Chapter 47
47:1 Come down, sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon, sit on the ground: there is no throne for the daughter of the Chaldeans, for you shall no more be called delicate and tender.
47:2 Take a millstone and grind meal: uncover your shame, strip your shoulder, make bare your legs, pass over the rivers.
47:3 Your nakedness shall be discovered, and your shame shall be seen: I will take vengeance, and no man shall resist me.
47:4 Our redeemer, the Lord of hosts is his name, the Holy One of Israel.
47:5 Sit you silent, and get you into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans: for you shall no more be called the lady of kingdoms.
47:6 I was angry with my people, I have polluted my inheritance, and have given them into your hand: you have shown no mercy to them: upon the ancient you have laid your yoke exceeding heavy.
47:7 And you have said: I shall be a lady for ever: you have not laid these things to your heart, neither have you remembered your latter end.
47:8 And now hear these things, you that are delicate, and dwell confidently, that say in your heart: I am, and there is none else besides me: I shall not sit as a widow, and I shall not know barrenness.
47:9 These two things shall come upon you suddenly in one day, barrenness and widowhood. All things are come upon you, because of the multitude of your sorceries, and for the great hardness of your enchanters.
47:10 And you have trusted in your wickedness, and have said: there is none that sees me. Your wisdom, and, your knowledge, this has deceived you. And you have said in your heart: I am, and besides me there is no other.
47:11 Evil shall come upon you, and you shall not know the rising thereof: and calamity shall fall violently upon you, which you canst not keep off: misery shall come upon you suddenly, which you shall not know.
47:12 Stand now with your enchanters, and with the multitude of your sorceries, in which you have labored from your youth, if so be it may profit you any thing, or if you mayst become stronger.
47:13 You have failed in the multitude of your counsels: let now the astrologers stand and save you, they that gazed at the stars, and counted the months, that from them they might tell the things that shall come to you.
47:14 Behold they are as stubble, fire has burnt them, they shall not deliver themselves from the power of the flames: there are no coals wherewith they may be warmed, nor fire, that they may sit thereat.
47:15 Such are all the things become to you, in which you have labored: your merchants from your youth, every one has erred in his own way, there is none that can save you.
878 . Come down, sit . Here he foretells the degradation of the kingdom of Babylon. And concerning this, he does three things:
first, he threatens the punishment of degradation;
second, he shows their fault: I was angry (Isa 47:6);
third, he removes their confidence of escape: let now the astrologers (Isa 47:13).
879 . Concerning the first, he does three things.
First, he foretells their degradation as to the glory which they lost: come down , from the height of your power, sit in the dust , as though vile and abject; virgin , because never before laid waste, or because of the tenderness of her delicacy; throne , her royal dignity; delicate , as queens are accustomed to be: for tenderness she was not able to bear up her own body (Esth 15:6); as if to say: you shall no longer be a queen: he has put down the mighty from their seat and has exalted the humble (Luke 1:52), above: the Lord of hosts has designed it, to pull down the pride of all glory (Isa 23:9).
Second, as to the ignominy which they incurred: take a millstone , which was the work of servant girls, as if to say: you shall be a servant girl; or it signifies sexual intercourse, as in Judges 16:21 of Samson; uncover your shame , that is, your shameful members, either to the lust of your enemies or for crossing rivers on foot: I will change their glory into shame (Hos 4:7). And he shows the author of this ignominy: I will take vengeance , however powerful you may be; our redeemer , the voice of the people liberated from servitude to Babylon, above: the Lord will bring the revenge (Isa 35:4).
Third, as to the shame of confusion: sit you silent , as one who is ashamed does not dare to speak or appear before men: the wicked shall be silent in darkness (1 Sam 2:9).
880 . I was angry . Here he set out their fault, which is the cause of such a punishment. And he sets out three faults.
First, the cruelty of their rule toward the Jews, setting out the power granted them: I was angry with my people , because of their sins, wishing to punish them; I have polluted , allowed to be polluted by you, my inheritance , the people of Israel, above: Israel is my inheritance (Isa 19:25); I have forsaken my house, I have left my inheritance (Jer 12:7); and he sets out their abuse of this power: you have shown no mercy to them : upon the ancient , who should be given mercy even by enemies: they did not respect the persons of the ancients (Lam 5:12).
881 . Second, their pride of heart: and you have said , setting out their proud thinking: I shall be a lady for ever : she says in her heart: I sit a queen (Rev 18:7); he also sets out the foolishness of the proud, that they did not consider things to come: you have not laid these things , which will come upon you: in the day of good things be not unmindful of evils (Sir 11:27[25]); in all your works remember your last end (Sir 7:40[36]). And he sets out the frustration of their hope: and now hear ; I shall not sit as a widow , through the deprivation of my kingdom; barrenness , that is, the loss of the people who were born in me. Suddenly , unexpectedly, above: the destruction thereof shall come on a sudden, when it is not looked for (Isa 30:13): give them, O Lord, a womb without children (Hos 9:14).
882 . Third, the multitude of their sorceries: all things . And he sets out three things.
First, the sorceries by which they increased: the multitude of your sorceries , for they abounded in arts of this kind there: let there not be among you anyone who consults diviners (Deut 18:11).
Second, the error they fell into because of these things, namely, they thought they had immunity from punishment because these things denied divine providence: and you have trusted , that you might safely sin; there is none , no God, that sees me sinning, that he might punish me: the eye of the adulterer observes darkness, saying: no eye shall see me (Job 24:15); and they thought their power was eternal because their diviners promised this: your wisdom , as to those who occupied themselves with divine things; your knowledge , as to those who occupied themselves with human things: every man is become a fool for knowledge (Jer 10:14).
Third, he sets out the punishment they merited because of this: evil shall come upon you, and you shall not know the rising thereof , he says this in the manner of astrologers, who teach that we should consider the rising of kingdoms according to the rising of the planets: when they shall say: peace and security; then shall sudden destruction come upon them (1 Thess 5:3).
883 . Stand now with your enchanters . Here he excludes their trust in escape; and concerning this, he does two things.
First, he excludes hope from the wise, excluding their help, as to sorcerers: stand now with your enchanters ; from your youth , from when they were created, they were full of magical arts, above: and when they shall say to you: seek of pythons, and of diviners (Isa 8:19). And as to astrologers: let now the astrologers stand against their enemies, if they could, for they abounded in these arts, too: be not afraid of the signs of heaven, which the heathens fear (Jer 10:2). And he threatens the wise with burning: behold they are as stubble , the wise among you; there are no coals wherewith they may be warmed , but by which the whole city may be burned, or because the city was burned in wintertime, so that they were punished by cold and fire at the same time; or the coal of divine wisdom is not in you: the congregation of sinners is like tow heaped together, and the end of them is a flame of fire (Sir 21:10[9]).
Second, he excludes hope from their merchants: merchants , in which they also abounded; or wise men ( magi ), who sold them lies for truth, above: every one shall be amazed at his neighbor, their countenances shall be as faces burnt (Isa 13:8).