Isaiah 47 Darby Translation
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
1 Come down and sit in the dust, 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.
1 “Come down and sit in the dust, virgin daughter of Babylon. Sit on the ground without a throne, daughter of the Chaldeans. For you will no longer be called tender and delicate.
2 Take the millstones, and grind meal; remove thy veil, lift up the train, uncover the leg, pass over rivers:
2 Take the millstones and grind flour. Remove your veil, lift up your skirt, uncover your legs, and wade through the rivers.
3 thy nakedness shall be uncovered, yea, thy shame shall be seen. I will take vengeance, and I will meet none [to stay me]. ...
3 Your nakedness will be uncovered. Yes, your shame will be seen. I will take vengeance, and will spare no one.”
4 Our Redeemer, Jehovah of hosts is his name, the Holy One of Israel. ...
4 Our Redeemer, Yahweh of Armies is his name, is the Holy One of Israel.
5 Sit silent, and get thee into darkness, daughter of the Chaldeans; for thou shalt no more be called, Mistress of kingdoms.
5 “Sit in silence, and go into darkness, daughter of the Chaldeans. For you shall no longer be called the mistress of kingdoms.
6 I was wroth with my people, I polluted mine inheritance, and gave them into thy hand: thou didst shew them no mercy; upon the aged didst thou very heavily lay thy yoke;
6 I was angry with my people. I profaned my inheritance and gave them into your hand. You showed them no mercy. You laid a very heavy yoke on the aged.
7 and thou saidst, I shall be a mistress for ever; so that thou didst not take these things to heart, thou didst not remember the end thereof.
7 You said, ‘I will be a princess forever,’ so that you didn’t lay these things to your heart, nor did you remember the results.
8 And now hear this, thou voluptuous one, that dwellest carelessly, that sayest in thy heart, It is I, and there is none but me; I shall not sit as a widow, neither shall I know loss of children:
8 “Now therefore hear this, you who are given to pleasures, who sit securely, who say in your heart, ‘I am, and there is no one else besides me. I won’t sit as a widow, neither will I know the loss of children.’
9 yet these two things shall come upon thee in a moment, in one day, loss of children and widowhood; they shall come upon thee in full measure for the multitude of thy sorceries, for the great abundance of thine enchantments.
9 But these two things will come to you in a moment in one day: the loss of children and widowhood. They will come on you in their full measure, in the multitude of your sorceries, and the great abundance of your enchantments.
10 For thou hast confided in thy wickedness: thou hast said, None seeth me. Thy wisdom and thy knowledge, it hath seduced thee; and thou hast said in thy heart, It is I, and there is none but me.
10 For you have trusted in your wickedness. You have said, ‘No one sees me.’ Your wisdom and your knowledge has perverted you. You have said in your heart, ‘I am, and there is no one else besides me.’
11 But evil shall come upon thee — thou shalt not know from whence it riseth; and mischief shall fall upon thee, which thou shalt not be able to ward off; and desolation that thou suspectest not shall come upon thee suddenly.
11 Therefore disaster will come on you. You won’t know when it dawns. Mischief will fall on you. You won’t be able to put it away. Desolation will come on you suddenly, which you don’t understand.
12 Stand 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 turn them to profit, if so be thou mayest cause terror.
12 “Stand now with your enchantments and with the multitude of your sorceries, in which you have labored from your youth, as if you might profit, as if you might prevail.
13 Thou art wearied in the multitude of thy counsels. Let now the interpreters of the heavens, the observers of the stars, who predict according to the new moons what shall come upon thee, stand up, and save thee.
13 You are wearied in the multitude of your counsels. Now let the astrologers, the stargazers, and the monthly prognosticators stand up and save you from the things that will happen to you.
14 Behold, 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.
14 Behold, they are like stubble. The fire will burn them. They won’t deliver themselves from the power of the flame. It won’t be a coal to warm at or a fire to sit by.
15 Thus shall they be unto thee with whom thou hast laboured, they that trafficked with thee from thy youth: they shall wander every one to his own quarter; there is none to save thee.
15 The things that you labored in will be like this: those who have trafficked with you from your youth will each wander in his own way. There will be no one to save you.
Cross references (15)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 Psalm 137:8; Jeremiah 51:33; Jeremiah 46:11; Jeremiah 50:42; Zechariah 2:7
- 2 Judges 16:21; Isaiah 20:4; Exodus 11:5; Matthew 24:41; Genesis 24:65
- 3 Nahum 3:5; Jeremiah 51:20–24; Jeremiah 50:27–28; Revelation 16:19; Jeremiah 51:34–36
- 4 Isaiah 49:26; Jeremiah 50:33–34; Isaiah 43:14; Isaiah 44:6; Isaiah 41:14
- 5 Revelation 18:16–19; Habakkuk 2:20; Isaiah 47:7; Isaiah 14:23; Zechariah 2:13
- 6 Zechariah 1:15; 2 Chronicles 28:9; Deuteronomy 28:50; Obadiah 10; James 2:13
- 7 Deuteronomy 32:29; Isaiah 47:5; Jeremiah 5:31; Isaiah 46:8–9; Ezekiel 7:3–9
- 8 Isaiah 32:9; Zephaniah 2:15; Isaiah 47:10; Revelation 18:3–8; Jeremiah 50:11
- 9 1 Thessalonians 5:3; Psalm 73:19; Nahum 3:4; Isaiah 47:12–13; Revelation 18:8–10
- 10 Isaiah 5:21; Romans 1:22; Isaiah 29:15; Psalm 52:7; Ezekiel 8:12
- 11 1 Thessalonians 5:3; Revelation 18:9–10; Nehemiah 4:11; Revelation 3:3; Jeremiah 51:39–42
- 12 Acts 13:8–12; Isaiah 47:9–10; Nahum 3:4; Jeremiah 2:28; Revelation 17:4–6
- 13 Isaiah 44:25; Daniel 2:2–10; Isaiah 57:10; Ezekiel 24:12; Jeremiah 51:58
- 14 Malachi 4:1; Nahum 1:10; Ezekiel 15:7; Isaiah 10:17; Isaiah 41:2
- 15 Revelation 18:11–19; Ezekiel 27:12–25; Jeremiah 51:6–9; Isaiah 56:11
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
… heed, pray, to astrologers; for of these the divine Scripture saith, Let the stargazers of the heaven stand up and save thee, and what follows: Behold, they all shall be consumed as stubble on the fire, and shall not deliver their soul from the flame.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 7 (1894)