Isaiah 47:8

8 And now, thou delicate, and dwelling trustily, hear these things, which sayest in thine heart, I am, and besides me there is no more; I shall not sit [a] widow, and I shall not know barrenness. (And now, O delicate one, and trustily dwelling, hear ye these things, thou who sayest in thy heart, Here I am, and there is no other besides me; I shall never be a widow, and I shall never know barrenness.)

Isaiah 47:8 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 47:8

Therefore hear now this, thou that art given to pleasures
To carnal lusts and pleasures; gratifying her sensual appetite; indulging herself in everything that was agreeable to the senses; abounding in delicacies, and living deliciously; as is said of mystical Babylon, ( Revelation 18:4 Revelation 18:7 ) , particularly given to venereal pleasures. Curtius says ^F7,

``no city was more corrupt in its manners, or furnished to irritate or allure to immoderate pleasures. Parents and husbands suffered their children and wives to prostitute themselves to strangers, so that they had but a price.''

Yea, every woman was obliged by a law to do this once in life, and that in a public manner, in the temple of Venus; the impurities of which are at large described by Herodotus ^F8 and Strabo ^F9: that dwelleth carelessly;
in great confidence and security, being fearless of danger, and insensible of any: that sayest in thine heart, I am, and none else besides me:
sole monarch of the world, empress of the whole universe; no competitor with me, none that can rival me. These words are sometimes used by the eternal and unchangeable Jehovah of himself, and indeed they suit with none but him; and it is the height of insolence and blasphemy in a creature to use them of itself; they fitly express that sovereignty, supremacy, infallibility, and even deity, which mystical Babylon assumes and ascribes to her head: I shall not sit as a widow, neither shall I know the loss of children;
not be without a head, king, or monarch, which is as a husband to the state; nor without numerous subjects, which are as children. The like mystical Babylon says, "I sit a queen, and am no widow", ( Revelation 18:7 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F7 Hist. l. 5. c. 1. sect. 1.
F8 Clio, sive l. 1. c. 199.
F9 Geograph. l. 16. p. 513.

Isaiah 47:8 In-Context

6 I was wroth on my people, I defouled mine heritage, and I gave them in thine hand, and thou settedest not mercies to them; thou madest grievous the yoke greatly on an eld man, (I was angry with my people, I defiled my inheritance, and I gave them into thy hands, or into thy power, and thou gavest no mercy to them; thou madest the yoke greatly grievous upon an old man,)

7 and thou saidest, Without end I shall be [a] lady (and thou saidest, I shall be a lady forever); thou puttedest not these things on thine heart, neither thou bethoughtest on thy last thing.

8 And now, thou delicate, and dwelling trustily, hear these things, which sayest in thine heart, I am, and besides me there is no more; I shall not sit [a] widow, and I shall not know barrenness. (And now, O delicate one, and trustily dwelling, hear ye these things, thou who sayest in thy heart, Here I am, and there is no other besides me; I shall never be a widow, and I shall never know barrenness.)

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).