Isaiah

The Humiliation of Babylon

1“Go 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 will no longer be calledtender or delicate.

2Take millstones and grind flour;remove your veil;strip off your skirt, bare your thigh,and wade through the streams.

3Your nakedness will be uncoveredand your shame will be exposed.I will take vengeance;I will spare no one.”

4Our Redeemer—the LORD of Hosts is His name—is the Holy One of Israel.

5“Sit in silence and go into darkness,O Daughter of the Chaldeans.For you will no longer be calledthe queen of kingdoms.

6I was angry with My people;I profaned My heritage, and I placed them under your control.You showed them no mercy;even on the elderly you laid a most heavy yoke.

7You said, ‘I will be queen forever.’You did not take these things to heart or consider their outcome.

8So now hear this,O lover of luxury who sits securely,who says to herself,‘I am, and there is none besides me.I will never be a widowor know the loss of children.’

9These two things will overtake you in a moment,in a single day:loss of children, and widowhood.They will come upon you in full measure,in spite of your many sorceriesand the potency of your spells.

10You were secure in your wickedness;you said, ‘No one sees me.’Your wisdom and knowledge led you astray;you told yourself, ‘I am, and there is none besides me.’

11But disaster will come upon you;you will not know how to charm it away.A calamity will befall youthat you will be unable to ward off.Devastation will happen to yousuddenly and unexpectedly.

12So take your stand with your spellsand with your many sorceries,with which you have wearied yourselffrom your youth.Perhaps you will succeed;perhaps you will inspire terror!

13You are wearied by your many counselors;let them come forward now and save you—your astrologers who observe the stars,who monthly predict your fate.

14Surely they are like stubble;the fire will burn them up.They cannot deliver themselvesfrom the power of the flame.There will be no coals to warm themor fire to sit beside.

15This is what they are to you—those with whom you have labored and traded from youth—each one strays in his own direction;not one of them can save you.

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.

2Take the millstones and grind flour.Remove your veil, lift up your skirt, uncover your legs, and wade through the rivers.

3Your nakedness will be uncovered.Yes, your shame will be seen.I will take vengeance,and will spare no one.”

4Our Redeemer, the LORD of Armies is his name,is the Holy One of Israel.

5“Sit in silence, and go into darkness,daughter of the Chaldeans.For you shall no longer be calledthe mistress of kingdoms.

6I was angry with my people.I profaned my inheritance and gave them into your hand.You showed them no mercy.You laid a very heavy yoke on the aged.

7You said, ‘I will be a princess forever,’so that you didn’t lay these things to your heart, nor did you remember the results.

8“Now therefore hear this, you who are given to pleasures,who sit securely,who say in your heart,‘I am, and there is no one else besides me.I won’t sit as a widow,neither will I know the loss of children.’

9But these two things will come to you in a moment in one day:the loss of children and widowhood.They will come on you in their full measure,in the multitude of your sorceries, and the great abundance of your enchantments.

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

11Therefore disaster will come on you.You won’t know when it dawns.Mischief will fall on you.You won’t be able to put it away.Desolation will come on you suddenly,which you don’t understand.

12“Stand now with your enchantmentsand with the multitude of your sorceries, in which you have labored from your youth,as if you might profit,as if you might prevail.

13You are wearied in the multitude of your counsels.Now let the astrologers, the stargazers, and the monthly prognosticators stand up and save you from the things that will happen to you.

14Behold, they are like stubble.The fire will burn them. They won’t deliver themselves from the power of the flame.It won’t be a coal to warm ator a fire to sit by.

15The things that you labored in will be like this:those who have trafficked with you from your youth will each wander in his own way. There will be no one to save you.