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Isaiah 47
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 called tender 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 uncovered and 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 called the 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 widow or 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 sorceries and 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 you that you will be unable to ward off. Devastation will happen to you suddenly and unexpectedly.
12So take your stand with your spells and with your many sorceries, with which you have wearied yourself from 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 themselves from the power of the flame. There will be no coals to warm them or 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.
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Amusements and Worldly Pleasures: A Characteristic of the Wicked Isaiah 47:8
So 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 widow or know the loss of children.’
Astrology: General Scriptures Concerning Isaiah 47:13
You 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.
Astronomy: General Scriptures Concerning Isaiah 47:13
You 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.
Babylon was Called: Lady of Kingdoms Isaiah 47:5
“Sit in silence and go into darkness, O Daughter of Chaldea. For you will no longer be called the queen of kingdoms.
Babylon: As a Power Was: An Instrument of God's Vengeance on Other Nations Isaiah 47:6
I 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.
Babylon: As a Power Was: Cruel and Destructive Isaiah 47:6
I 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.
Babylon: As a Power Was: Grand and Stately Isaiah 47:1, 5
“Go down and sit in the dust, O Virgin Daughter of Babylon. Sit on the ground without a throne, O Daughter of Chaldea! For you will no longer be called tender or delicate. / “Sit in silence and go into darkness, O Daughter of Chaldea. For you will no longer be called the queen of kingdoms.
Babylon: As a Power Was: Secure and Self-Confident Isaiah 47:7, 8
You said, ‘I will be queen forever.’ You did not take these things to heart or consider their outcome. / So 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 widow or know the loss of children.’
Babylon: City of Prophecies Concerning Isaiah 47:1
“Go down and sit in the dust, O Virgin Daughter of Babylon. Sit on the ground without a throne, O Daughter of Chaldea! For you will no longer be called tender or delicate.
Babylon: Empire of Prophetic Denunciations Against Isaiah 47:1
“Go down and sit in the dust, O Virgin Daughter of Babylon. Sit on the ground without a throne, O Daughter of Chaldea! For you will no longer be called tender or delicate.
Babylon: Inhabitants of Addicted to Magic Isaiah 47:9, 12, 13
These 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 sorceries and the potency of your spells. / So take your stand with your spells and with your many sorceries, with which you have wearied yourself from your youth. Perhaps you will succeed; perhaps you will inspire terror! / You 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.
Babylon: Inhabitants of Wicked Isaiah 47:10
You 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.’
Babylon: Predictions Respecting: Destruction of Isaiah 47:1–15
“Go down and sit in the dust, O Virgin Daughter of Babylon. Sit on the ground without a throne, O Daughter of Chaldea! For you will no longer be called tender or delicate. / Take millstones and grind flour; remove your veil; strip off your skirt, bare your thigh, and wade through the streams. / Your nakedness will be uncovered and your shame will be exposed. I will take vengeance; I will spare no one.”
Babylon: Remarkable For: Wisdom of Senators Isaiah 47:10
You 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.’
Chinese Zodiac Isaiah 47:13, 14
You 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. / Surely they are like stubble; the fire will burn them up. They cannot deliver themselves from the power of the flame. There will be no coals to warm them or fire to sit beside.
Confidence: False Isaiah 47:7, 8, 10
You said, ‘I will be queen forever.’ You did not take these things to heart or consider their outcome. / So 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 widow or know the loss of children.’ / You 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.’
Divination: Effected Through: Sorcery Isaiah 47:12
So take your stand with your spells and with your many sorceries, with which you have wearied yourself from your youth. Perhaps you will succeed; perhaps you will inspire terror!
Divination: Practised by Astrologers Isaiah 47:13
You 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.
Fire: Frequently Employed As an Instrument of Divine Vengeance Isaiah 47:14
Surely they are like stubble; the fire will burn them up. They cannot deliver themselves from the power of the flame. There will be no coals to warm them or fire to sit beside.
God: Holiness of Isaiah 47:4
Our Redeemer—the LORD of Hosts is His name—is the Holy One of Israel.
God: Saviour Isaiah 47:4
Our Redeemer—the LORD of Hosts is His name—is the Holy One of Israel.
