47:1 “Come down and sit in the dust,
Virgin daughter of Babylon;
Sit on the ground without a throne,
Daughter of the Chaldeans!
For you will no longer be called tender and delicate.
47:2 Take the millstones and grind flour.
Remove your veil, strip off the skirt,
Uncover the leg, cross the rivers.
47:3 Your nakedness will be uncovered,
Your shame will also be exposed;
I will take vengeance and will not spare anyone.”
47:4 Our Redeemer, the LORD of armies is His name,
The Holy One of Israel.
47:5 “Sit silently, and go into darkness,
Daughter of the Chaldeans;
For you will no longer be called
The queen of kingdoms.
47:6 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 aged you made your yoke very heavy.
47:7 Yet you said, ‘I will be a queen forever.’
These things you did not consider
Nor remember the outcome of ①them.
▷ ①Lit it
47:8 “Now, then, hear this, you luxuriant one,
Who lives securely,
Who says in her heart,
‘I am, and there is no one besides me.
I will not sit as a widow,
Nor know the loss of children.’
47:9 But these two things will come on you suddenly in one day:
Loss of children and widowhood.
They will come on you in full measure
In spite of your many sorceries,
In spite of the great power of your spells.
47:10 You felt secure in your wickedness and said,
‘No one sees me,’
Your wisdom and your knowledge, ①they have led you astray;
For you have said in your heart,
‘I am, and there is no one besides me.’
▷ ①Lit it has
47:11 But 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 destruction about which you do not know
Will come on you suddenly.
47:12 “Persist now in your 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.
47:13 You are wearied with your many counsels;
Let now the astrologers,
Those who prophesy by the stars,
Those who predict by the new moons,
Stand up and save you from what will come upon you.
47:14 Behold, they have become like stubble,
Fire burns them;
They cannot save themselves from the power of the flame;
There will be no coal to warm by
Nor a fire to sit before!
47:15 So have those become to you with whom you have labored,
Those who have done business with you from your youth;
Each has wandered in his own ①way;
There is no one to save you.
▷ ①Lit side, region