Isaiah 47:3

3 Your nakedness shall be uncovered, and your shame shall be seen. I will take vengeance, and I will spare no one.

Isaiah 47:3 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 47:3

Thy nakedness shall be uncovered, yea, thy shame shall be seen,
&c.] Not only stripped of their garments, and have nothing to cover their naked bodies, being spoiled of all by the soldiers; but should have nothing to cover those parts which women are most ashamed should be exposed to view, and which is often the case of such who fall into the hands of the conquerors. It is said of the whore of Rome, of mystical Babylon, that the kings of the earth should hate her, and make her desolate and naked, ( Revelation 17:16 ) : I will take vengeance;
for though the Medes and Persians were the instruments, the destruction was of the Lord, who took vengeance of the Chaldeans, for their ill usage of his people; as he will on mystical Babylon, ( Revelation 18:20 ) ( 19:2 ) : and I will not meet thee as a man;
in a humane way, with lenity, tenderness, and compassion, but with inflexible wrath and fury; not with human strength, which is but weakness, but with the strength of the mighty God; as is said of mystical Babylon, strong is the Lord God that judgeth her,
( Revelation 18:8 ) or it may be rendered, "I will not meet a man" F4; or a man shall not meet me, to stop or hinder me, by strength or might, or by prayers and entreaties. So some give the sense, "I will not receive the "intercession of any man for thee"; which is observed by Kimchi. The Targum is, "I will change "thy judgment from the children of men"; which agrees with the first sense.


FOOTNOTES:

F4 (Mda egpa alw) "et non occurram homini", Cocceius; so some in Vatablus; "neque feram obstare quenquam mihi", Junius & Tremellius. So Ben Melech, "I will not receive the request of a man, his supplication for them."

Isaiah 47:3 In-Context

1 Come down and sit in the dust, virgin daughter Babylon! Sit on the ground without a throne, daughter Chaldea! For you shall no more be called tender and delicate.
2 Take the millstones and grind meal, remove your veil, strip off your robe, uncover your legs, pass through the rivers.
3 Your nakedness shall be uncovered, and your shame 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, daughter Chaldea! For you shall no more be called the mistress of kingdoms.
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.