47:1 Come down, and sit in the dust, O a virgin daughter of
Babylon, sit on the ground: [there is] no b throne, O
daughter of the Chaldeans: for thou shalt no more be called
tender and delicate.
(a) Which has lived in wealth and wantonness and has not
yet been overcome by any enemies.
(b) Your government will be taken from you.
47:2 Take the millstones, and c grind meal: uncover thy locks,
d make bare the leg, uncover the thigh, pass over the
rivers.
(c) You will be brought to most vile servitude: for to turn
the mill was the office of slaves.
(d) The things in which she sets her greatest pride, will be
made vile, even from the head to the foot.
47:3 Thy nakedness shall be uncovered, yea, thy shame shall be
seen: I will take vengeance, and I will not meet [thee as]
a e man.
(e) I will use no humanity nor pity toward you.
47:4f [As for] our redeemer, the LORD of hosts [is] his name,
the Holy One of Israel.
(f) The Israelites will confess that the Lord does this for
his Church's sake.
47:5g Sit thou silent, and get thee into darkness, O daughter
of the Chaldeans: for thou shalt no more be called, The
lady of kingdoms.
(g) For shame, and hide yourself.
47:6 I was angry with my people, I have polluted my inheritance,
and given them into thy hand: thou didst show them no h
mercy; upon the ancient hast thou very heavily laid thy
yoke.
(h) They abused God's judgments, thinking that he punished
the Israelites, because he would completely cast them
off, and therefore instead of pitying their misery, you
increased it.
47:9 But these two [things] shall come to thee in a moment in
one day, the loss of children, and widowhood: they shall
come upon thee in their i perfection for the multitude of
thy sorceries, [and] for the great abundance of thy
enchantments.
(i) So that your punishment will be so great, as is
possible to be imagined.
47:10 For thou hast trusted in thy wickedness: thou hast said,
None seeth me. Thy k wisdom and thy knowledge, it hath
perverted thee; and thou hast said in thy heart, I [am],
and none else besides me.
(k) You thought that your own wisdom and policy would have
saved you.
47:12 Stand now with thy enchantments, and with the multitude of
thy sorceries, in which thou hast l laboured from thy
youth; if thou shalt be able to profit, if thou mayest
prevail.
(l) He derides their vain confidence, who put their trust
in anything but in God, condemning also such vain
sciences, which serve no use, but to delude the
people, and to bring them from depending only on God.
47:14 Behold, they shall be as stubble; the fire shall burn
them; they shall not deliver themselves from the power of
the flame: [there shall] not [be] a coal m to warm at,
[nor] fire to sit before it.
(m) They will utterly perish, and no part of them remain.
47:15 Thus shall they be to thee with whom thou hast laboured,
[even] thy merchants, from thy youth: they shall wander
every one to his n quarter; none shall save thee.
(n) They will flee everyone to that place, which he
thought by his speculations to be most sure: but that
will deceive them.
