UNROLL
Dusk on a palace terrace of Babylon: the two worn stones of a hand mill set down in the dust, a fine embroidered cloth lying discarded beside them, a glazed-brick wall in shadow.

Comfort My people

Isaiah 47

What would you have left if your security fell in one day?

15 verses≈ 3 minBSB

Images are artistic interpretations.

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Where we are

  1. 1–5Zion on trialJudah’s sin, the mountain raised, the vineyard’s song
  2. 6Holy, holy, holyIsaiah’s call, in the year King Uzziah died (about 740 BC)
  3. 7–12ImmanuelAhaz’s fear, the sign, the Child, the shoot of Jesse
  4. 13–23The nations judgedBabylon to Tyre: the LORD is Judge of all the earth
  5. 24–27The whole earthThe earth laid waste, and death swallowed up
  6. 28–35Woe and a KingEgypt’s help or the LORD’s, and the King in His beauty
  7. 36–39Hezekiah’s crisisSennacherib, 701 BC: the prayer, the sickness, the envoys
  8. 40–48Comfort My peopleTo the exiles ahead: Cyrus, the idols, the ServantChapter 47
  9. 49–55The Servant and ZionPierced for our transgressions; Zion restored
  10. 56–66New heavens and earthA house of prayer, the Anointed One, all things new

The Humiliation of Babylon

God
Morning in an empty palace court of Babylon: a carved wooden throne chair inlaid with ivory lies toppled on its side in the dust before a blue glazed-brick wall with plain lions.

“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.

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God

Take millstones and grind flour;

remove your veil;

strip off your skirt, bare your thigh,

and wade through the streams.

Your nakedness will be uncovered

and your shame will be exposed.

I will take vengeance;

I will spare no one.”

Isaiah

Our Redeemer—the LORD of Hosts is His name—

is the Holy One of Israel.

Isaiah 47:4

God
God

“Sit in silence and go into darkness,

O Daughter of the Chaldeans.

For you will no longer be called

the queen of kingdoms.

God

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.

You said, ‘I will be queen forever.’

You did not take these things to heart

or consider their outcome.

God

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.’

God

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.

God

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.’

God
Gray dawn in an empty palace hall: lamps burned out, cushions scattered, a gold cup on its side on a low table, the plaster wall in shadow.

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.

Question

Quick question

Babylon talks to herself twice in this chapter. Look at verses 8 and 10.

What did Babylon say in her heart?

God

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!

God
God

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.

God
Dusk on a reaped field in the flat plain of Babylonia: a low line of fire running through dry stubble, smoke drifting, palms dark against the sky.

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.

God
Gray dawn on an empty street of Babylon: doors standing ajar, an abandoned market stall, dust blowing, the stepped tower far off.

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.

0:10

Narrated by Bob Souer · BSB audio, public domain

Pray

Pray

Holy One of Israel, my Redeemer, humble me now, before You rather than by a fall. Keep me from saying “No one sees me.” I don’t want to trust my own wisdom or any voice that can’t save; I trust You. Amen.

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Isaiah 47

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A verse to carry with you

Our Redeemer—the LORD of Hosts is His name—is the Holy One of Israel.

Isaiah 47:4

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