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! ¹⁶⁸For you will no longer be called tender or delicate.

2Take millstones and grind flour; remove your veil; strip off your skirt, bare your thigh, and wade through the streams.

3Your nakedness will be uncovered and your shame will be exposed. I will take vengeance; I will spare no one.”

4Our Redeemer—the LORD 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 will no longer be called the queen of kingdoms.

6I 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.

7You said, ‘I will be queen forever.’ You did not take these things to heart
or consider their outcome.

8So 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.’

9These 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.

10You 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.’

11But 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.

12So 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!

13You 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.

14Surely 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.

15This 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.