Isaiah 47:15

15 So are to you [those with] whom you have labored, your traders from your youth. They wander, each to his side; there is no one who can save you.

Isaiah 47:15 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 47:15

Thus shall they be unto thee with whom thou hast laboured,
&c.] In training them up in those arts, and in consulting with them in cases of difficulty; in which they were of no service, and now in time of danger as useless as stubble, or a blaze of straw: even thy merchants from thy youth;
either the above astrologers and diviners, who had been with them from the beginning of their state; and who had made merchandise of them, and were become rich as merchants by telling fortunes, and predicting things to come by the stars; which sense our version leads to by supplying the word "even"; or rather merchants in a literal sense, which Babylon abounded with from the first building of it; it being the metropolis of the empire, and the mart of nations: these, upon the destruction of the city, shall wander everyone to his quarter,
or "passage" ^F25; to the country from whence they came, and to the passage in that part of the city which led unto it; or to the passage over the river Euphrates, which ran through the city; or to the next port, from whence they might have a passage by shipping to their own land: it denotes the fright and fugitive state in which merchants, from other countries, should be in, when this calamity should come upon Babylon; that they should leave their effects, flee for their lives, and wander about till they got a passage over to their native place, and be of no service to the Chaldeans, as follows: none shall save thee:
neither astrologers nor merchants; so the merchants of mystical Babylon will get without the city, and stand afar off, and lament her sad case, but will not be able to help her, ( Revelation 18:15 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F25 (wrbel) "ad vel in transitum suum", Tigurine version.

Isaiah 47:15 In-Context

13 You struggle with your many consultations; let them stand, now, and save you-- those who see the stars, divide [the] {celestial sphere}, who inform by new moons-- from [those things] that are coming upon you.

14 Look! They are like stubble; [the] fire burns them completely. They cannot deliver {themselves} from [the] {power} of [the] flame; there is no coal {for warming oneself}, [no] fire before which to sit.

15 So are to you [those with] whom you have labored, your traders from your youth. They wander, each to his side; there is no one who can save you.