contrast Israel to this verse, 43:3; 45:13.
  • c12 Hebrew taᶜǎrôṣî, cause terror, emended to taᶜǎṣôrî; compare 66:9.
  • d15 Or, merchants. Noun transposed; in the text it follows exerted yourself. Compare verse 12.


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