1Come down, and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon, sit on the ground; for you shall no longer sit upon a throne and be called tender and delicate, O daughter of the Chaldeans. 2Take millstones, and grind meal; remove your veil, uncover your leg up to the thigh, wade through the rivers. 3Your nakedness shall be exposed, yea, your shame shall be seen; I will take vengeance, and I will spare no one. 4As for our Redeemer, the LORD Almighty is His name, the Holy One of Israel. 5Sit in silence and in darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans; for you shall no more be called, “The queen of kingdoms”. 6I was angry with My people, I polluted My inheritance, and gave them into your hand; you showed them no mercy; even the aged you have laid your very heavy yoke upon. 7And you said, “I shall be a lady forever - the eternal queen”; so that you did not consider these things, nor what might be the final end of it. 8Therefore, hear now this, you that are given to pleasures, that dwell securely, that say in your heart, “I am, and there is none like me; I will never be a widow, nor shall I ever suffer the loss of children”. 9But both of those things shall overtake you in a moment, in one day: the loss of children, and widowhood; they shall come upon you in full measure for your many sorceries, and much witchcraft. 10For you have trusted in your wickedness; you have said, “No one sees me”. Your wisdom and your knowledge misled you when you said to yourself, “I am the one and only, with no one else beside me”. 11Therefore shall disaster descend upon you; you shall not see it coming; and you shall not be able to ward it off, and calamity shall come upon you suddenly, and take you off guard. 12So keep on now with your magic spells, and your many sorceries, which you have worked from your youth; perhaps you shall succeed, maybe you can instill fear in someone. 13Your many advisors have become wearisome. Let now your astrologers, stargazers and monthly prognosticators step up, and save you from these things that are about to come upon you. 14But they are more like straw before a flame; the fire shall consume them; they shall not be able to save themselves from the flame; this will not be coals to warm at, nor a fire to sit by. 15Thus they with whom you have dealt from your youth, even your merchants, shall be to you: they shall each drift away to his own home; none shall save you.

Isaiah 48