Isaiah 47:12

12 Stand now with thine enchantments and with the multitude of thy sorceries in which thou hast laboured from thy youth; if so be thou shalt be able to better thyself, if so be thou may prevail.

Isaiah 47:12 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 47:12

Stand now with thine enchantments, and with the multitude of
thy sorceries
An ironic expression, deriding those evil arts, bidding defiance to them, calling upon the masters of them to do their utmost by them: wherein thou hast laboured from thy youth;
from the infancy of their state; as soon as their monarchy was founded, or they became a people, they were given to these practices, and were famous for them; and in which, no doubt, many among them were brought up from their youth; and to gain the knowledge of which they were at great labour and expense; and yet it was all in vain, and to no purpose: if so be thou shall be able to profit, if so be thou mayest prevail;
if skill in these things can be of any advantage to keep off the impending calamity, and fortify against the powerful enemy that will quickly surprise thee; try if by thine art thou canst foresee the danger, and prevent it.

Isaiah 47:12 In-Context

10 For thou hast trusted in thy wickedness: thou hast said, No one sees me. Thy wisdom and thine own knowledge; it has deceived thee; for thou hast said in thine heart, I am, and no one else beside me.

11 Therefore shall evil come upon thee; thou shalt not know from where it rises; and mischief shall fall upon thee; thou shalt not be able to put it off: and destruction shall come upon thee suddenly, which thou shalt not know.

12 Stand now with thine enchantments and with the multitude of thy sorceries in which thou hast laboured from thy youth; if so be thou shalt be able to better thyself, if so be thou may prevail.

13 Thou art wearied in the multitude of thy counsels. Let now those that contemplate the heavens, those that speculate regarding the stars, those that teach the courses of the moon, stand up and defend thee from these things that shall come upon thee.

14 Behold, they shall be as stubble; the fire shall burn them; they shall not deliver their lives from the hand of the flame; there shall not be a coal left to warm at, nor light to sit before it.