Isaiah 47:2-12

2 "Take the ¹millstones and ²grind meal. Remove your ³veil, ⁴strip off the skirt, Uncover the leg, cross the rivers.

3 "Your ⁵nakedness will be uncovered, Your shame also will be exposed; I will ⁶take vengeance and will not spare a man."

4 Our ⁷Redeemer, the LORD of hosts is His name, The Holy One of Israel.

5 "⁸Sit silently, and go into ⁹darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans, For you will no longer be called The ¹⁰queen of ¹¹kingdoms.

6 "I was angry with My people, I profaned My heritage And gave them into your hand. You did not show mercy to them, On the ¹²aged you made your yoke very heavy.

7 "Yet you said, 'I will be a ¹³queen forever *.' These things you did not ¹⁴consider * * Nor remember the ¹⁵outcome of them.

8 "Now, then, hear this, you ¹⁶sensual one, Who ¹⁷dwells securely, Who says in your heart, '¹⁸I am, and there is no one besides me. I will ¹⁹not sit as a widow, Nor know loss of children.'

9 "But these ²⁰two things will come on you ²¹suddenly in one day: Loss of children and widowhood. They will come on you in full measure In spite of your many ²²sorceries, In spite of the great power of your spells.

10 "You felt ²³secure in your wickedness and said, '²⁴No one sees me,' Your ²⁵wisdom and your knowledge, they have deluded you; For you have said in your heart, '²⁶I am, and there is no one besides me.'

11 "But ²⁷evil will come on you Which you will not know how to charm away; And disaster will fall on you For which you cannot * atone; And ²⁸destruction about which you do not know Will come on you ²⁹suddenly.

12 "Stand fast now in your ³⁰spells And in your many sorceries With which you have labored from your youth; Perhaps you will be able to profit, Perhaps you may cause trembling.

Read Chapter Compare

Images for Isaiah 47:2-12

Isaiah 47:2-12 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO ISAIAH 47

This chapter is a prophecy of the destruction of Babylon, and of the Chaldeans, and declares the causes of it. The mean, low, ignominious, and miserable condition Babylon and the Chaldeans should be brought into by the Lord, the Redeemer of his people, is described, Isa 47:1-5, the causes of it are their cruelty to the Jews, Isa 47:6, their pride, voluptuousness, and carnal security, Isa 47:7,8 their sorceries and enchantments, and trust in their own wisdom, Isa 47:9,10, wherefore their destruction should come suddenly upon them, and they should not be able to put it off, Isa 47:11, their magic art, and judiciary astrology, which they boasted of, by them they could neither foresee nor withstand their ruin, which would be of no avail unto them, Isa 47:12-14, nor their merchants either, Isa 47:15.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Cross References 30

1. Exodus 11:5; Jeremiah 25:10
2. Job 31:10; Ecclesiastes 12:4; Matthew 24:41
3. Genesis 24:65; Isaiah 3:23; 1 Corinthians 11:5
4. Isaiah 32:11
5. Ezekiel 16:37; Nahum 3:5
6. Isaiah 34:8; Isaiah 63:4
7. Isaiah 41:14
8. Isaiah 23:2; Jeremiah 8:14; Lamentations 2:10
9. Isaiah 13:10
10. Isaiah 47:7
11. Isaiah 13:19; Daniel 2:37
12. Deuteronomy 28:50
13. Isaiah 47:5
14. Isaiah 42:25; Isaiah 57:11
15. Deuteronomy 32:29; Jeremiah 5:31; Ezekiel 7:2, 3
16. Isaiah 22:13; Isaiah 32:9; Jeremiah 50:11
17. Isaiah 32:9, 11; Zephaniah 2:15
18. Is 45:5, 6, 18; Isaiah 47:10; Zephaniah 2:15
19. Revelation 18:7
20. Isaiah 13:16, 18; Isaiah 14:22
21. Psalms 73:19; 1 Thessalonians 5:3; Revelation 18:8, 10
22. Isaiah 47:13; Nahum 3:4; Revelation 18:23
23. Psalms 52:7; Psalms 62:10; Isaiah 59:4
24. Isaiah 29:15; Ezekiel 8:12; Ezekiel 9:9
25. Isaiah 5:21; Isaiah 44:20
26. Isaiah 47:8
27. Isaiah 57:1
28. Isaiah 13:6; Jeremiah 51:8, 43; Luke 17:27; 1 Thessalonians 5:3
29. Isaiah 47:9
30. Isaiah 47:9

Footnotes 4

[a]. Lit "meet"
[b]. Lit "it"
[c]. Lit "her"
[d]. Lit "it has"