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āāIsaiah⬠ā47:1ā-ā¬15⬠āMSGā¬ā¬
[1-3] āGet off your high horse and sit in the dirt, virgin daughter of Babylon. No more throne for youāsit on the ground, daughter of the Chaldeans. Nobody will be calling you ācharmingā and āalluringā anymore. Get used to it. Get a job, any old job: Clean gutters, scrub toilets. Pawn your gowns and scarves, put on your working pantsāthe partyās over. Your nude body will be on public display, exposed to vulgar taunts. Itās vengeance time, and Iām taking vengeance. No one gets let off the hook.ā [4-13] Our Redeemer speaks, named God-of-the-Angel-Armies, The Holy of Israel: āShut up and get out of the way, daughter of Chaldeans. Youāll no longer be called āFirst Lady of the Kingdoms.ā I was fed up with my people, thoroughly disgusted with my progeny. I turned them over to you, but you had no compassion. You put old men and women to cruel, hard labor. You said, āIām the First Lady. Iāll always be the pampered darling.ā You took nothing seriously, took nothing to heart, never gave tomorrow a thought. Well, start thinking, party girl. Youāre acting like the center of the universe, Smugly saying to yourself, āIām Number One. Thereās nobody but me. Iāll never be a widow, Iāll never lose my children.ā Those two things are going to hit you both at once, suddenly, on the same day: Spouse and children gone, a total loss, despite your many enchantments and charms. You were so confident and comfortable in your evil life, saying, āNo one sees me.ā You thought you knew so much, had everything figured out. What delusion! Smugly telling yourself, āIām Number One. Thereās nobody but me.ā Ruin descendsā you canāt charm it away. Disaster strikesā you canāt cast it off with spells. Catastrophe, sudden and totalā and youāre totally at sea, totally bewildered! But donāt give up. From your great repertoire of enchantments there must be one you havenāt yet tried. Youāve been at this a long time. Surely something will work. I know youāre exhausted trying out remedies, but donāt give up. Call in the astrologers and stargazers. Theyāre good at this. Surely they can work up something! [14-15] āFat chance. Youād be grasping at straws that are already in the fire, A fire that is even now raging. Your āexpertsā are in it and wonāt get out. Itās not a fire for cooking venison stew, not a fire to warm you on a winter night! Thatās the fate of your friends in sorcery, your magician cronies youāve been colluding with all your life. They reel, confused, bumping into one another. None of them bother to help you.ā

