Isaiah 47:1 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Isaiah 47:1
Come down, and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon, sit on the ground: there is no throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans: for thou shalt no more be called tender and delicate.
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Psalms 137:8 O daughter of Babylon, who art to be destroyed; happy shall he be, that rewardeth thee as thou hast served us.
Jeremiah 51:33 For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; The daughter of Babylon is like a threshingfloor, it is time to thresh her: yet a littl…
Jeremiah 46:11 Go up into Gilead, and take balm, O virgin, the daughter of Egypt: in vain shalt thou use many medicines; for thou shalt not be cured.
Jeremiah 50:42 They shall hold the bow and the lance: they are cruel, and will not shew mercy: their voice shall roar like the sea, and they shall ride upo…
Zechariah 2:7 Deliver thyself, O Zion, that dwellest with the daughter of Babylon.
Isaiah 3:26 And her gates shall lament and mourn; and she being desolate shall sit upon the ground.
Psalms 18:27 For thou wilt save the afflicted people; but wilt bring down high looks.
Isaiah 14:13-14 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Isaiah 47:1-6
In these verses God by the prophet sends a messenger even to Babylon, like that of Jonah to Nineveh: "The time is at hand when Babylon shall be destroyed." Fair warning is thus given her, that she may by repentance prevent the ruin and there may be a lengthening of her tranquility. We may observe here,
I. God's controversy with Babylon. We will begin with that, for there all the calamity begins; she has made God her enemy, and then who can befriend her: Let her know that the righteous Judge, to whom vengeance belongs, has said (Isa 47:3), I will take vengeance. She has provoked God, and shall be reckoned with for it when the measure of her iniquities is full. Woe to those on whom God comes t…
Come down, and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon,.... The kingdom of Babylon is meant, as the Targum paraphrases it; or the Babylonish monarchy, called a virgin, because it had never been subdued and conquered from the first setting of it up, until it was by Cyrus; so Herodotus (c) says, this was the first time that Babylon was taken; and also because of the beauty and glory of it: but now it is called to come down from its height and excellency, and its dominion over other kingdoms, and sit in a mournful posture, and as in subjection to other princes and states, Jerom observes, that some interpret this of the city of Rome, which is mystical Babylon, and whose ruin may be hinted…
Come down, and sit in the dust. Isaiah now explains more fully what he had briefly noticed concerning the counsel of God, and the execution of it. He openly describes the destruction of Babylon; because no hope whatever of the return of the people could be entertained, so long as the Babylonian monarchy flourished. Accordingly, he has connected these two things, namely, the overthrow of that monarchy, and the deliverance of the people which followed it; for the elevated rank of that city was like a deep grave in which the Jews were buried, and, when it had been opened, the Lord brought back his people to their former life.
The use of the imperative mood, "Come down," is more forcible than i…
The Church Fathers
(Chapter 47, verses 1 and following) Descend, sit in the dust, virgin daughter of Babylon: sit on the ground, there is no throne for the daughter of the Chaldeans, for you shall no longer be called tender and delicate. Take a millstone and grind flour: uncover your nakedness, uncover your shoulder, reveal your legs, cross the rivers. Your shame will be exposed, and your disgrace will be seen; I will take vengeance, and no one will be able to resist me. 70: Descend, sit on the ground, virgin daughter of Babylon, sit on the ground. There is no throne of the daughter of the Chaldeans, for you shall no longer be called delicate and tender. Take the millstone, grind the flour. Uncover your head, strip off your hair, uncover your legs, cross the rivers; your shame will be uncovered, your disgrace will be seen. What is right about you, I will take away; I will not deliver you to men anymore. Just as in Ezekiel under the figure of a ship and all its instruments, the adornments of Tyre are set forth, which were devoted to trading (Ezek. 26), and because of the abundance of water, the king of Egypt is called a dragon, and its scales, reeds, and papyrus, and its fish are described, and Jerusalem, together with idols, testifies to the fornication of harlots and the likeness of a brothel: so in this present place, under the person of a captive woman, who once was a queen, the servitude of Babylon is indicated; and she is told to descend from the pride of her kingdom and to sit on the dust. But she is also called a virgin and a daughter, either because all human beings are creatures of God and therefore not damnable by nature like the heretics of Babylon, or because of the luxury and splendor of the once most powerful city, which, as it grew old and approached its decline, boasted of being a maiden and a girl. Although some interpret the daughter of Babylon, as written in the Septuagint, as not referring to Babylon itself but to the city of Rome, which is specifically called Babylon in the Book of Revelation (Rev. 14) and in the Epistle of Peter (2 Pet. 5), and all that is now said about Babylon testifies to its ruins, it must be understood as the bird and the justice of God. After Zion, that is, the Church, is saved, Babylon should perish forever. Therefore, it is said that the queen and daughter of the Chaldeans (for she was founded by the Chaldeans) is no longer…
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Dust — Storms of sand and dust sometimes overtake Eastern travellers. They are very dreadful, many perishing under them. Jehovah threatens to bring on the land of Israel, as a punishment for forsaking him,…
Mill — For grinding corn, mentioned as used in the time of Abraham (Gen. 18:6). That used by the Hebrews consisted of two circular stones, each 2 feet in diameter and half a foot thick, the lower of which…
Babylon · As a power was: Grand and stately — As a power was: Grand and stately
Mills · Illustrative: (Grinding at,) of degradation — Illustrative: (Grinding at,) of degradation
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Two conclusions can be drawn from the preceding evidence that the Lord alone is God: (1) Babylon’s great pride is foolishness (47:1-15); (2) Israel needs to pay attention to the word of the Lord (48:1-22).
47:1-4 In this taunt against Babylon, the queen of nations is humiliated, forced to work as a servant girl.
47:1 To sit in the dust was a way of expressing humiliation.
Rashi on Isaiah 47:1
without a throne Without a kingdom.
for no longer [lit. for you shall not continue,] that they call you tender and delicate.
