1 Lament for Babylon “Come 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 shall no longer be called tender and delicate.
2 “Take the millstones and grind flour.Uncover your veil, strip off the skirt,Uncover the leg, cross the rivers.
3 “Your nakedness will be uncovered;Your reproach also will be seen;I will take vengeance and will not 47:3Lit meet spare a man.”
4 Our Redeemer, Yahweh of hosts is His name,The Holy One of Israel.
5 “Sit silently, and go into darkness,O daughter of the Chaldeans,For you will no longer be calledThe queen of kingdoms.
6 “I was furious with My people;I profaned My inheritanceAnd gave them into your hand.You did not show compassion to them,On the aged you made your yoke very heavy.
7 “Yet you said, ‘I will be a queen forever.’These things you did not put on your heartNor remember the outcome of 47:7Lit it them.
8 ¶“So now, hear this, you sensual one,Who sits securely,Who says in 47:8Lit her your heart,‘I am, and there is no one besides me.I will not sit as a widow,Nor know loss of children.’
9 “But these two things will come on you suddenly in one day:Loss of children and widowhood.They will come on you in full measureIn spite of your many sorceries,In spite of the great might of your spells.
10 “You felt secure in your evil and said,‘No one sees me,’Your wisdom and your knowledge 47:10Lit it has have turned youastray;So you have said in your heart,‘I am, and there is no one besides me.’
11 “But evil will come on youWhich you will not know how to charm away;And disaster will fall on youFor which you cannot atone;And destruction about which you do not knowWill come on you suddenly.
12 ¶“Standfastnow in your spellsAnd in your many sorceriesWith which you have labored from your youth;Perhaps you will be able to profit;Perhaps you may cause trembling.
13 “You are wearied with your many counsels;Let now the astrologers,Those who beholdvisionsby the stars,Those who predict by the new moons,Stand up and save you from what will come upon you.
14 “Behold, they have become like stubble,Fire burns them;They cannot deliver themselves from the power of the flame;There will be no coal to warm byNora fire to sit before!
15 “Thus they have become for you, those among whom you have labored,Who have traded with you from your youth;Each has wandered in his own 47:15Lit side, region way;There is none to save you.