Dual Panel1COME DOWN, and sit in the dust, O Virgin Daughter of Babylon; sit on the ground [in abject humiliation]; there is no throne for you, O Daughter of the Chaldeans, for you shall no longer be called dainty and delicate.
2Take the millstones [like the poorest female slave of the household does] and grind meal; take off your veil {and} uncover your hair. Remove your skirt, bare your leg, wade through the rivers [at the command of your captors].
3Your nakedness shall be exposed, and your shame shall be seen. I will take vengeance, and I will spare no man [none I encounter will be able to resist Me],
4[Says] our Redeemer--the Lord of hosts is His name--the Holy One of Israel.
5Sit in silence and go into darkness, O Daughter of the Chaldeans; for you shall no more be called the lady {and} mistress of kingdoms.
6I was angry with My people, I profaned My inheritance [Judah]; and I gave them into your hand [Babylon]. You showed them no mercy; upon the old people you made your yoke very heavy.
7And you said, I shall be the mistress forever! So you did not lay these things to heart, nor did you [seriously] remember the certain, ultimate end of such conduct.
8Therefore now, hear this, you who love pleasures {and} are given over to them, you who dwell safely {and} sit securely, who say in your mind, I am [the mistress] and there is no one else besides me. I shall not sit as a widow, nor shall I know the loss of children.
9But these two things shall come to you in a moment, in one day: loss of children and widowhood. They shall come upon you in full measure, in spite of the multitude of [your claims to] power given you by the assistance of evil spirits, in spite of the great abundance of your enchantments.
10For you [Babylon] have trusted in your wickedness; you have said, No one sees me. Your wisdom and your knowledge led you astray, and you said in your heart {and} mind, I am, and there is no one besides me.
11Therefore shall evil come upon you; you shall not know the dawning of it {or} how to charm it away. And a disaster {and} evil shall fall upon you that you shall not be able to atone for [with all your offerings to your gods]; and desolation shall come upon you suddenly, about which you shall know nothing {or} how to avert it.
12Persist, then, with your enchantments and the multitude of your sorceries [Babylon], in which you have labored from your youth; and see if perhaps you will be able to profit, if you will prevail {and} strike terror!
13You are wearied with your many counsels {and} plans. Let now the astrologers, the stargazers, and the monthly prognosticators stand up and make known to you {and} save you from the things that shall come upon you [Babylon].
14Behold, they are like stubble; the fire consumes them. They cannot even deliver themselves from the power of the flame [much less deliver the nation]. There is no coal for warming {or} fire before which to sit!
15Such to you shall they [the astrologers and their kind] be, those with whom you have labored {and} such their fate, those who have done business with you from your youth; they will wander, every one to his own quarter {and} in his own direction. No one will save you.