---
title: "Ellicott"
description: "XLVII. (1) Come down . . .—The virgin daughter of Babylon, i.e., Babylon itself, personified as till now unconquered, is called to leave her throne and si"
image: "/images/missing.jpg"
url: "https://realbiblebelievers.com/commentaries/ellicotts-commentary-for-english-readers/isaiah/47"
---

**XLVII.**
(1) **Come down . . .**—*The virgin daughter of Babylon, i.e.,*Babylon itself, personified as till now unconquered, is called to leave her throne and sit in the dust as a menial slave. The epithets “tender” (better, perhaps, *wanton*)**and “delicate” point to the luxury which had been identified with Babylon, and which was now to cease.

(2) **Take the millstones.**—Always the most servile form of female labour ([Exodus 11:5](../../../kjv/exodus/11/5); [Job 31:10](../../../kjv/job/31/10); [Matthew 24:41](../../../kjv/matthew/24/41)).
**Uncover thy locks.**—The picture of suffering is heightened by the fact that the female slave has to wade unveiled, and bare-legged, all sense of shame outraged, to the scene of her labours. The picture is, of course, to be taken symbolically, not literally.

(3) **I will not meet thee as a man.**—The words in italics show that the phrase is difficult. Omitting them we get *I shall not meet a man, i.e.,*there will be none to oppose me, or *I will not spare a man.
*

(4) **As for our redeemer . . .**—The verse comes in somewhat abruptly, but may be viewed (unless we suppose it to have been originally a marginal addition, which has found its way into the text) as Israel’s song of praise, as it looks on the overthrow of Babylon. As such it finds a parallel in the overthrow of the mystical Babylon in [Revelation 18:20](../../../kjv/revelation/18/20).
**Sit thou silent.**—Another contrast between the stir of the rejoicing city and the stillness of its later desolation. “The lady” (we might almost say, *the empress*)**“of kingdoms” was reduced to the loneliness of widowhood.

(6) **I was wroth with my people . . .**—The sin of Babylon was that she had gone beyond her commission as the chastiser of Israel, casting off all reverence for age, and making even the *old men*do the hard tasks of bond-slaves ([Lamentations 4:16](../../../kjv/lamentations/4/16); [Lamentations 5:12](../../../kjv/lamentations/5/12)). (Comp. [Zechariah 1:15](../../../kjv/zechariah/1/15).)

(7) **Thou saidst . . .**—The boastful confidence of Babylon in her own perpetuity blinded her, as it had long blinded other nations, to “these things,” *scil,*the Divine law that pride and cruelty bring their own Nemesis.

(8) **I am, and none else beside me . . .**—The boasts of Babylon are purposely embodied by the****prophet in praises that recall Jehovah’s assertion of His own eternity. She practically deified herself. So a like boast is put into the mouth of Nineveh in [Zephaniah 2:15](../../../kjv/zephaniah/2/15), and was repeated almost verbally by the poets of Rome: *Terrarum dea gentiumque Roma, cui par est nihil, et nihil secundum*(Martial).

(9) **In their perfection.**—Better, *in their completeness.*She should taste the full bitterness of widowhood and bereavement.
**For the multitude of thy sorceries.**—Better, *in spite of***. . .
**

(10) **For thou hast trusted in thy wickedness . . .**—Babylon, like other nations that have followed in her steps, took for its law that Might was Right, practically denied the existence of a Ruler who saw and judged, and boasted of its wisdom. The context implies that the special form of wisdom spoken of was that of astrology and magic.

(11) **Thou shalt not be able to put it off . . .**—The words have been variously rendered: (1) *of which thou shalt know no dawn, i.e.,*after the night of calamity; and (2) *which thou shalt not be able to charm away.*Stress is laid on the destruction being at once unforeseen and irretrievable.

(12) **If so be thou shalt be able . . .**—The words come with a subtle tone of irony. *Persevere in thy enchantments***. . .** *perchance thou wilt be able to profit, perchance thou wilt strike terror.*
**
**

(13) **Let now the astrologers . . .**—The three words describe two aspects of the same art—(1) the *dividers of the heavens,*assigning stellar influences to the signs of the Zodiac; (2) the “star-gazers,” further defined as *those who make known things to come at the new moon.*The Assyrian and Chaldæan observers compiled an almanack, in which the days of the month were noted as severally lucky or unlucky for the incidents of war or of home-life, as the case might be.

(14) **There shall not be a coal to warm at.**—Better, *it shall not be***. . .** The destroying flame shall be altogether other than the fire on the hearth, at which a man can sit and warm himself.

(15) **Thy merchants, from thy youth . . .**—The commerce of Babylon is specially prominent in all descriptions. (Comp. Herod. i. 194-196; [Ezekiel 17:4](../../../kjv/ezekiel/17/4).) The time was coming when those who had thronged her markets would desert her and leave her to her desolation.
**
**

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