Bible Gateway passage: Isaiah 47 - New International Version (2024)

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Listen to Isaiah 47

The Fall of Babylon

47“Go down, sit in the dust,^(A)
Virgin Daughter^(B) Babylon;
sit on the ground without a throne,
queen city of the Babylonians.^[a]^(C)
No more will you be called
tender or delicate.^(D)
²Take millstones^(E) and grind^(F) flour;
take off your veil.^(G)
Lift up your skirts,^(H) bare your legs,
and wade through the streams.
³Your nakedness^(I) will be exposed
and your shame^(J) uncovered.
I will take vengeance;^(K)
I will spare no one.^(L)”

⁴Our Redeemer^(M)—the Lord Almighty^(N) is his name^(O)—
is the Holy One^(P) of Israel.

⁵“Sit in silence,^(Q) go into darkness,^(R)
queen city of the Babylonians;^(S)
no more will you be called
queen^(T) of kingdoms.^(U)
⁶I was angry^(V) with my people
and desecrated my inheritance;^(W)
I gave them into your hand,^(X)
and you showed them no mercy.^(Y)
Even on the aged
you laid a very heavy yoke.
⁷You said, ‘I am forever^(Z)—
the eternal queen!’^(AA)
But you did not consider these things
or reflect^(AB) on what might happen.^(AC)

⁸“Now then, listen, you lover of pleasure,
lounging in your security^(AD)
and saying to yourself,
‘I am, and there is none besides me.^(AE)
I will never be a widow^(AF)
or suffer the loss of children.’
⁹Both of these will overtake you
in a moment,^(AG) on a single day:
loss of children^(AH) and widowhood.^(AI)
They will come upon you in full measure,
in spite of your many sorceries^(AJ)
and all your potent spells.^(AK)
¹⁰You have trusted^(AL) in your wickedness
and have said, ‘No one sees me.’^(AM)
Your wisdom^(AN) and knowledge mislead^(AO) you
when you say to yourself,
‘I am, and there is none besides me.’
¹¹Disaster^(AP) will come upon you,
and you will not know how to conjure it away.
A calamity will fall upon you
that you cannot ward off with a ransom;
a catastrophe you cannot foresee
will suddenly^(AQ) come upon you.

¹²“Keep on, then, with your magic spells
and with your many sorceries,^(AR)
which you have labored at since childhood.
Perhaps you will succeed,
perhaps you will cause terror.
¹³All the counsel you have received has only worn you out!^(AS)
Let your astrologers^(AT) come forward,
those stargazers who make predictions month by month,
let them save^(AU) you from what is coming upon you.
¹⁴Surely they are like stubble;^(AV)
the fire^(AW) will burn them up.
They cannot even save themselves
from the power of the flame.^(AX)
These are not coals for warmth;
this is not a fire to sit by.
¹⁵That is all they are to you—
these you have dealt with
and labored^(AY) with since childhood.
All of them go on in their error;
there is not one that can save^(AZ) you.