122 lines
2.5 KiB
Markdown
122 lines
2.5 KiB
Markdown
Prediction of Babylon's Fall
|
|
|
|
# Chapter 47
|
|
1. "Come down, virgin daughter of Babylon, and sit in the dust.
|
|
|
|
For your days of sitting on a throne have ended.
|
|
O daughter of Babylonia, never again will you be
|
|
|
|
the lovely princess, tender and delicate.
|
|
|
|
|
|
2. Take heavy millstones and grind flour.
|
|
|
|
Remove your veil, and strip off your robe.
|
|
Expose yourself to public view.
|
|
|
|
3. You will be naked and burdened with shame.
|
|
|
|
I will take vengeance against you without pity."
|
|
|
|
|
|
4. Our Redeemer, whose name is the LORD of Heaven's Armies,
|
|
|
|
is the Holy One of Israel.
|
|
|
|
|
|
5. "O beautiful Babylon, sit now in darkness and silence.
|
|
|
|
Never again will you be known as the queen of kingdoms.
|
|
|
|
|
|
6. For I was angry with my chosen people
|
|
|
|
and punished them by letting them fall into your hands.
|
|
|
|
But you, Babylon, showed them no mercy.
|
|
|
|
You oppressed even the elderly.
|
|
|
|
|
|
7. You said, 'I will reign forever as queen of the world!'
|
|
|
|
You did not reflect on your actions
|
|
|
|
or think about their consequences.
|
|
|
|
|
|
8. "Listen to this, you pleasure-loving kingdom,
|
|
|
|
living at ease and feeling secure.
|
|
|
|
You say, 'I am the only one, and there is no other.
|
|
|
|
I will never be a widow or lose my children.'
|
|
|
|
|
|
9. Well, both these things will come upon you in a moment:
|
|
|
|
widowhood and the loss of your children.
|
|
|
|
Yes, these calamities will come upon you,
|
|
|
|
despite all your witchcraft and magic.
|
|
|
|
|
|
10. "You felt secure in your wickedness.
|
|
|
|
'No one sees me,' you said.
|
|
|
|
But your 'wisdom' and 'knowledge' have led you astray,
|
|
|
|
and you said, 'I am the only one, and there is no other.'
|
|
|
|
|
|
11. So disaster will overtake you,
|
|
|
|
and you won't be able to charm it away.
|
|
|
|
Calamity will fall upon you,
|
|
|
|
and you won't be able to buy your way out.
|
|
|
|
A catastrophe will strike you suddenly,
|
|
|
|
one for which you are not prepared.
|
|
|
|
|
|
12. "Now use your magical charms!
|
|
|
|
Use the spells you have worked at all these years!
|
|
Maybe they will do you some good.
|
|
|
|
Maybe they can make someone afraid of you.
|
|
|
|
|
|
13. All the advice you receive has made you tired.
|
|
|
|
Where are all your astrologers,
|
|
those stargazers who make predictions each month?
|
|
|
|
Let them stand up and save you from what the future holds.
|
|
|
|
|
|
14. But they are like straw burning in a fire;
|
|
|
|
they cannot save themselves from the flame.
|
|
|
|
You will get no help from them at all;
|
|
|
|
their hearth is no place to sit for warmth.
|
|
|
|
|
|
15. And all your friends,
|
|
|
|
those with whom you've done business since childhood,
|
|
will go their own ways,
|
|
|
|
turning a deaf ear to your cries.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|