Isaia 47:2

2 Metti mano alle macine, e macina farina; lèvati il velo, alzati lo strascico, scopriti la gamba, e passa i fiumi!

Isaia 47:2 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 47:2

Take the millstones, and grind meal
Foretelling that the Chaldeans should be taken captives, and used as such, and sent to prison houses, where they should turn the mill, and grind corn into meal; a very servile work, and which used to be done by captives and slaves, even by female ones, ( Exodus 11:5 ) ( 12:29 ) ( Judges 16:21 ) . The Targum is,

``go into servitude;''

of which this was a sign: uncover thy locks:
the attire and dress of the head, by which the locks were bound up and kept together; but being taken off, would hang loose, and be dishevelled, as in captives and mourners. The Targum is,

``uncover the glory of thy kingdom:''

make bare the leg;
or the shoulder, as the Vulgate Latin version, to be scourged by the Persians: uncover the thigh, pass over the rivers:
they are bid to tuck up their clothes so high, that they might pass over the rivers which lay between them and Persia, whither they were carried captives. The Targum is,

``thy princes are broken, the people of their army are scattered, they pass away as the waters of the river.''

Isaia 47:2 In-Context

1 Scendi, e siedi sulla polvere, o vergine figliuola di Babilonia! Siediti in terra, senza trono, o figliuola de’ Caldei! poiché non ti si chiamerà più la delicata, la voluttuosa.

2 Metti mano alle macine, e macina farina; lèvati il velo, alzati lo strascico, scopriti la gamba, e passa i fiumi!

3 Si scopra la tua nudità, si vegga la tua onta; io farò vendetta, e non risparmierò anima viva.

4 Il nostro redentore ha nome l’Eterno degli eserciti, il Santo d’Israele.

5 Siediti in silenzio e va’ nelle tenebre, o figliuola de’ Caldei, poiché non sarai più chiamata la signora dei regni.