Isaiah 47:1-15 - Babylon's Fall

¹ "Fall down! Sit in the dirt, O virgin daughter Babylon! Sit on the ground, not on a throne, O daughter of the Babylonians! Indeed, you will no longer be called delicate and pampered. ² Pick up millstones and grind flour! Remove your veil, strip off your skirt, expose your legs, cross the streams! ³ Let your private parts be exposed! Your genitals will be on display! I will get revenge; I will not have pity on anyone," ⁴ says our protector -- the Lord who commands armies is his name, the Holy One of Israel.

⁵ "Sit silently! Go to a hiding place, O daughter of the Babylonians! Indeed, you will no longer be called 'Queen of kingdoms.' ⁶ I was angry at my people; I defiled my special possession and handed them over to you. You showed them no mercy; you even placed a very heavy burden on old people. ⁷ You said, 'I will rule forever as permanent queen!' You did not think about these things; you did not consider how it would turn out.

⁸ So now, listen to this, O one who lives so lavishly, who lives securely, who says to herself, 'I am unique! No one can compare to me! I will never have to live as a widow; I will never lose my children.' ⁹ Both of these will come upon you suddenly, in one day! You will lose your children and be widowed. You will be overwhelmed by these tragedies, despite your many incantations and your numerous amulets. ¹⁰ You were complacent in your evil deeds; you thought, 'No one sees me.' Your self-professed wisdom and knowledge lead you astray, when you say, 'I am unique! No one can compare to me!' ¹¹ Disaster will overtake you; you will not know how to charm it away. Destruction will fall on you; you will not be able to appease it. Calamity will strike you suddenly, before you recognize it. ¹² Persist in trusting your amulets and your many incantations, which you have faithfully recited since your youth! Maybe you will be successful -- maybe you will scare away disaster. ¹³ You are tired out from listening to so much advice. Let them take their stand -- the ones who see omens in the sky, who gaze at the stars, who make monthly predictions -- let them rescue you from the disaster that is about to overtake you! ¹⁴ Look, they are like straw, which the fire burns up; they cannot rescue themselves from the heat of the flames. There are no coals to warm them, no firelight to enjoy. ¹⁵ They will disappoint you, those you have so faithfully dealt with since your youth. Each strays off in his own direction, leaving no one to rescue you."

¹¹ "People of Babylonia, you plundered my people. That made you happy and glad. You frolic about like calves in a pasture. Your joyous sounds are like the neighs of a stallion. ¹² But Babylonia will be put to great shame. The land where you were born will be disgraced. Indeed, Babylonia will become the least important of all nations. It will become a dry and barren desert. ¹³ After I vent my wrath on it Babylon will be uninhabited. It will be totally desolate. All who pass by will be filled with horror and will hiss out their scorn because of all the disasters that have happened to it. ¹⁴ "Take up your battle positions all around Babylon, all you soldiers who are armed with bows. Shoot all your arrows at her! Do not hold any back! For she has sinned against the Lord. ¹⁵ Shout the battle cry from all around the city. She will throw up her hands in surrender. Her towers will fall. Her walls will be torn down. Because I, the Lord, am wreaking revenge, take out your vengeance on her! Do to her as she has done! ¹⁶ Kill all the farmers who sow the seed in the land of Babylon. Kill all those who wield the sickle at harvest time. Let all the foreigners return to their own people. Let them hurry back to their own lands to escape destruction by that enemy army.