Isaiah 47:8

8 Now therefore hear this, you lover of pleasures, who sit securely, who say in your heart, "I am, and there is no one besides me; I shall not sit as a widow or know the loss of children":

Isaiah 47:8 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 47:8

Therefore hear now this, thou that art given to pleasures
To carnal lusts and pleasures; gratifying her sensual appetite; indulging herself in everything that was agreeable to the senses; abounding in delicacies, and living deliciously; as is said of mystical Babylon, ( Revelation 18:4 Revelation 18:7 ) , particularly given to venereal pleasures. Curtius says ^F7,

``no city was more corrupt in its manners, or furnished to irritate or allure to immoderate pleasures. Parents and husbands suffered their children and wives to prostitute themselves to strangers, so that they had but a price.''

Yea, every woman was obliged by a law to do this once in life, and that in a public manner, in the temple of Venus; the impurities of which are at large described by Herodotus ^F8 and Strabo ^F9: that dwelleth carelessly;
in great confidence and security, being fearless of danger, and insensible of any: that sayest in thine heart, I am, and none else besides me:
sole monarch of the world, empress of the whole universe; no competitor with me, none that can rival me. These words are sometimes used by the eternal and unchangeable Jehovah of himself, and indeed they suit with none but him; and it is the height of insolence and blasphemy in a creature to use them of itself; they fitly express that sovereignty, supremacy, infallibility, and even deity, which mystical Babylon assumes and ascribes to her head: I shall not sit as a widow, neither shall I know the loss of children;
not be without a head, king, or monarch, which is as a husband to the state; nor without numerous subjects, which are as children. The like mystical Babylon says, "I sit a queen, and am no widow", ( Revelation 18:7 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F7 Hist. l. 5. c. 1. sect. 1.
F8 Clio, sive l. 1. c. 199.
F9 Geograph. l. 16. p. 513.

Isaiah 47:8 In-Context

6 I was angry with my people, I profaned my heritage; I gave them into your hand, you showed them no mercy; on the aged you made your yoke exceedingly heavy.

7 You said, "I shall be mistress for ever," so that you did not lay these things to heart or remember their end.

8 Now therefore hear this, you lover of pleasures, who sit securely, who say in your heart, "I am, and there is no one besides me; I shall not sit as a widow or know the loss of children":

9 These two things shall come to you in a moment, in one day; the loss of children and widowhood shall come upon you in full measure, in spite of your many sorceries and the great power of your enchantments.

10 You felt secure in your wickedness, you said, "No one sees me"; your wisdom and your knowledge led you astray, and you said in your heart, "I am, and there is no one besides me."