Isaiah 47
About IsaiahWritten by AI
Isaiah is the first of the major prophets and one of the books the New Testament quotes most often. Isaiah son of Amoz preached in Jerusalem from about 740 to 700 BC, during the reigns of four kings of Judah, while the Assyrian empire threatened the land. Many scholars think chapters 40 to 66 come from later writers in the time of the exile and return. Many Christians hold that Isaiah wrote the whole book, noting that the New Testament quotes both halves under his name.
The book moves from judgment to comfort. Chapters 1 to 39 confront Judah's sin and the proud nations, with the history of King Hezekiah at the center. From chapter 40 the tone changes: “Comfort, comfort My people.” God promises to bring His people home, and the book ends with new heavens and a new earth.
Watch for God's title, the Holy One of Israel, and for the promised King from David's line and the Servant of the LORD who suffers for others. Christians see both fulfilled in Jesus, though some prophecies are read differently among believers.
Before you read Isaiah 47Written by AI
A taunt over Babylon, pictured as a pampered queen thrown down into the dust. She said she would never be a widow or lose her children, but both will come in a single day. Her sorcerers and stargazers cannot save her. Pride and cruelty to God's people bring her down.
The Humiliation of Babylon
“Go down and sit in the dust,
O Virgin Daughter of Babylon.
Sit on the ground without a throne,
O Daughter of the Chaldeans!
For you will no longer be called
tender or delicate.
Take millstones and grind flour;
remove your veil;
strip off your skirt, bare your thigh,
and wade through the streams.
Your nakedness will be uncovered
and your shame will be exposed.
I will take vengeance;
I will spare no one.”
Our Redeemer—the LORD of Hosts is His name—
is the Holy One of Israel.
“Sit in silence and go into darkness,
O Daughter of the Chaldeans.
For you will no longer be called
the queen of kingdoms.
I was angry with My people;
I profaned My heritage,
and I placed them under your control.
You showed them no mercy;
even on the elderly you laid a most heavy yoke.
You said, ‘I will be queen forever.’
You did not take these things to heart
or consider their outcome.
So now hear this,
O lover of luxury who sits securely,
who says to herself,
‘I am, and there is none besides me.
I will never be a widow
or know the loss of children.’
These two things will overtake you in a moment,
in a single day:
loss of children, and widowhood.
They will come upon you in full measure,
in spite of your many sorceries
and the potency of your spells.
You were secure in your wickedness;
you said, ‘No one sees me.’
Your wisdom and knowledge led you astray;
you told yourself, ‘I am, and there is none besides me.’
But disaster will come upon you;
you will not know how to charm it away.
A calamity will befall you
that you will be unable to ward off.
Devastation will happen to you
suddenly and unexpectedly.
So take your stand with your spells
and with your many sorceries,
with which you have wearied yourself
from your youth.
Perhaps you will succeed;
perhaps you will inspire terror!
You are wearied by your many counselors;
let them come forward now and save you—
your astrologers who observe the stars,
who monthly predict your fate.
Surely they are like stubble;
the fire will burn them up.
They cannot deliver themselves
from the power of the flame.
There will be no coals to warm them
or fire to sit beside.
This is what they are to you—
those with whom you have labored and traded from youth—
each one strays in his own direction;
not one of them can save you.