---
title: "Commentary on Isaiah, Volume 3"
author: "John Calvin"
translator: "William Pringle"
languages: [en]
shelf: "Commentaries"
section: 54 of 56
url: https://scriptura.si/works/john-calvin-commentary-on-isaiah-volume-3/54/
cite: "John Calvin, tr. William Pringle, Commentary on Isaiah, Volume 3, section 54. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/john-calvin-commentary-on-isaiah-volume-3/54/"
---

# Commentary on Isaiah, Volume 3

*John Calvin, tr. William Pringle*

Calvin on the prophet Isaiah, volume 3 of 4.

## 54. Chapter 47

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/john-calvin-commentary-on-isaiah-volume-3/54/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/john-calvin-commentary-on-isaiah-volume-3/54/#p-N

[¶0] 1 Come down, And sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon; Sit on the ground; There is no throne for the daughter of the Babylonians; For they shall no more call thee tender And delicate.

[¶1] 2 Take millstones, And grind meal; Unbind thy curled locks, make bare the feet; Uncover the limbs, that thou mayest cross the rivers.

[¶2] 3 Thy baseness shall be exposed, And thy shame shall be seen; I will take vengeance, And will not meet a man.

[¶3] 4 Our Redeemer, his name is Jehovah of hosts, The Holy One of Israel.

[¶4] 5 Sit thou silent, enter into darkness, O daughter of the Babylonians; For they shall no longer call thee the mistress of kingdoms.

[¶5] 6 I was angry with my people; I profaned my inheritance; And I gave them up into thy hand; Thou didst not show compassion to them; On the old man didst thou heavily lay thy yoke.

[¶6] 7 And thou saidst, I shall for ever be a mistress. Hitherto thou hast not applied thy mind to it, And hast not remembered her end.

[¶7] 8 But now hear this, thou delicate woman, That sitteth confidently; Who saith in her heart, I am, And there is none besides me; I shall not sit as a widow, And I shall not know bereavement.

[¶8] 9 But those two things shall suddenly come to thee, Bereavement And widowhood; In their perfection shall they come upon thee, For the multitude of thy divinations, And for the abundance of thy auguries.

[¶9] 10 For thou trustedst in thy malice; Thou saidst, No one seeth me. Thy wisdom And thy knowledge have led thee astray; And thou saidst in thy heart, It is I, And there is none besides me.

[¶10] 11 Therefore shall evil come upon thee, the dawn of which thou knowest not crushing shall fall upon thee, which thou shalt not be able to avert; Destruction shall suddenly come upon thee, which thou knowest not;

[¶11] 12 Stand now amidst thy divinations, And amidst the multitude of thy auguries, In which thou hast wearied thyself from thy youth: If perhaps thou mayest be profited, If perhaps thou mayest prevail.

[¶12] 13 Thou hast wearied thyself with the multitude of thy counsels; Let the binders of the heavens, The watchers of the stars, who predict by the moon, Stand now And deliver thee, From those things which shall come upon thee.

[¶13] 14 Behold, they shall he as stubble; The fire shall burn them; They shall not deliver their soul from the strength of the flame; There shall not be a coal to warm, Nor a light at which they may sit.

[¶14] 15 So shall they be to thee with whom thou weariedst thyself, Thy traders from thy youth. Every one shall wander into his own quarter; There shall be no one to save thee.