Isaiah

Come down, and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon, sit on the ground: there is no throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans: for thou shalt no more be called tender and delicate.

1Come down and sit in the dust, young Babylon. Sit on the bare ground, land of the Chaldeans. There is no throne for you now. No one will call you soft and pampered again.

Note"Chaldeans" is another name for the people of Babylon. The chapter speaks to the city as if it were a proud young woman.

2Take the millstones, and grind meal: uncover thy locks, make bare the leg, uncover the thigh, pass over the rivers.

2Pick up the heavy stones and grind grain into flour like a slave. Take off your veil. Pull up your skirt, bare your legs, and wade through the streams.

NoteGrinding grain with millstones was hard, low work usually done by servants. Wading through streams with a raised skirt is what captives did when marched away.

3Thy nakedness shall be uncovered, yea, thy shame shall be seen: I will take vengeance, and I will not meet thee as a man.

3You will be stripped bare, and everyone will see your shame. I will pay you back for what you did, and I will spare no one.

4As for our redeemer, the LORD of hosts is his name, the Holy One of Israel.

4The one who buys us back is the LORD of Heaven's Armies. He is the Holy One of Israel.

Note"Redeemer" in the old wording means someone who pays to buy a relative out of slavery or debt. "LORD of hosts" means the LORD who commands armies.

5Sit thou silent, and get thee into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans: for thou shalt no more be called, The lady of kingdoms.

5Sit there without a word, land of the Chaldeans, and go off into the dark. No one will call you the queen of kingdoms again.

6I was wroth with my people, I have polluted mine inheritance, and given them into thine hand: thou didst shew them no mercy; upon the ancient hast thou very heavily laid thy yoke.

6I was angry with my own people. I let my treasured nation be shamed and handed them over to you. But you showed them no kindness. You even loaded a crushing weight on old people.

7And thou saidst, I shall be a lady for ever: so that thou didst not lay these things to thy heart, neither didst remember the latter end of it.

7You said, "I will be queen forever." You never thought about what you were doing, or how it would end.

8Therefore hear now this, thou that art given to pleasures, that dwellest carelessly, that sayest in thine heart, I am, and none else beside me; I shall not sit as a widow, neither shall I know the loss of children:

8So listen now, you who love comfort and feel perfectly safe. You tell yourself, "I am the one. There is no one but me. I will never be a widow or lose my children."

9But these two things shall come to thee in a moment in one day, the loss of children, and widowhood: they shall come upon thee in their perfection for the multitude of thy sorceries, and for the great abundance of thine enchantments.

9Both of those things will hit you at once, on a single day: your children gone and your husband gone. They will come on you in full, no matter how many spells and magic words you have.

10For thou hast trusted in thy wickedness: thou hast said, None seeth me. Thy wisdom and thy knowledge, it hath perverted thee; and thou hast said in thine heart, I am, and none else beside me.

10You felt safe doing wrong. You said, "No one sees me." Your cleverness and your knowledge led you off the path. You told yourself, "I am the one. There is no one but me."

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

11So trouble is coming, and you will not know how to charm it away. Disaster will land on you, and you will not be able to push it off. Ruin will hit you suddenly, before you see it coming.

12Stand now with thine enchantments, and with the multitude of thy sorceries, wherein thou hast laboured from thy youth; if so be thou shalt be able to profit, if so be thou mayest prevail.

12Go ahead then. Stand up with your magic words and your many spells, the ones you have worked at since you were young. Maybe they will help. Maybe they will frighten someone.

13Thou art wearied in the multitude of thy counsels. Let now the astrologers, the stargazers, the monthly prognosticators, stand up, and save thee from these things that shall come upon thee.

13All the advice you have collected has only worn you out. Let your astrologers step forward, the ones who watch the stars and predict each month what will happen. Let them save you from what is coming.

14Behold, they shall be as stubble; the fire shall burn them; they shall not deliver themselves from the power of the flame: there shall not be a coal to warm at, nor fire to sit before it.

14Look, they are like dry straw. Fire will burn them up. They cannot even save themselves from the flames. There will be no coals left to warm anyone, no fire to sit beside.

15Thus shall they be unto thee with whom thou hast laboured, even thy merchants, from thy youth: they shall wander every one to his quarter; none shall save thee.

15That is all your traders are worth to you, the ones you worked with since you were young. Each one will wander off his own way. Not one of them will save you.