Isaiah 47:7

And thou saidst, I shall be a lady for ever: so that thou didst not lay these things to thy heart, neither didst remember the latter end of it.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(7) Thou saidst . . .—The boastful confidence of Babylon in her own perpetuity blinded her, as it had long blinded other nations, to “these things,” scil, the Divine law that pride and cruelty bring their own Nemesis.

Benson Commentary

Isaiah 47:7-8. Thou sayest, I shall be a lady for ever — I shall always be the chief city and mistress of the world, and shall never know any change of condition in this respect. If we consider that the city of Babylon had no less than one hundred gates made of solid brass; that its walls were two hundred feet high, and fifty broad, according to the lowest account given of them by historians, and, according to some, three hundred and fifty feet in height, and eighty-seven in thickness, so that six chariots could go abreast upon them; that it was defended by the river Euphrates, and supplied with provisions for many years; it might well be deemed impregnable: and “such a city as this might, with less vanity than any other, boast that she should continue for ever, if any thing human could continue for ever.” — Bishop Newton. Thou didst not lay these things to thy heart — Thy cruel usage of my people, and the heavy judgments which thou hadst reason to expect for them. Neither didst thou remember the latter end — Thou wast so puffed up with pride, and so infatuated with ease and pleasure, that thou didst not consider the instability of all worldly power and greatness, and what might and was likely to befall thee afterward. Therefore hear, thou that dwellest carelessly — And layest nothing to heart; that sayest, I am, and none else beside me — I am independent, self-sufficient, and unchangeable, and there is none, no people, state, or kingdom, that is not either subject, or far inferior to me in power and glory. I shall not sit as a widow — In solitude and sorrow: I shall not lose that wealth and dignity to which I am wedded. The kingdom shall never want a monarch to espouse and protect it, and be a husband to the state. Neither shall I know the loss of children — The diminution of the number of my people. I shall never want either a king or people to defend me from all dangers.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

47:7-15 Let us beware of acting and speaking as Babylon did; of trusting in tyranny and oppression; of boasting as to our abilities, relying on ourselves, and ascribing success to our own prudence and wisdom; lest we partake of her plagues. Those in the height of prosperity, are apt to fancy themselves out of the reach of adversity. It is also common for sinners to think they shall be safe, because they think to be secret in wicked ways. But their security shall be their ruin. Let us draw from such passages as the foregoing, those lessons of humility and trust in God which they convey. If we believe the word of God, we may know how it will be with the righteous and the wicked to all eternity. We may learn how to escape the wrath to come, to glorify God, to have peace through life, hope in death, and everlasting happiness. Let us then stand aloof from all delusions.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

And thou saidst, I shall be a lady for ever - This passage describes the pride and self-confidence of Babylon. She was confident in her wealth; the strength of her gates and walls; and in her abundant resources to resist an enemy, or to sustain a siege. Babylon was ten miles square; and it was supposed to contain provisions enough to maintain a siege for many years. There were, moreover, no symptoms of internal decay; there were no apparent external reasons why her prosperity should not continue; there were no causes at work, which human sagacity could detect, which would prevent her continuing to any indefinite period of time.

Thou didst not lay these things to thy heart - Thou didst not consider what, under the government of a holy and just God, must be the effect of treating a captured and oppressed people in this manner. Babylon supposed, that notwithstanding her pride, and haughtiness, and oppressions, she would be able to stand forever.

Neither didst remember the latter end of it - The end of pride, arrogance, and cruelty. The sense is, that Babylon might have learned from the fate of other kingdoms that had been, like her, arrogant and cruel, what must inevitably be her own destiny. But she refused to learn a lesson from their doom. So common is it for nations to disregard the lessons which history teaches; so common for individuals to neglect the warnings furnished by the destruction of the wicked.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

7. so that—Through thy vain expectation of being a queen for ever, thou didst advance to such a pitch of insolence as not to believe "these things" (namely, as to thy overthrow, Isa 47:1-5) possible.

end of it—namely, of thy insolence, implied in her words, "I shall be a lady for ever."

Matthew Poole's Commentary

These things; thy cruel usages of my people, and the heavy judgments which thou hadst reason to expect for them. The latter end of it; of that lady or of Babylon, and her glory and empire, or of thyself; here being a sudden change of the person, of which I have noted many examples in this prophet. The sense is, Thou wast besotted with the sense of thy present felicity, and didst not consider, as thy duty and common discretion obliged thee, what might and was likely to befall thee afterward; thou didst neither expect a change nor prepare for it.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And thou saidst, I shall be a lady for ever,.... That her monarchy would continue in a succession of kings, that should rule over all nations to the end of the world. So mystical Babylon, when near her ruin, will say, "I sit a queen----and shall see no sorrow", Revelation 18:7,

so that thou didst not lay these things to thy heart; neither the sins she had been guilty of, particularly in acting the cruel part towards the people of God; nor the evils foretold should come upon her; these she did not consider of and think upon, so as to repent of the one, and prevent the other:

neither didst remember the latter end of it; or, "thy latter end" (f); either her own latter end, the end of her wickedness which she had committed, as Jarchi; the end of her pride, that she should be humbled, as Aben Ezra and Kimchi; or her ruin and destruction, the end she should come to at last; this she never thought of, but put this evil day far from her: or she remembered not the latter end of Jerusalem, who, though a lady too, fell by her own hand; which sense Kimchi takes notice of: or she did not consider what would befall the Jews in the latter day; that God would put an end to their calamities, and deliver them out of Babylon, as he had foretold.

