Come Down, Daughter of Babylon
Babylon is told to get off her throne, take up a slave's millstone, and sit in the dust. Our Father used her to punish Israel, but she showed no mercy even to the elderly, and told herself nobody saw. Her astrologers burn like stubble; no one rescues her.
47 1"Step down, sit in the dust, virgin daughter of Babylon; sit on the bare ground, no throne, daughter of the Chaldeans. No longer will they call you tender and delicate.
2"Take the millstones and grind flour; remove your veil, strip off your robe, bare your legs, wade through the rivers. 3Your nakedness will be uncovered, and your shame will be seen. I will bring justice, and I will spare no one."
4Our Redeemer—the Father of heaven's armies is his name—the Holy One of Israel, our Father.
5Sit in silence, and go into darkness, daughter of the Babylonians; for you will no longer be called the queen of kingdoms. 6I was angry with my children; I defiled my inheritance and gave them into your hand. You showed them no mercy; you laid a very heavy yoke even on the elderly. 7You said, "I will be queen forever"—so you did not take these things to heart or remember how it would end.
8Now then, hear this, you lover of pleasures who sits securely, who says in her heart, "I am, and there is none besides me; I will never sit as a widow or know the loss of children." 9But both these things will come upon you in a moment, in a single day: the loss of children and widowhood. They will come upon you in full measure, despite your many sorceries and the great power of your spells.
10You trusted your own evil; you said, 'Nobody sees me.' Your wisdom and knowledge misled you, so you thought, 'I alone am, and none exists besides me.' 11So disaster will come upon you that you will not know how to charm away; calamity will fall on you that you cannot ward off; ruin will come upon you suddenly, before you know it.
12Keep on, then, with your spells and your many sorceries that you have worked at since your youth. Perhaps you will succeed; perhaps you will cause terror. 13You are worn out by your many counsels. Let them stand up and save you—those who map the heavens, who gaze at the stars, who at each new moon predict what will come upon you. 14See, they are like stubble; the fire burns them up. They cannot save themselves from the power of the flame. These are no coals for warming, no fire to sit beside. 15This is what they are to you—those you have worked and traded with since your youth. Each wanders off in his own direction; there is no one to save you.
