The Vision of Isaiah

Chapter 47

God's judgment upon Babylon and Chaldea for their unmercifulness, 1-6. Their pride and other sins, 7-10. Their enchantments shall not deliver them, 11-15.

1 "Come down, and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon. Sit on the ground without a throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans. For you shall no longer be called tender and delicate.

2 Take the millstones and grind meal. Uncover your locks. Make the leg bare. Uncover the thigh. Pass over the rivers.

3 Your nakedness shall be uncovered. Even your shame shall be seen. I will take vengeance, and I will not meet you as a man."

4 As for our Redeemer, the LORD of hosts is his name, the Holy One of Israel.

5 "Sit silent, and get into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans, for you shall no longer be called, The Mistress of Kingdoms.

6 I was angry with my people. I have polluted my inheritance and given them into your hand. You showed them no mercy. Upon the ancient you have very heavily laid your yoke.

7 And you said, 'I shall be a mistress forever,' so that you did not lay these things to your heart, neither remembered its latter end.

8 Now therefore, hear this, you who are given to pleasures, who dwell carelessly, who say in your heart, 'I am, and no one else besides me. I shall not sit as a widow, neither shall I know the loss of children.'

9 But these two things shall come to you in a moment in one day: the loss of children and widowhood. They shall come upon you in their perfection, for the multitude of your sorceries and for the great abundance of your enchantments.

10 For you have trusted in your wickedness. You have said, 'No one sees me.' Your wisdom and your knowledge, it has perverted you. And you have said in your heart, 'I am, and no one else besides me.'

11 Therefore, evil shall come upon you. You shall not know from where it rises. And mischief shall fall upon you. You shall not be able to put it off. And desolation shall come upon you suddenly, which you shall not know.

12 Stand now with your enchantments and with the multitude of your sorceries in which you have labored from your youth. It may be you are able to profit. Perhaps you may prevail.

13 You are wearied in the multitude of your counsels. Now let the astrologers, the star-gazers, and the monthly prognosticators stand up and save you from these things that shall come upon you.

14 Behold, they shall be as stubble. The fire shall burn them. They shall not deliver themselves from the power of the flame. There shall not be a coal to warm at, nor fire to sit before it.

15 Thus they shall be to you with whom you have labored, even your merchants, from your youth. They shall each wander to his quarter. No one shall save you."

Commentary

Matthew Henry Commentary - Isaiah, Chapter 47[➚]

Notes

[v.5] - "Mistress" - Or, "Queen."

[v.7a] - "mistress" - Or, "queen."

[v.7b] - Quoted in Revelation 18:7.

[v.8] - Quoted in Revelation 18:7.

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