(f) "novissimi tui", Vatablus; who observes a various reading. In some copies it is "thy latter end"; which is followed by the Vulgate Latin.

Geneva Study Bible

And thou saidst, I shall be a lady for ever: so that thou didst not lay these things to thy heart, neither didst remember the latter end of it.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

7. Such inconsiderate cruelty can only be explained by the delusion that her supremacy was eternal, that no day of reckoning could ever come to her.

And thou saidst, I shall be &c.] Render (with a different division of clauses) And thou saidst I shall be for ever—a lady eternally (lit. “mistress of eternity”). The word here rendered “eternity” (‘ad) is taken in the received text as a conjunction (A.V. “so that,” strictly “until”). The rhythm requires it to be treated as a substantive in the genitive after “mistress.” It is used in exactly the same way in the name “Father of eternity” (ch. Isaiah 9:6).

these things] thy cruelties;—in what sense she failed to lay them to heart is explained by the following clause.

the latter end of it] or the issue thereof, i.e. the inevitable retribution.

8–10 a. The third strophe: Babylon’s careless confidence in her own future shall be put to shame by the suddenness of her calamities.

thou that art given to pleasures] thou voluptuous one (Cheyne). The word does not occur again. The remaining clauses of the verse recur verbatim in Zephaniah 2:15. (of Nineveh).

that dwellest carelessly] that sittest securely.

I am and none else besides me] Rather: I and none besides. The words express Babylon’s sense of her unique position. The vocalic ending of the word for “none” (’aphṣî from ’ep̣heṣ = cessation, nothingness) cannot be the poss. suff. of 1st pers., which would give the sense “I am no more,”—the opposite of what is intended. It is probably an old case-termination which has ceased to have any significance in the Hebr. of the O.T. So again in Isaiah 47:10.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 7. - And thou saidst, I shall be a lady for ever. The idea of "continuance" is one of the primary instincts of human nature. Hence we regard it as certain that the sun will rise on the morrow. We expect things to "continue in one stay," and "to-morrow to be as to-day," if not even "more abundant." Babylon was not much more arrogant than other nations when she assumed that silo would be "a lady for ever." And she had more excuse than almost any other nation. Her capital was one of the most ancient cities, if not the most ancient city in the world (Genesis 10:10 ). Though not unconquered (see the comment on ver. 1), she had yet for two millennia or more maintained a prominent position among the chief peoples of the earth, and had finally risen to a prouder eminence than any that she had previously occupied. Still, she ought to have remembered that "all things come to an end," and to have so comported herself in the time of her prosperity as not to have provoked God to anger. So that thou didst not lay these things to thy heart. "These things" must refer to the calamities about to fall upon Babylon, of which she may have heard before the end came - since they had been prophesied so long previously - but which she did not take to heart. The latter end of it; i.e. "the probable issue of her pride and cruelty" (Kay). Isaiah 47:7

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

In the second strophe the penal sentence of Jehovah is continued. "Sit silent, and creep into the darkness, O Chaldeans-daughter! for men no longer call thee lady of kingdoms. I was wroth with my people; I polluted mine inheritance, and gave them into thy hand: thou hast shown them no mercy; upon old men thou laidst thy yoke very heavily. And thou saidst, I shall be lady for ever; so that thou didst not take these things to heart: thou didst not consider the latter end thereof." Babylon shall sit down in silent, brooding sorrow, and take herself away into darkness, just as those who have fallen into disgrace shrink from the eyes of men. She is looked upon as an empress (Isaiah 13:9; the king of Babylon called himself the king of kings, Ezekiel 26:7), who has been reduced to the condition of a slave, and durst not show herself for shame. This would happen to her, because at the time when Jehovah made use of her as His instrument for punishing His people, she went beyond the bounds of her authority, showing ho pity, and ill-treating even defenceless old men. According to Loppe, Gesenius, and Hitzig, Israel is here called zâqēn, as a decayed nation awakening sympathy; but according to the Scripture, the people of God is always young, and never decays; on the contrary, its ziqnâh, i.e., the latest period of its history (Isaiah 46:4), is to be like its youth. The words are to be understood literally, like Lamentations 4:16; Lamentations 5:12 : even upon old men, Babylon had placed the heavy yoke of prisoners and slaves. But in spite of this inhumanity, it flattered itself that it would last for ever. Hitzig adopts the reading עד גּברת, and renders it, "To all future times shall I continue, mistress to all eternity." This may possibly be correct, but it is by no means necessary, inasmuch as it can be shown from 1 Samuel 20:41, and Job 14:6, that (ד is used as equivalent to אשׁר עד, in the sense of "till the time that;" and gebhereth, as the feminine of gâbhēr equals gebher, may be the absolute quite as well as the construct. The meaning therefore is, that the confidence of Babylon in the eternal continuance of its power was such, that "these things," i.e., such punishments as those which were now about to fall upon it according to the prophecy, had never come into its mind; such, indeed, that it had not called to remembrance as even possible "the latter end of it," i.e., the inevitably evil termination of its tyranny and presumption.