Horoscopes Isaiah 47:13
You 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.
Idolatry: Folly of Isaiah 47:12–15
So take your stand with your spells and with your many sorceries, with which you have wearied yourself from your youth. Perhaps you will succeed; perhaps you will inspire terror! / You 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. / Surely they are like stubble; the fire will burn them up. They cannot deliver themselves from the power of the flame. There will be no coals to warm them or fire to sit beside.
Infidelity: General Scriptures Concerning Isaiah 47:10, 11
You 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.’ / But disaster will come upon you; you will not know how to charm it away. A calamity will befall you that you will be unable to ward off. Devastation will happen to you suddenly and unexpectedly.
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Isaiah 47:1-15 The Destruction of Babylon Is Represented under the Image
of a Royal Virgin Brought Down in a Moment from Her Magnificent Throne to the Extreme of Degradation.
Isaiah 47:1 Verse 1
in the dust--(See on Isa 3:26; Job 2:13; La 2:10). virgin--that is, heretofore uncaptured [Herodotus, 1.191]. daughter of Babylon--Babylon and its inhabitants (see on Isa 1:8; Isa 37:22). no throne--The seat of empire was transferred to Shushan. Alexander intended to have made Babylon his seat of empire, but Providence defeated his design. He soon died; and Seleucia, being built near, robbed it of its inhabitants, and even of its name, which was applied to Seleucia. delicate--alluding to the effeminate debauchery and prostitution of all classes at banquets and religious rites [Curtius, 5.1; Herodotus,
Isaiah 47:1 Verse 1
199; Baruch, 6.43].
Isaiah 47:2 Verse 2
millstones--like the querns or hand-mills, found in this country, before the invention of water mills and windmills: a convex stone, made by the hand to turn in a concave stone, fitted to receive it, the corn being ground between them: the office of a female slave in the East; most degrading (Job 31:10; Mt 24:41). uncover thy locks--rather, "take off thy veil" [Horsley]: perhaps the removal of the plaited hair worn round the women's temples is included; it, too, is a covering (1Co 11:15); to remove it and the veil is the badge of the lowest female degradation; in the East the head is the seat of female modesty; the face of a woman is seldom, the whole head almost never, seen bare (see on Isa 22:8). make bare the leg--rather "lift up (literally, 'uncover'; as in lifting up the train the leg is uncovered) thy flowing train." In Mesopotamia, women of low rank, as occasion requires, wade across the rivers with stript legs, or else entirely put off their garments and swim across. "Exchange thy rich, loose, queenly robe, for the most abject condition, that of one going to and fro through rivers as a slave, to draw water," &c. uncover ... thigh--gather up the robe, so as to wade across.
Isaiah 47:3 Verse 3
not meet ... as a man--rather, "I will not meet a man," that is, suffer man to intercede with me--give man an audience [Horsley]. Or, "I will not make peace with any man," before all are destroyed. Literally, "strike a league with"; a phrase arising from the custom of striking hands together in making a compact [Maurer], (see on Pr 17:18; Pr 22:26; 11:15, Margin). Or else from striking the victims sacrificed in making treaties.
Isaiah 47:4 Verse 4
As for--rather supply, "Thus saith our Redeemer" [Maurer]. Lowth supposes this verse to be the exclamation of a chorus breaking in with praises, "Our Redeemer! Jehovah of hosts," &c. (Jer 50:34).
Isaiah 47:5 Verse 5
Sit--the posture of mourning (Ezr 9:4; Job 2:13; La 2:10). darkness--mourning and misery (La 3:2; Mic 7:8). lady of kingdoms--mistress of the world (Isa 13:19).
Isaiah 47:6 Verse 6
reason for God's vengeance on Babylon: in executing God's will against His people, she had done so with wanton cruelty (Isa 10:5, &c.; Jer 50:17; 51:33; Zec 1:15). polluted my inheritance--(Isa 43:28). the ancient--Even old age was disregarded by the Chaldeans, who treated all alike with cruelty (La 4:16; 5:12) [Rosenmuller]. Or, "the ancient" means Israel, worn out with calamities in the latter period of its history (Isa 46:4), as its earlier stage of history is called its "youth" (Isa 54:6; Eze 16:60).
