Isaiah 47

₁City of Babylon,

you are delicate

and untouched,

but that will change.

Surrender your royal power

and sit in the dust.

₂Start grinding grain!

Take off your veil.

Strip off your fine clothes

and cross over rivers.

₃You will suffer the shame

of going naked,

because I will take revenge,

and no one can escape.

₄I am the LORD All-Powerful,

the holy God of Israel.

I am their Saviour.

₅Babylon, be silent!

Sit in the dark.

No longer will nations

accept you as their queen.

₆I was angry with my people.

So I let you take their land

and bring disgrace on them.

You showed them no mercy,

but were especially cruel

to those who were old.

₇You thought that you

would be queen for ever.

You didn't care what you did;

it never entered your mind

that you might get caught.

₈You think that you alone

are all-powerful,

that you won't be a widow

or lose your children.

All you care about is pleasure,

but listen to what I say.

₉Your magic powers and charms

will suddenly fail,

then you will be a widow

and lose your children.

₁₀You hid behind evil

like a shield and said,

“No one can see me!”

You were fooled by your wisdom

and your knowledge;

you felt sure that you alone

were in full control.

₁₁But without warning,

disaster will strike—

and your magic charms

won't help at all.

₁₂Keep using your magic powers

and your charms

as you have always done.

Perhaps—just perhaps—

you will frighten somebody!

₁₃You have worn yourself out,

asking for advice

from those who study the stars

and tell the future

month after month.

Go and ask them how to be saved

from what will happen.

₁₄People who trust the stars

are as helpless as straw

in a flaming fire.

No one can even keep warm,

sitting by a fire

that feeds only on straw.

₁₅These are the fortune-tellers

you have done business with

all your life.

But they don't know

where they are going,

and they can't save you.