Isaiah 47
1COME down, sit on the ground, O Virgin daughter of Babylon! Sit on the ground, O daughter of the Chaldeans! for thou shalt no more be called tender and delicate!
2Take a millstone and grind corn. Doff thy veil; uncover thy grey locks. Make bare thy leg: wade through rivers.
3Thy shame shall be exposed; thy nakedness shall be seen.
4This vengeance I will take on thy account and no more deliver thee up to men. Thy deliverer is the Lord of Hosts, His name is the Holy One of Israel.
5Sit in compunction: enter into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans! thou shalt no more be called the strength of a kingdom.
6I was angry with My people: thou didst pollute My heritage. I delivered them into thy hand: and thou didst shew them no mercy. The yoke of the aged thou madest very heavy,
7and saidst, I shall be empress forever. These things did not enter thy heart; nor didst thou call to mind what might at last befall thee.
8Now, therefore, hear these things, thou voluptuary! thou who art seated at ease, who thinkest thyself secure; who sayest in thy heart; I am and there is none else. I shall not sit a widow, nor shall I know the loss of children.
9But now upon thee shall come these two things, suddenly, in one day. The loss of children and widowhood shall come suddenly on thee, in the midst of thy sorcery, in the full strength of thy mighty enchantments.
10Confiding in thy wickedness thou indeed saidst, I am and there is none else. Know thou, the consciousness of these things and thy whoredom shall be thy shame. Thou indeed saidst in thy heart, I am and there is none else;
11but upon thee shall come destruction, and thou shalt not know—a pit; and into it thou shalt fall. Yes, upon thee shall come misery, of which thou shalt not be able to rid thyself: and destruction shall come upon thee suddenly of which thou wilt have no apprehension.
12Persist now in thine incantations and in thy manifold sorcery, which thou hast learned from thy youth: if thou canst be benefited by them.
13Thou hast wearied thyself with thy counsels: let the astrologers now stand up and save thee—let them who gaze on the stars tell thee what is instantly coming upon thee.
14Behold like brambles on a fire they shall be all burned up; and shall not deliver their own life from the flame. Seeing thou hast coals of fire, sit upon them;
15will they give thee relief? Thou hast wearied thyself with this traffic from thy youth. The men have wandered away, every one to his own home; but for thee there shall be no safety.