Isaiah 47:7 Verse 7
so that--Through thy vain expectation of being a queen for ever, thou didst advance to such a pitch of insolence as not to believe "these things" (namely, as to thy overthrow, Isa 47:1-5) possible. end of it--namely, of thy insolence, implied in her words, "I shall be a lady for ever."
Isaiah 47:8 Verse 8
given to pleasures--(See on Isa 47:1). In no city were there so many incentives to licentiousness. I am ... none ... beside me--(Isa 47:10). Language of arrogance in man's mouth; fitting for God alone (Isa 45:6). See Isa 5:8, latter part. widow ... loss of children--A state, represented as a female, when it has fallen is called a widow, because its king is no more; and childless, because it has no inhabitants; they having been carried off as captives (Isa 23:4; 54:1, 4, 5; Re 18:7, 8).
Isaiah 47:9 Verse 9
in a moment--It should not decay slowly, but be suddenly and unexpectedly destroyed; in a single night it was taken by Cyrus. The prophecy was again literally fulfilled when Babylon revolted against Darius; and, in order to hold out to the last, each man chose one woman of his family, and strangled the rest, to save provisions. Darius impaled three thousand of the revolters. in ... perfection--that is, "in full measure." for ... for--rather, "notwithstanding the ... notwithstanding"; "in spite of" [Lowth]. So "for" (Nu 14:11). Babylon was famous for "expiations or sacrifices, and other incantations, whereby they tried to avert evil and obtain good" [Diodorus Siculus].
Isaiah 47:10 Verse 10
wickedness--as in Isa 13:11, the cruelty with which Babylon treated its subject states. None seeth me--(Ps 10:11; 94:7). "There is none to exact punishment from me." Sinners are not safe, though seeming secret. Thy wisdom--astrological and political (Isa 19:11, &c., as to Egypt). perverted--turns thee aside from the right and safe path.
Isaiah 47:11 Verse 11
from whence it riseth--Hebrew, "the dawn thereof," that is, its first rising. Evil shall come on thee without the least previous intimation [Rosenmuller]. But dawn is not applied to "evil," but to prosperity shining out after misery (Isa 21:12). Translate, "Thou shall not see any dawn" (of alleviation) [Maurer]. put ... off--rather, as Margin, "remove by expiation"; it shall be never ending. not know--unawares: which thou dost not apprehend. Proving the fallacy of thy divinations and astrology (Job 9:5; Ps 35:8).
Isaiah 47:12 Verse 12
Stand--forth: a scornful challenge to Babylon's magicians to show whether they can defend their city. laboured--The devil's service is a laborious yet fruitless one (Isa 55:2).
Isaiah 47:13 Verse 13
wearied--(compare Isa 57:10; Eze 24:12). astrologers--literally, those who form combinations of the heavens; who watch conjunctions and oppositions of the stars. "Casters of the configurations of the sky" [Horsley]. Gesenius explains it: the dividers of the heavens. In casting a nativity they observed four signs:--the horoscope, or sign which arose at the time one was born; the mid-heaven; the sign opposite the horoscope towards the west; and the hypogee. monthly prognosticators--those who at each new moon profess to tell thereby what is about to happen. Join, not as English Version, "save ... from those things," &c.; but, "They that at new moons make known from (by means of) them the things that shall come upon thee" [Maurer].
Isaiah 47:14 Verse 14
(Isa 29:6; 30:30). not ... a coal--Like stubble, they shall burn to a dead ash, without leaving a live coal or cinder (compare Isa 30:14), so utterly shall they be destroyed.
Isaiah 47:15 Verse 15
Thus, &c.--Such shall be the fate of those astrologers who cost thee such an amount of trouble and money. thy merchants, from thy youth--that is, with whom thou hast trafficked from thy earliest history, the foreigners sojourning in Babylon for the sake of commerce (Isa 13:14; Jer 51:6, 9; Na 3:16, 17) [Barnes]. Rather, the astrologers, with whom Babylon had so many dealings (Isa 47:12-14) [Horsley]. to his quarter--literally, "straight before him" (Eze 1:9, 12). The foreigners, whether soothsayers or merchants, shall flee home out of Babylon (Jer 50:16).