Babylon’s Fall

• Sit on the ground without a throne, daughter of Chaldea!
• For they shall no longer call[fn] you tender and delicate.
• 2 Take the pair of mill stones and grind flour! Uncover your veil,
  • strip off your skirt,
• uncover your thigh,
  • pass through the rivers!
  • 3 Your nakedness shall be exposed; indeed, your shame shall become visible.
• I will take vengeance
  • and I will not spare[fn] a person.
  
  

4 Our redeemer, Yahweh of hosts is his name, the holy one of Israel.

5 Sit silently and go into the darkness, daughter of Chaldea,for ⌊they shall no longer call⌋[fn] you mistress of kingdoms.

• 6 I was angry with my people; I profaned my inheritance,
• and I gave them into your hand.
  • You did not give[fn] them mercy;
• on the aged you made your yoke very heavy.
• 7 And you said, “I shall be an eternal mistress forever!” You did not set these things upon your heart;
  • you did not remember its end.
  • 8 Therefore now hear this, luxuriant one who sits[fn] in security, who says[fn] in her heart, “I am, and besides me there is no one.
• I shall not sit as a widow,
  • and I shall not know the loss of children.”
  • 9 And these two shall come to you in a moment, in one day: the loss of children and widowhood shall come on you completely ,[fn]
• in spite of your many sorceries,
  • in spite of the power of your great enchantments.
  • 10 And you felt secure in your wickedness; you said, “ No one[fn] sees[fn] me.”
• Your wisdom and your knowledge led you astray,
  • and you said in your heart, “I am, and besides me there is no one.”
  • 11 And evil shall come upon you, you will not know; it will be on the lookout for her.
• And disaster shall fall upon you; you will not be able to avert[fn] it.
  • And ruin shall come on you suddenly; you do not know.
  • 12 Stand, now, in your enchantments, and in your many sorceries with which you have labored from your youth.
• Perhaps you may be able to benefit;
  • perhaps you may scare away .[fn]
  • 13 You struggle with your many consultations;[fn] let them stand, now, and save you—
• those who see the stars, divide the celestial sphere ,[fn]
  • who inform by new moons—
    • from those things that are coming upon you.
  • 14 Look! They are like stubble; the fire burns them completely.
    • They cannot deliver themselves[fn] from the power[fn] of the flame;
• there is no coal for warming oneself ,[fn]
  • no fire before which to sit.
  • 15 So are to you those with whom you have labored, your traders from your youth.
• They wander, each to his side;
  • there is no one who can save you.