Isaiah 47

“Babylon, come down from your throne,

and sit in the dust on the ground.

You were once like a virgin, a city unconquered,

but you are soft and delicate no longer!

You are now a slave!

₂Turn the millstone! Grind the flour!

Off with your veil! Strip off your fine clothes!

Lift up your skirts to cross the streams!

₃People will see you naked;

they will see you humbled and shamed.

I will take vengeance, and no one will stop me.”

₄The holy God of Israel sets us free —

his name is the LORD Almighty.

“Sit in silence and darkness;

no more will they call you the queen of nations!

₆I was angry with my people;

I treated them as no longer mine:

I put them in your power,

and you showed them no mercy;

even the aged you treated harshly.

₇You thought you would always be a queen,

and did not take these things to heart

or think how it all would end.

₈“Listen to this, you lover of pleasure,

you that think you are safe and secure.

You claim you are as great as God —

that there is no one else like you.

You thought that you would never be a widow

or suffer the loss of your children.

₉But in a moment, in a single day,

both of these things will happen.

In spite of all the magic you use,

you will lose your husband and children.

₁₀“You felt sure of yourself in your evil;

you thought that no one could see you.

Your wisdom and knowledge led you astray,

and you said to yourself, ‘I am God —

there is no one else like me.’

₁₁Disaster will come upon you,

and none of your magic can stop it.

Ruin will come on you suddenly —

ruin you never dreamt of!

₁₂Keep all your magic spells and charms;

you have used them since you were young.

Perhaps they will be of some help to you;

perhaps you can frighten your enemies.

₁₃You are powerless in spite of the advice you get.

Let your astrologers come forward and save you —

those people who study the stars,

who map out the zones of the heavens

and tell you from month to month

what is going to happen to you.

₁₄“They will be like bits of straw,

and a fire will burn them up!

They will not even be able to save themselves —

the flames will be too hot for them,

not a cosy fire to warm themselves by.

₁₅That is all the good they will do you —

those astrologers you've consulted all your life.

They all will leave you and go their own way,

and none will be left to save you.”