Isaiah 47
47
The Party’s Over
1-3“Get off your high horse and sit in the dirt,
virgin daughter of Babylon.
No more throne for you—sit on the ground,
daughter of the Chaldeans.
Nobody will be calling you ‘charming’
and ‘alluring’ anymore. Get used to it.
Get a job, any old job:
Clean gutters, scrub toilets.
Pawn your gowns and scarves,
put on your working pants—the party’s over.
Your nude body will be on public display,
exposed to vulgar taunts.
It’s vengeance time, and I’m taking vengeance.
No one gets let off the hook.”
You’re Acting Like the Center of the Universe
4-13Our Redeemer speaks,
named God-of-the-Angel-Armies, The Holy of Israel:
“Shut up and get out of the way,
daughter of Chaldeans.
You’ll no longer be called
‘First Lady of the Kingdoms.’
I was fed up with my people,
thoroughly disgusted with my progeny.
I turned them over to you,
but you had no compassion.
You put old men and women
to cruel, hard labor.
You said, ‘I’m the First Lady.
I’ll always be the pampered darling.’
You took nothing seriously, took nothing to heart,
never gave tomorrow a thought.
Well, start thinking, party girl.
You’re acting like the center of the universe,
Smugly saying to yourself, ‘I’m Number One. There’s nobody but me.
I’ll never be a widow, I’ll never lose my children.’
Those two things are going to hit you both at once,
suddenly, on the same day:
Spouse and children gone, a total loss,
despite your many enchantments and charms.
You were so confident and comfortable in your evil life,
saying, ‘No one sees me.’
You thought you knew so much, had everything figured out.
What delusion!
Smugly telling yourself, ‘I’m Number One. There’s nobody but me.’
Ruin descends—
you can’t charm it away.
Disaster strikes—
you can’t cast it off with spells.
Catastrophe, sudden and total—
and you’re totally at sea, totally bewildered!
But don’t give up. From your great repertoire
of enchantments there must be one you haven’t yet tried.
You’ve been at this a long time.
Surely something will work.
I know you’re exhausted trying out remedies,
but don’t give up.
Call in the astrologers and stargazers.
They’re good at this. Surely they can work up something!
14-15“Fat chance. You’d be grasping at straws
that are already in the fire,
A fire that is even now raging.
Your ‘experts’ are in it and won’t get out.
It’s not a fire for cooking venison stew,
not a fire to warm you on a winter night!
That’s the fate of your friends in sorcery, your magician cronies
you’ve been colluding with all your life.
They reel, confused, bumping into one another.
None of them bother to help you.”
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Isaiah 47: MSG
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THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved. Used by permission of NavPress. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.
Isaiah 47
47
Babylon’s Fall
1Go, sit in the dirt,
virgin princess of Babylon!
Sit on the ground, not on a throne,
princess of the Babylonians!
You will no longer be called soft and delicate.
2Take millstones and grind flour.
Remove your veil.
Take off your skirt.
Uncover your legs, and cross the river.
3People will see you naked.
People will see your shame.
I will take revenge.
I won’t spare anyone.
4Our defender is the Holy One of Israel.
His name is the Lord of Armies.
5Go into the dark, and sit in silence,
princess of the Babylonians!
You will no longer be called the queen of kingdoms.
6I was angry with my people.
I dishonored those who belong to me.
I put them under your control.
You showed them no mercy.
You placed a heavy burden on old people.
7You said, “I will always be a queen.”
You didn’t carefully consider these things
or keep in mind how they would end.
8Now then, listen to this, you lover of pleasure.
You live securely and say to yourself,
“I’m the only one, and there’s no one else.
I won’t live as a widow.
I won’t suffer the loss of children.”
9In one day both of these will happen to you instantly:
the loss of your children and your husband.
All this will happen to you in spite of
your evil magic and your many spells.
10You feel safe in your wickedness
and say, “No one can see me.”
Your wisdom and knowledge have led you astray,
so you say to yourself,
“I’m the only one, and there’s no one else.”
11But evil will happen to you.
You won’t know how to keep it away.
Disaster will strike you.
You won’t be able to stop it.
Destruction will overtake you suddenly.
You won’t expect it.
12Keep practicing your spells and your evil magic.
You have practiced them ever since you were young.
You may succeed.
You may cause terror.
13You are worn out by your many plans.
Let your astrologers and your stargazers,
who foretell the future month by month,
come to you, rise up, and save you.
14They are like straw.
Fire burns them.
They can’t rescue themselves from the flames.
There are no glowing coals to keep them warm
and no fire for them to sit by.
15This is how it will be for those who have worked with you,
for those who have been with you ever since you were young.
They will go their own ways,
and there will be no one to save you.
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GOD'S WORD® Translation ©1995, 2003, 2013, 2014, 2019, 2020 by God's Word to the Nations Mission Society. All rights reserved.