The Humiliation of Babylon

1“ 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 no longer will they call you

tender and delicate.

2Take the millstones and grind flour!

Uncover your veil and strip away your skirt;

uncover your thigh;

pass over the rivers!

3Your nakedness will be uncovered—

indeed, your shame will be seen!

I will take vengeance,

and no man will I meet.”

4Our Redeemer—YHWH of hosts is His name—

is the Holy One of Israel.

5“Sit in silence and go into darkness,

O daughter of the Chaldeans!

For you no longer will be called

Queen of Kingdoms.

6I was angry with My people;

I have profaned My heritage

and I have given them into your hand.

You did not appoint for them acts of mercy;

upon the elderly you made your yoke very heavy.

7And you said, ‘Forever will I be, queen!’

For you did not set these things upon your heart,

and you did not consider its end.

8And now, hear this,

O luxurious one, dwelling in security,

the one saying in her heart,

‘It is I and no one else!

I will not sit as a widow,

and I will not know bereavement.’

9And these two things will come to you in a moment,

in a single day:

Bereavement and widowhood.

In full measure they will come upon you

in the multitude of your sorceries,

in the great abundance of you spells.

10For you have trusted in your wickedness;

and you have said, ‘There is none seeing me!’

Your wisdom and your knowledge, it has turned you away,

so that you have said in your heart, ‘It is I, and no one else!’

11And evil will come upon you,

and you will not know its dawning;

and disaster will fall upon you;

you will not be able to wipe it away—

and it will come upon you suddenly,

devastation that you do not know!

12Stand now with your spells,

and with the multitude of your sorceries

with which you have labored

from your youth!

Perhaps you will be able to profit,

perhaps you will inspire terror!

13You are wearied by the multitude of your counselors;

let them stand up now and save you—

those who divide up the heavens, and those gazing on the stars,

declaring by month what will come upon you!

14Behold, they have become like stubble,

and the fire burns them up;

they will not deliver their soul

from the hand of the flame—

there is not a coal to warm,

nor fire to sit before it!

15Thus they have become to you—

those with whom you have labored and traded from youth!

Each man in his direction, they go astray;

none can save you.