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Isaiah 47

God announces Babylon’s downfall, holding the empire accountable for its cruelty and exposing the helplessness of its sorceries.

Babylon is pictured as a queen forced from her throne into dust and hard labor. Through the prophet, God addresses the empire as a woman whose wealth and power cannot prevent her humiliation. He names her cruelty toward his people, including the aged, and confronts her claim to lasting rule. A brief declaration names Israel’s Redeemer. The judgment then turns toward Babylon’s sorceries and advisers, who cannot save themselves or those who trust them.

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1“Come down and sit in the dust, virgin daughter of Babylon. Sit on the ground without a throne, daughter of the Chaldeans. For you will no longer be called tender and delicate.
2Take the millstones and grind flour. Remove your veil, lift up your skirt, uncover your legs, and wade through the rivers.
3Your nakedness will be uncovered. Yes, your shame will be seen. I will take vengeance, and will spare no one.”
4Our Redeemer, the LORD of Armies is his name, is the Holy One of Israel.
5“Sit in silence, and go into darkness, daughter of the Chaldeans. For you shall no longer be called the mistress of kingdoms.
6I was angry with my people. I profaned my inheritance and gave them into your hand. You showed them no mercy. You laid a very heavy yoke on the aged.
7You said, ‘I will be a princess forever,’ so that you didn’t lay these things to your heart, nor did you remember the results.
8“Now therefore hear this, you who are given to pleasures, who sit securely, who say in your heart, ‘I am, and there is no one else besides me. I won’t sit as a widow, neither will I know the loss of children.’
9But these two things will come to you in a moment in one day: the loss of children and widowhood. They will come on you in their full measure, in the multitude of your sorceries, and the great abundance of your enchantments.
10For you have trusted in your wickedness. You have said, ‘No one sees me.’ Your wisdom and your knowledge has perverted you. You have said in your heart, ‘I am, and there is no one else besides me.’
11Therefore disaster will come on you. You won’t know when it dawns. Mischief will fall on you. You won’t be able to put it away. Desolation will come on you suddenly, which you don’t understand.
12“Stand now with your enchantments and with the multitude of your sorceries, in which you have labored from your youth, as if you might profit, as if you might prevail.
13You are wearied in the multitude of your counsels. Now let the astrologers, the stargazers, and the monthly prognosticators stand up and save you from the things that will happen to you.
14Behold, they are like stubble. The fire will burn them. They won’t deliver themselves from the power of the flame. It won’t be a coal to warm at or a fire to sit by.
15The things that you labored in will be like this: those who have trafficked with you from your youth will each wander in his own way. There will be no one to save you.
World English BibleRead in NIV in Psalmlog →Highlighted verses are the most connected.
Key verses
Isaiah 47:6God gave his people into Babylon’s hand, yet holds Babylon accountable for showing no mercy and burdening the aged.
Isaiah 47:7Babylon’s claim to lasting rule reveals its refusal to consider the consequences of its conduct.
Isaiah 47:12The challenge to persist in enchantments exposes the failure of practices Babylon has trusted since its youth.
Where this chapter reaches

Jeremiah shares Isaiah’s announcement of Babylon’s fall, with judgment directed against an empire that oppressed God’s people and trusted its own strength. Revelation shares the imagery of Babylon’s luxury, sorcery, and boast against widowhood, followed by disaster that comes in a single day.

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After reading the whole chapter

What does Babylon’s treatment of the aged reveal about how God judges its use of power?

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Where might confidence in lasting security keep you from considering the consequences of your choices?

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Questions people ask about Isaiah 47

Why does God punish Babylon if he gave Israel into its hand?

Verse 6 holds both claims together: God gave his people into Babylon’s hand in judgment, and Babylon showed them no mercy. The heavy burden placed on the aged makes that cruelty concrete. Babylon remains accountable for its treatment of the people, even while serving a role in God’s judgment.

What does Isaiah 47 say about astrology and sorcery?

Verses 12–15 challenge Babylon’s enchantments and astrologers to save it from the coming disaster. The challenge is mocking: those advisers cannot even deliver themselves. They are compared to stubble consumed by fire. The passage exposes the inability of these practices to protect Babylon from God’s announced judgment.

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Isaiah · 66 chapters
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Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).