Isaiah 47:11

11 Evil shall come [up]on thee, and thou shalt not know the beginning thereof; and mischief shall fall [up]on thee, which thou shalt not be able to cleanse; wretchedness which thou knowest not, shall come [up]on thee suddenly (and such wretchedness, which thou knowest not, shall suddenly come upon thee).

Isaiah 47:11 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 47:11

Therefore shall evil come upon thee
The evil of punishment, a great calamity; so Nebuchadnezzar foretold, as Abydenus relates ^F15, that (sumforh) , a calamity, should come upon the Babylonians; a day of evil, because of the above sins Babylon was guilty of: thou shall not know from whence it riseth;
from what quarter it will come, little dreaming of Cyrus, with whom the Chaldeans had had no quarrel. So mystical Babylon will not know from whence her ruin will come; little thinking that the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication with her, and have given their kingdoms to her, will hate her, and burn her flesh with fire: or, "thou shall not know the morning of it" ^F16: that is, on what day, or at what time, it will be. Babylon was taken when it was not thought of, as appears from the book of Daniel, and profane history. Aristotle ^F17 reports, that it was said, that the third day after Babylon was taken, one part of the city did not know that it was taken. Or the sense is, this day of evil and calamity should be such a dark and gloomy day, there should be no light in it, it should be as the night, and therefore its morning or light should not be known, so Aben Ezra: "and mischief shall fall upon thee"; contrived for others; the pit dug for others she should fall into herself: though the phrase seems to denote the mischief coming from above, by the hand of heaven, and suddenly and irresistibly; which should fall with weight and vengeance upon her, to the crushing and utter destruction of her: thou shalt not be able to put it off;
or, "to expiate it" ^F18; and atone for it, either by prayers and entreaties, which God will not regard, ( Isaiah 47:3 ) or by gifts, or by ransom price, by gold and silver, which the Medes and Persians were no lovers of, ( Isaiah 13:17 ) : and desolation shall come upon thee suddenly, which thou shalt not
know;
that is, before hand; neither the persons from whom nor the time when it shall come; notwithstanding their astrologers, diviners, and monthly prognosticators, pretended to tell what would come to pass every day; but not being able by their art to give the least hint of Babylon's destruction, as to either time or means, the Chaldeans were in great security, quite ignorant of their ruin at hand, and which therefore came suddenly and unawares upon them; as will the destruction of mystical Babylon.

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FOOTNOTES:

F15 Ib. c. 41. p. 456.
F16 (hrxv yert al) "non scis auroram ejus", Montanus, Vatablus, Cocceius; "cujus non cognoscis auroram", Vitringa. That is, as Ben Melech explains it, thou shalt not know the time of its coming; for it shall come suddenly, as a thing comes in a morning, which a man is not aware of till he sees it.
F17 Politic. l. 3. c. 3.
F18 (hrpk ylkwt al) "non potens placare eam", Montanus; "expiare", Tigurine version, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Cocceius, Vitringa.

Isaiah 47:11 In-Context

9 These two things, barrenness and widowhood, shall come to thee suddenly in one day; all things came on thee for the multitude of thy witchcrafts, and for the great hardness of thine enchanters, either tregetours. (But these two things, barrenness and widowhood, shall suddenly come upon thee in a single day; they shall come upon thee for the multitude of thy witchcrafts, and for the great willfulness of thy enchanters, or of thy conjurers.)

10 And (for) thou haddest trust in thy malice, and saidest, None is that seeth me; this, thy wisdom and thy knowing, (hath) deceived thee; and thou saidest in thine heart, I am, and besides me there is none other (I am, and there is no one else besides me).

11 Evil shall come [up]on thee, and thou shalt not know the beginning thereof; and mischief shall fall [up]on thee, which thou shalt not be able to cleanse; wretchedness which thou knowest not, shall come [up]on thee suddenly (and such wretchedness, which thou knowest not, shall suddenly come upon thee).

12 Stand thou with thine enchanters, and with the multitude of thy witches, in which thou travailedest from thy youth; if in hap they profit anything to thee, either if thou mayest be made the stronger. (Stand thou with thy enchanters, and with the multitude of thy witches, with whom thou hast laboured from thy youth; if perhaps they profit anything to thee, or if thou mayest be made stronger, or more awesome.)

13 Thou failedest in the multitude of thy counsels; the false diviners of heaven stand, and save thee, which beheld stars, and numbered months, that they should tell by them things to coming to thee. (Thou hast failed, despite the multitude of thy advice; let the false diviners of the heavens stand up, and save thee, they who looked at the stars, and numbered the months, so that they could tell by them the things that would come to thee.)