God’s judgment upon Babylon.
47:1. Come down, sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon, sit on
the ground: there is no throne for the daughter of the Chaldeans, for
thou shalt no more be called delicate and tender.
47:2. Take a millstone and grind meal: uncover thy shame, strip thy
shoulder, make bare thy legs, pass over the rivers.
47:3. Thy nakedness shall be discovered, and thy shame shall be seen: I
will take vengeance, and no man shall resist me.
47:4. Our redeemer, the Lord of hosts is his name, the Holy One of
Israel.
47:5. Sit thou silent, and get thee into darkness, O daughter of the
Chaldeans: for thou shalt no more be called the lady of kingdoms.
47:6. I was angry with my people, I have polluted my inheritance, and
have given them into thy hand: thou hast shewn no mercy to them: upon
the ancient thou hast laid thy yoke exceeding heavy.
47:7. And thou hast said: I shall be a lady for ever: thou hast not
laid these things to thy heart, neither hast thou remembered thy latter
end.
47:8. And now hear these things, thou that art delicate, and dwellest
confidently, that sayest in thy heart: I am, and there is none else
besides me: I shall not sit as a widow, and I shall not know
barrenness.
47:9. These two things shall come upon thee suddenly in one day,
barrenness and widowhood. All things are come upon thee, because of the
multitude of thy sorceries, and for the great hardness of thy
enchanters.
47:10. And thou hast trusted in thy wickedness, and hast said: There is
none that seeth me. Thy wisdom, and, thy knowledge, this hath deceived
thee. And thou hast said in thy heart: I am, and besides me there is no
other.
47:11. Evil shall come upon thee, and thou shalt not know the rising
thereof: and calamity shall fall violently upon thee, which thou canst
not keep off: misery shall come upon thee suddenly, which thou shalt
not know.
47:12. Stand now with thy enchanters, and with the multitude of thy
sorceries, in which thou hast laboured from thy youth, if so be it may
profit thee any thing, or if thou mayst become stronger.
47:13. Thou hast failed in the multitude of thy counsels: let now the
astrologers stand and save thee, they that gazed at the stars, and
counted the months, that from them they might tell the things that
shall come to thee.
47:14. Behold they are as stubble, fire hath burnt them, they shall not
deliver themselves from the power of the flames: there are no coals
wherewith they may be warmed, nor fire, that they may sit thereat.
47:15. Such are all the things become to thee, in which thou hast
laboured: thy merchants from thy youth, every one hath erred in his own
way, there is none that can save thee.