The Humiliation of Babylon

¹ “Go 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 will no longer be called

tender or delicate.

² Take millstones and grind flour;

remove your veil;

strip off your skirt, bare your thigh,

and wade through the streams.

³ Your nakedness will be uncovered

and your shame will be exposed.

I will take vengeance;

I will spare^* no one.”

⁴ Our Redeemer — the LORD of Hosts is His name —

is the Holy One of Israel.

⁵ “Sit in silence and go into darkness,

O Daughter of the Chaldeans.

For you will no longer be called

the queen of kingdoms.

⁶ I was angry with My people;

I profaned My heritage,

and I placed them under your control.

You showed them no mercy;

even on the elderly you laid a most heavy yoke.

⁷ You said, ‘I will be queen forever.’

You did not take these things to heart

or consider their outcome.

⁸ So now hear this,

O lover of luxury who sits securely,

who says to herself,

‘I am, and there is none^* besides me.

I will never be a widow

or know the loss of children.’

⁹ These two things will overtake you in a moment,

in a single day:

loss of children, and widowhood.

They will come upon you in full measure,

in spite of your many sorceries

and the potency of your spells.

¹⁰ You were secure in your wickedness;

you said, ‘No one sees me.’

Your wisdom and knowledge led you astray;

you told yourself, ‘I am, and there is none^* besides me.’

¹¹ But disaster will come upon you;

you will not know how to charm it away.^*

A calamity will befall you

that you will be unable to ward off.^*

Devastation will happen to you

suddenly and unexpectedly.

¹² So take your stand with your spells

and with your many sorceries,

with which you have wearied yourself

from your youth.

Perhaps^* you will succeed;

perhaps^* you will inspire terror!

¹³ You are wearied by your many counselors;

let them come forward now and save you—

your astrologers who observe the stars,^*

who monthly predict your fate.

¹⁴ Surely they are like stubble;

the fire will burn them up.

They cannot deliver themselves

from the power of the flame.

There will be no coals to warm them

or fire to sit beside.

¹⁵ This is what they are to you —

those with whom you have labored and traded from youth—

each one strays in his own direction;

not one of them can save you.