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47Come down and sit in the dust, virgin daughter Babylon! Sit on the ground without a throne, daughter Chaldea! For you shall no more be called tender and delicate. ²Take the millstones and grind meal, remove your veil, strip off your robe, uncover your legs, pass through the rivers. ³Your nakedness shall be uncovered, and your shame shall be seen. I will take vengeance, and I will spare no one. ⁴Our Redeemer—the Lord of hosts is his name— is the Holy One of Israel. ⁵Sit in silence, and go into darkness, daughter Chaldea! For you shall no more be called the mistress of kingdoms. ⁶I was angry with my people, I profaned my heritage; I gave them into your hand, you showed them no mercy; on the aged you made your yoke exceedingly heavy.

⁷You said, “I shall be mistress forever,” so that you did not lay these things to heart or remember their end. ⁸Now therefore hear this, you lover of pleasures, who sit securely, who say in your heart, “I am, and there is no one besides me; I shall not sit as a widow or know the loss of children”— ⁹both these things shall come upon you in a moment, in one day: the loss of children and widowhood shall come upon you in full measure, in spite of your many sorceries and the great power of your enchantments. ¹⁰You felt secure in your wickedness; you said, “No one sees me.” Your wisdom and your knowledge led you astray, and you said in your heart, “I am, and there is no one besides me.” ¹¹But evil shall come upon you, which you cannot charm away; disaster shall fall upon you, which you will not be able to ward off; and ruin shall come on you suddenly, of which you know nothing. ¹²Stand fast in your enchantments and your many sorceries, with which you have labored from your youth; perhaps you may be able to succeed, perhaps you may inspire terror. ¹³You are wearied with your many consultations; let those who study the heavens stand up and save you, those who gaze at the stars, and at each new moon predict what shall befall you. ¹⁴See, they are like stubble, the fire consumes them; they cannot deliver themselves from the power of the flame. No coal for warming oneself is this, no fire to sit before! ¹⁵Such to you are those with whom you have labored, who have trafficked with you from your youth; they all wander about in their own paths; there is no one to save you.