Isaiah 47:2

2 Take [the] pair of mill stones and grind flour! Uncover your veil, strip off [your] skirt, uncover [your] thigh, pass through [the] rivers!

Isaiah 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.''

Isaiah 47:2 In-Context

1 Come down and sit on [the] dust, virgin daughter of Babylon! Sit on the ground without a throne, daughter of Chaldea! For {they shall no longer call} you tender and delicate.

2 Take [the] pair of mill stones and grind flour! Uncover your veil, strip off [your] skirt, uncover [your] thigh, pass through [the] rivers!

3 Your nakedness shall be exposed; indeed, your shame shall become visible. I will take vengeance and I will not {spare} a person.

4 Our redeemer, Yahweh of hosts [is] his name, the holy one of Israel.

5 Sit silently and go into the darkness, daughter of Chaldea, for {they shall no longer call} you mistress of kingdoms.