The Fall of Babylon Predicted

1Come down, and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon, sit on the ground: there is no throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans: for you shall no more be called tender and delicate.

2Take the millstones, and grind meal: uncover your locks, make bore the leg, uncover the thigh, pass over the rivers.

3Your nakedness shall be uncovered, yes, your shame shall be seen: I will take vengeance, and I will not meet you as a man.

4As for our redeemer, the LORD of hosts is his name, the Holy One of Israel.

5Sit you silent, and get you into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans: for you shall no more be called, The lady of kingdoms.

6I was wroth with my people, I have polluted my inheritance, and given them into your hand: you did show them no mercy; on the ancient have you very heavily laid your yoke.

7And you said, I shall be a lady for ever: so that you did not lay these things to your heart, neither did remember the latter end of it.

8Therefore hear now this, you that are given to pleasures, that dwell carelessly, that say in your heart, I am, and none else beside me; I shall not sit as a widow, neither shall I know the loss of children:

9But these two things shall come to you in a moment in one day, the loss of children, and widowhood: they shall come on you in their perfection for the multitude of your sorceries, and for the great abundance of your enchantments.

10For you have trusted in your wickedness: you have said, None sees me. Your wisdom and your knowledge, it has perverted you; and you have said in your heart, I am, and none else beside me.

11Therefore shall evil come on you; you shall not know from where it rises: and mischief shall fall on you; you shall not be able to put it off: and desolation shall come on you suddenly, which you shall not know.

12Stand now with your enchantments, and with the multitude of your sorceries, wherein you have labored from your youth; if so be you shall be able to profit, if so be you may prevail.

13You are wearied in the multitude of your counsels. Let now the astrologers, the stargazers, the monthly prognosticators, stand up, and save you from these things that shall come on you.

14Behold, 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 to warm at, nor fire to sit before it.

15Thus shall they be to you with whom you have labored, even your merchants, from your youth: they shall wander every one to his quarter; none shall save you.