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Isaiah 47

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Babylon's Humiliation and Servitude 1–4

1
Come down, and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon, sit on the ground: there is no throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans: for thou shalt no more be called tender and delicate. ​
2
Take the millstones, and grind meal: uncover thy locks, make bare the leg, uncover the thigh, pass over the rivers. ​
3
Thy nakedness shall be uncovered, yea, thy shame shall be seen: I will take vengeance, and I will not meet thee as a man. ​
4
As for our redeemer, the LORD of hosts is his name, the Holy One of Israel. ​

The Lady of Kingdoms Falls 5–7

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. ​
6
I was wroth with my people, I have polluted mine inheritance, and given them into thine hand: thou didst shew them no mercy; upon the ancient hast thou very heavily laid thy yoke. ​
7
And thou saidst, I shall be a lady for ever: so that thou didst not lay these things to thy heart, neither didst remember the latter end of it. ​

Judgment for Pride and Self-Deification 8–11

8
Therefore hear now this, thou that art given to pleasures, that dwellest carelessly, that sayest in thine heart, I am, and none else beside me; I shall not sit as a widow, neither shall I know the loss of children: ​
9
But these two things shall come to thee in a moment in one day, the loss of children, and widowhood: they shall come upon thee in their perfection for the multitude of thy sorceries, and for the great abundance of thine enchantments. ​
10
For thou hast trusted in thy wickedness: thou hast said, None seeth me. Thy wisdom and thy knowledge, it hath perverted thee; and thou hast said in thine heart, I am, and none else beside me. ​
11
Therefore shall evil come upon thee; thou shalt not know from whence it riseth: and mischief shall fall upon thee; thou shalt not be able to put it off: and desolation shall come upon thee suddenly, which thou shalt not know. ​

The Failure of Babylon's Sorcery 12–15

12
Stand now with thine enchantments, and with the multitude of thy sorceries, wherein thou hast laboured from thy youth; if so be thou shalt be able to profit, if so be thou mayest prevail. ​
13
Thou art wearied in the multitude of thy counsels. Let now the astrologers, the stargazers, the monthly prognosticators, stand up, and save thee from these things that shall come upon thee. ​
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 shall they be unto thee with whom thou hast laboured, even thy merchants, from thy youth: they shall wander every one to his quarter; none shall save thee. ​

Bible text: King James Version (1769 Blayney text) · Public domain

Study Notes for Isaiah 47

Verse 1

virgin daughter of Babylon — A city spoken of as a young woman, as Zion is in Isa 37:22. She is sent down 'in the dust' (aphar) to 'the ground' with 'no throne' (kisse), and the names 'tender' (rak) and 'delicate' (anog, luxurious) are taken from her.

Verse 2

Take the millstones, and grind meal — Grinding was a servant's work: 'the maidservant that is behind the mill' (Ex 11:5), and Samson 'did grind in the prison house' (Judg 16:21). The bared leg and thigh are the marks of captives led away (Isa 20:4); to 'pass over the rivers' is to be marched off.

Verse 3

I will take vengeance — Naqam, vengeance that belongs to the LORD himself: 'the day of the LORD'S vengeance' (Isa 34:8; cf. 61:2, 'the day of vengeance of our God'). The public shame of 'thy nakedness' is the same sentence Nahum pronounces on another city: 'I will shew the nations thy nakedness' (Nah 3:5).

Verse 4

our redeemer — The go'el is the kinsman who buys back what is his own. His title and name are joined here as in Isa 54:5, 'the LORD of hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel'. Isa 43:14 had said it beforehand: 'For your sake I have sent to Babylon.'

Verse 5

The lady of kingdoms — Gebereth is a mistress, as Sarai was to Hagar (Gen 16:4, 8); in Isaiah the word stands here, in v.7 and in 24:2. The mistress who was served is told to 'sit thou silent' and go 'into darkness', and the title over 'kingdoms' is taken from her.

Verse 6

I was wroth with my people — The LORD gave his people into her hand and called them 'mine inheritance', which he 'polluted' (chalal, profaned). Babylon's charge is 'no mercy' (rachamim) and a heavy yoke even on 'the ancient' (zaqen, the aged), as with the heathen who 'helped forward the affliction' (Zech 1:15).

Verse 7

the latter end of it — Acharith, the outcome of a course. Moses wished that Israel 'would consider their latter end' (Deut 32:29), and Jerusalem is said to remember 'not her last end' (Lam 1:9). Babylon's 'I shall be a lady for ever' (olam) took no account of it.

Verse 8

I am, and none else beside me — Wording that belongs to God alone: 'I am the LORD, and there is none else' (Isa 45:5). Zeph 2:15 gives it to Nineveh, 'that dwelt carelessly' (betach, security). 'Given to pleasures' (adin) occurs only here. Rev 18:7 repeats the boast: 'I sit a queen, and am no widow.'

Verse 9

in a moment in one day — The two losses she denied in v.8, 'loss of children' (shekol) and 'widowhood' (almon), arrive together, 'in their perfection' (tom, in full measure). The cause given is 'sorceries' (kesheph) and 'enchantments' (cheber); Rev 18:8 has 'her plagues come in one day'.

Verse 10

None seeth me — The speech of those who trust in wickedness: 'The LORD shall not see' (Ps 94:7), 'Who seeth us?' (Isa 29:15). 'Perverted' is shuv, to turn: her 'wisdom' (chokmah) and 'knowledge' (da'ath) turned her aside. She then repeats the claim of v.8.

Verse 11

not be able to put it off — Three blows: 'evil', 'mischief' (hovah, ruin) and 'desolation' (sho'ah) 'suddenly' (pith'om), as 1 Thess 5:3 says 'sudden destruction cometh'. 'Put it off' is kaphar, the verb of atonement (Lev 17:11): no covering can avert it. 'Whence it riseth' is literally its dawn (shachar).

Verse 12

Stand now with thine enchantments — The LORD's challenge: let her stand (amad) with the spells 'wherein thou hast laboured from thy youth' (yaga, toiled) and see 'if so be thou shalt be able to profit'. Babylon's king in Daniel's day summoned 'the magicians, and the astrologers, and the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans' (Dan 2:2).

Verse 13

the astrologers, the stargazers — Three trades are named: 'astrologers' (habar, a word found only here, joined to shamayim, heaven), 'stargazers' (chozeh, a seer, with kokab, star) and 'monthly prognosticators', who spoke month by month (chodesh). Deut 4:19 had warned against being drawn to 'the host of heaven'.

Verse 14

as stubble — Those summoned to save her are fuel: 'stubble' (qash) burned, as 'all that do wickedly, shall be stubble' (Mal 4:1). They cannot deliver themselves 'from the power of the flame' (literally the hand, yad). The fire gives no 'coal to warm at', unlike the idol-maker's hearth (Isa 44:15–16).

Verse 15

thy merchants — The traders (sochar) she dealt with 'from thy youth', the phrase used of her sorceries in v.12, 'wander every one to his quarter' and none saves her. Isa 13:14 says of her people, 'they shall every man turn to his own people'; Rev 18:11 has 'the merchants of the earth' weep over her.