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The Humiliation of Babylon

 Come 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 shall no more be called
tender and delicate.
² Take the millstones and grind flour,
put off your veil,
strip off your robe, uncover your legs,
pass through the rivers.
³ Your nakedness shall be uncovered,
and your disgrace shall be seen.
I will take vengeance,
and I will spare no one.
⁴ Our 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 shall no more be called
the mistress of kingdoms.
⁶ I was angry with my people;
I profaned my heritage;
I gave them into your hand;
you showed them no mercy;
on the aged you made your yoke exceedingly heavy.
⁷ You said, “I shall be mistress forever,”
so that you did not lay these things to heart
or remember their end.

⁸ Now therefore hear this, you lover of pleasures,
who sit securely,
who say in your heart,
“I am, and there is no one besides me;
I shall not sit as a widow
or know the loss of children”:
⁹ These two things shall come to you
in a moment, in one day;
the loss of children and widowhood
shall come upon you in full measure,
in spite of your many sorceries
and the great power of your enchantments.

¹⁰ You felt secure in your wickedness,
you said, “No one sees me”;
your wisdom and your knowledge led you astray,
and you said in your heart,
“I am, and there is no one besides me.”
¹¹ But evil shall come upon you,
which you will not know how to charm away;
disaster shall fall upon you,
for which you will not be able to atone;
and ruin shall come upon you suddenly,
of which you know nothing.

¹² Stand fast in your enchantments
and your many sorceries,
with which you have labored from your youth;
perhaps you may be able to succeed;
perhaps you may inspire terror.
¹³ You are wearied with your many counsels;
let them stand forth and save you,
those who divide the heavens,
who gaze at the stars,
who at the new moons make known
what shall come upon you.

¹⁴ Behold, they are like stubble;
the fire consumes them;
they cannot deliver themselves
from the power of the flame.
No coal for warming oneself is this,
no fire to sit before!
¹⁵ Such to you are those with whom you have labored,
who have done business with you from your youth;
they wander about, each in his own direction;
there is no one to save you.

Cross references:

1. Isaiah 47:1 : [ch. 43:14]
2. Isaiah 47:1 : Ps. 137:8
3. Isaiah 47:1 : ch. 3:26
4. Isaiah 47:1 : ch. 23:13; 48:14
5. Isaiah 47:1 : [ver. 5; ch. 13:19]
6. Isaiah 47:2 : Judg. 16:21; [Matt. 24:41]
7. Isaiah 47:2 : [ch. 20:4]
8. Isaiah 47:4 : See ch. 43:14
9. Isaiah 47:5 : [Jer. 8:14]
10. Isaiah 47:5 : [See ver. 1 above]; ch. 23:13; 48:14
11. Isaiah 47:5 : [ver. 1]
12. Isaiah 47:6 : [Zech. 1:15]
13. Isaiah 47:6 : [ch. 14:17; 51:23]
14. Isaiah 47:7 : [ver. 1]
15. Isaiah 47:8 : [See ver. 7 above]; [ver. 1]
16. Isaiah 47:8 : Zeph. 2:15
17. Isaiah 47:8 : [ch. 45:6, 18; Jer. 50:29]
18. Isaiah 47:8 : Lam. 1:1; [Rev. 18:7]
19. Isaiah 47:9 : [ch. 51:19]
20. Isaiah 47:9 : [Jer. 50:31]
21. Isaiah 47:9 : [ver. 12, 13; Nah. 3:4]
22. Isaiah 47:10 : [ch. 45:6, 18; Jer. 50:29]
23. Isaiah 47:11 : [Ps. 35:8; Jer. 51:41]
24. Isaiah 47:12 : [ver. 9]
25. Isaiah 47:13 : [ch. 44:25; Dan. 2:2, 10]
26. Isaiah 47:14 : ch. 41:2; Nah. 1:10; Mal. 4:1
27. Isaiah 47:14 : See ch. 10:17