Isaiah 47

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God's Message to Babylon

47 <1> "Fall down and sit in the dirt,

Virgin Daughter Babylon,[427] sit on the ground.

You have no throne,

daughter of the Chaldeans.[428]

You are not the ruler now.

People will not think that you are

a tender, delicate young lady anymore.

<2> Now you must do the work.

You must get the millstones

and grind the grain to make flour.

Remove your veil

and take off your fancy dresses.

You must leave your country.

Lift your skirts until men can see your legs

and cross the rivers.[429]

<3> Men will see your naked body

and use you for sex.

I will make you pay for the bad things you did,

and I will not let anyone help you.

<4> "My people say, 'God saves us.

His name is the Lord All-Powerful,

the Holy One of Israel.'"

<5> "So Babylon, sit down and shut up.

Daughter of the Chaldeans,

go into the dark prison.

You will no longer be

'The Queen of the Kingdoms.'

<6> "I was angry with my people.

They were mine, but I treated them as though they were not important.

I let you punish them,

but you showed them no mercy.

Instead of respecting older people,

you made their work harder.

<7> You said, 'I will live forever.

I will always be the queen.'

You didn't even notice the bad things

you did to those people.

You didn't think about what would happen.

<8> So now, 'nice lady', listen to me!

You feel safe and you tell yourself,

'I am the only important person.

No one else is important like me.

I will never be a widow.

I will always have children.'

<9> These two things will happen to you:

First, you will lose your children.

Then you will lose your husband.

And none of your magic spells

will help you.

<10> You do bad things,

but you still feel safe.[430]

You think to yourself,

'No one sees the wrong I do.'

You think that your wisdom and knowledge will save you.

You think to yourself,

'I am the only one.

No one is important like me.'

<11> "But disaster is coming your way.

You don't know when it will happen, but disaster is coming.

And there is nothing you can do to stop it.

<12> You worked hard all your life

learning magic tricks and spells.

So start using that magic.

Maybe those tricks will help you.

Maybe you will be able to scare someone.

<13> You have many advisors.

Are you tired of the advice they give?

Then send out your men who read the stars.

They can tell when the month starts,

so maybe they can tell you when your troubles will come.

<14> But they cannot even save themselves.

They will burn like straw.

They will burn so fast that there will be no coals left to cook bread.

There will be no fire left to sit by.

<15> That will happen to everything

you worked so hard for.

The people you did business with

all your life will leave you.

Everyone will go their own way.

There will be no one left to save you."