Isaiah 47

The Fall of Babylon

1 “Go down, sit in the dust, Virgin Daughter Babylon; sit on the ground without a throne, queen city of the Babylonians.^[a]No more will you be called tender or delicate.

2 Take millstones and grind flour; take off your veil. Lift up your skirts, bare your legs, and wade through the streams.

3 Your nakedness will be exposed and your shame uncovered. I will take vengeance; I will spare no one.”

4 Our Redeemer—the LORD Almighty is his name— is the Holy One of Israel.

5 “Sit in silence, go into darkness, queen city of the Babylonians; no more will you be called queen of kingdoms.

6 I was angry with my people and desecrated my inheritance; I gave them into your hand, and you showed them no mercy. Even on the aged you laid a very heavy yoke.

7 You said, ‘I am forever— the eternal queen!’ But you did not consider these things or reflect on what might happen.

8 “Now then, listen, you lover of pleasure, lounging in your security and saying to yourself, ‘I am, and there is none besides me. I will never be a widow or suffer the loss of children.’

9 Both of these will overtake you in a moment, on a single day: loss of children and widowhood. They will come upon you in full measure, in spite of your many sorceries and all your potent spells.

10 You have trusted in your wickedness and have said, ‘No one sees me.’ Your wisdom and knowledge mislead you when you say to yourself, ‘I am, and there is none besides me.’

11 Disaster will come upon you, and you will not know how to conjure it away. A calamity will fall upon you that you cannot ward off with a ransom; a catastrophe you cannot foresee will suddenly come upon you.

12 “Keep on, then, with your magic spells and with your many sorceries, which you have labored at since childhood. Perhaps you will succeed, perhaps you will cause terror.

13 All the counsel you have received has only worn you out! Let your astrologers come forward, those stargazers who make predictions month by month, let them save you from what is coming upon you.

14 Surely they are like stubble; the fire will burn them up. They cannot even save themselves from the power of the flame. These are not coals for warmth; this is not a fire to sit by.

15 That is all they are to you— these you have dealt with and labored with since childhood. All of them go on in their error; there is not one that can save you.

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Isaiah 47 Commentary

Chapter 47

God's judgments on Babylon. (1-6) Carelessness and confidence shall not prevent the evil. (7-15)

Verses 1-6 Babylon is represented under the emblem of a female in deep distress. She was to be degraded and endure sufferings; and is represented sitting on the ground, grinding at the handmill, the lowest and most laborious service. God was righteous in his vengeance, and none should interpose. The prophet exults in the Lord of hosts, as the Redeemer and Holy One of Israel. God often permits wicked men to prevail against his people; but those who cruelly oppress them will be punished.

Verses 7-15 Let us beware of acting and speaking as Babylon did; of trusting in tyranny and oppression; of boasting as to our abilities, relying on ourselves, and ascribing success to our own prudence and wisdom; lest we partake of her plagues. Those in the height of prosperity, are apt to fancy themselves out of the reach of adversity. It is also common for sinners to think they shall be safe, because they think to be secret in wicked ways. But their security shall be their ruin. Let us draw from such passages as the foregoing, those lessons of humility and trust in God which they convey. If we believe the word of God, we may know how it will be with the righteous and the wicked to all eternity. We may learn how to escape the wrath to come, to glorify God, to have peace through life, hope in death, and everlasting happiness. Let us then stand aloof from all delusions.

Taken from Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible (Concise)

Cross References 52

1. S Job 2:13; S Isaiah 29:4
2. S Isaiah 21:9; S Isaiah 23:12
3. Psalms 137:8; Jeremiah 50:42; Jeremiah 51:33; Zechariah 2:7
4. Deuteronomy 28:56
5. Exodus 11:5; Matthew 24:41
6. S Judges 16:21
7. S Genesis 24:65
8. S Isaiah 32:11
9. S Genesis 2:25; Ezekiel 16:37; Nahum 3:5
10. S Isaiah 20:4
11. S Isaiah 1:24; S Isaiah 34:8
12. Isaiah 13:18-19
13. S Job 19:25
14. S Isaiah 13:4
15. Isaiah 48:2; Jeremiah 50:34; Amos 4:13
16. S Isaiah 1:4; Isaiah 48:17
17. S Job 2:13
18. Isaiah 9:2; Isaiah 13:10
19. S Isaiah 21:9
20. ver 7; Lamentations 1:1; Revelation 18:7
21. S Isaiah 13:19; Revelation 17:18
22. S 2 Chronicles 28:9
23. S Deuteronomy 13:15; S Isaiah 42:24; Jeremiah 2:7; Jeremiah 50:11
24. Isaiah 10:13
25. S Isaiah 14:6
26. S Isaiah 10:13; Daniel 4:30
27. S ver 5; Revelation 18:7
28. S Isaiah 42:23,25
29. S Deuteronomy 32:29
30. S Isaiah 32:9
31. S Isaiah 45:6; Zephaniah 2:15
32. Isaiah 49:21; Isaiah 54:4; Lamentations 1:1; Revelation 18:7
33. S Psalms 55:15; Psalms 73:19; 1 Thessalonians 5:3; Revelation 18:8-10
34. S Isaiah 13:18
35. Isaiah 4:1; Jeremiah 15:8; Jeremiah 18:21
36. ver 12; Nahum 3:4; Malachi 3:5
37. Deuteronomy 18:10-11; Revelation 9:21; Revelation 18:23
38. S Job 15:31; Psalms 52:7; Psalms 62:10
39. S 2 Kings 21:16; S Isaiah 29:15
40. S Isaiah 5:21
41. Isaiah 44:20
42. S Isaiah 10:3; S Isaiah 14:15; S Isaiah 21:9; S Isaiah 31:2; Luke 17:27
43. S Psalms 55:15; S Isaiah 17:14; 1 Thessalonians 5:3
44. S ver 9; S Exodus 7:11
45. Isaiah 57:10; Jeremiah 51:58; Habakkuk 2:13
46. S Isaiah 19:3; S Isaiah 44:25
47. ver 15; S Isaiah 5:29; Isaiah 43:13; Isaiah 46:7
48. S Isaiah 5:24; Nahum 1:10
49. S Isaiah 30:30
50. Isaiah 10:17; Jer 51:30,32,58
51. Revelation 18:11
52. S ver 13; S Isaiah 44:17

Footnotes 1

[a]. Or "Chaldeans" ; also in verse 5

Chapter Summary

INTRODUCTION TO ISAIAH 47

This chapter is a prophecy of the destruction of Babylon, and of the Chaldeans, and declares the causes of it. The mean, low, ignominious, and miserable condition Babylon and the Chaldeans should be brought into by the Lord, the Redeemer of his people, is described, Isa 47:1-5, the causes of it are their cruelty to the Jews, Isa 47:6, their pride, voluptuousness, and carnal security, Isa 47:7,8 their sorceries and enchantments, and trust in their own wisdom, Isa 47:9,10, wherefore their destruction should come suddenly upon them, and they should not be able to put it off, Isa 47:11, their magic art, and judiciary astrology, which they boasted of, by them they could neither foresee nor withstand their ruin, which would be of no avail unto them, Isa 47:12-14, nor their merchants either, Isa 47:15.