New International VersionTake millstones and grind flour; take off your veil. Lift up your skirts, bare your legs, and wade through the streams.
New Living TranslationTake heavy millstones and grind flour. Remove your veil, and strip off your robe. Expose yourself to public view.
English Standard VersionTake the millstones and grind flour, put off your veil, strip off your robe, uncover your legs, pass through the rivers.
Berean Standard BibleTake millstones and grind flour; remove your veil; strip off your skirt, bare your thigh, and wade through the streams.
King James BibleTake the millstones, and grind meal: uncover thy locks, make bare the leg, uncover the thigh, pass over the rivers.
New King James VersionTake the millstones and grind meal. Remove your veil, Take off the skirt, Uncover the thigh, Pass through the rivers.
New American Standard Bible“Take the millstones and grind flour. Remove your veil, strip off the skirt, Uncover the leg, cross the rivers.
NASB 1995“Take the millstones and grind meal. Remove your veil, strip off the skirt, Uncover the leg, cross the rivers.
NASB 1977“Take the millstones and grind meal. Remove your veil, strip off the skirt, Uncover the leg, cross the rivers.
Legacy Standard BibleTake the millstones and grind flour. Uncover your veil, strip off the skirt, Uncover the leg, cross the rivers.
Amplified Bible“Take millstones [as a female slave does] and grind meal; Remove your veil, strip off the skirt, Uncover the leg, cross the rivers [at the command of your captors].
Christian Standard BibleTake millstones and grind flour; remove your veil, strip off your skirt, bare your thigh, wade through the streams.
Holman Christian Standard BibleTake millstones and grind meal; remove your veil, strip off your skirt, bare your thigh, wade through the streams.
American Standard VersionTake the millstones, and grind meal; remove thy veil, strip off the train, uncover the leg, pass through the rivers.
Contemporary English VersionStart grinding grain! Take off your veil. Strip off your fancy clothes and wade across rivers.
English Revised VersionTake the millstones, and grind meal: remove thy veil, strip off the train, uncover the leg, pass through the rivers.
GOD'S WORD® TranslationTake millstones and grind flour. Remove your veil. Take off your skirt. Uncover your legs, and cross the river.
Good News TranslationTurn the millstone! Grind the flour! Off with your veil! Strip off your fine clothes! Lift up your skirts to cross the streams!
International Standard VersionTake millstones and grind flour. Remove your veil, strip off your robes, bare your legs, and wade through the rivers.
NET BiblePick up millstones and grind flour! Remove your veil, strip off your skirt, expose your legs, cross the streams!
New Heart English BibleTake the millstones, and grind meal; remove your veil, strip off the train, uncover the leg, pass through the rivers.
Webster's Bible TranslationTake the millstones, and grind meal: uncover thy locks, make bare the leg, uncover the thigh, pass over the rivers. Majority Text Translations Majority Standard BibleTake millstones and grind flour; remove your veil; strip off your skirt, bare your thigh, and wade through the streams.
World English BibleTake the millstones and grind flour. Remove your veil, lift up your skirt, uncover your legs, and wade through the rivers. Literal Translations Literal Standard VersionTake millstones, and grind flour, "" Remove your veil, draw up the skirt, "" Uncover the leg, pass over the floods.
Young's Literal Translation Take millstones, and grind flour, Remove thy veil, draw up the skirt, Uncover the leg, pass over the floods.
Smith's Literal TranslationTake the two mill-stones and grind flour, and uncover thy veil; strip off the train, uncover the leg, pass through the rivers. Catholic Translations Douay-Rheims BibleTake a millstone and grind meal: uncover thy shame, strip thy shoulder, make bare thy legs, pass over the rivers.
Catholic Public Domain VersionTake a millstone and grind meal. Uncover your shame, bare your shoulder, reveal your legs, cross the streams.
New American BibleTake the millstone and grind flour, remove your veil; Strip off your skirt, bare your legs, cross through the streams.
New Revised Standard VersionTake the millstones and grind meal, remove your veil, strip off your robe, uncover your legs, pass through the rivers. Translations from Aramaic Lamsa BibleTake the millstone and grind flour; remove your veil, cut off your white hair, uncover your legs, pass through the rivers.
Peshitta Holy Bible TranslatedTake a millstone, grind flour, open your veil, cut your white hair, reveal your lower legs, pass over the rivers OT Translations JPS Tanakh 1917Take the millstones, and grind meal; Remove thy veil, Strip off the train, uncover the leg, Pass through the rivers.
Brenton Septuagint TranslationTake a millstone, grind meal: remove thy veil, uncover thy white hairs, make bare the leg, pass through the rivers.
Additional Translations ... Audio Bible
Context The Fall of Babylon Predicted1“Go down and sit in the dust, O Virgin Daughter of Babylon. Sit on the ground without a throne, O Daughter of Chaldea! For you will no longer be called tender or delicate. 2Takemillstonesand grindflour;removeyour veil;strip offyour skirt,bareyour thigh,and wade throughthe streams.3Your nakedness will be uncovered and your shame will be exposed. I will take vengeance; I will spare no one.”…
Cross References Jeremiah 25:10Moreover, I will banish from them the sounds of joy and gladness, the voices of the bride and bridegroom, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the lamp.
Nahum 3:5-6“Behold, I am against you,” declares the LORD of Hosts. “I will lift your skirts over your face. I will show your nakedness to the nations and your shame to the kingdoms. / I will pelt you with filth and treat you with contempt; I will make a spectacle of you.
Lamentations 1:8-9Jerusalem has sinned greatly; therefore she has become an object of scorn. All who honored her now despise her, for they have seen her nakedness; she herself groans and turns away. / Her uncleanness stains her skirts; she did not consider her end. Her downfall was astounding; there was no one to comfort her. Look, O LORD, on my affliction, for the enemy has triumphed!
Ezekiel 16:37-39therefore I will surely gather all the lovers with whom you found pleasure, all those you loved and all those you hated. I will gather them against you from all around and expose you before them, and they will see you completely naked. / And I will sentence you to the punishment of women who commit adultery and those who shed blood; so I will bring upon you the wrath of your bloodshed and jealousy. / Then I will deliver you into the hands of your lovers, and they will level your mounds and tear down your lofty shrines. They will strip off your clothes, take your fine jewelry, and leave you naked and bare.
Micah 1:11Depart in shameful nakedness, O dwellers of Shaphir. The dwellers of Zaanan will not come out. Beth-ezel is in mourning; its support is taken from you.
Revelation 18:7-8As much as she has glorified herself and lived in luxury, give her the same measure of torment and grief. In her heart she says, ‘I sit as queen; I am not a widow and will never see grief.’ / Therefore her plagues will come in one day—death and grief and famine—and she will be consumed by fire, for mighty is the Lord God who judges her.”
Jeremiah 13:22And if you ask yourself, “Why has this happened to me?” It is because of the magnitude of your iniquity that your skirts have been stripped off and your body has been exposed.
Nahum 3:4-5because of the many harlotries of the harlot, the seductive mistress of sorcery, who betrays nations by her prostitution and clans by her witchcraft. / “Behold, I am against you,” declares the LORD of Hosts. “I will lift your skirts over your face. I will show your nakedness to the nations and your shame to the kingdoms.
2 Kings 24:15Nebuchadnezzar carried away Jehoiachin to Babylon, as well as the king’s mother, his wives, his officials, and the leading men of the land. He took them into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon.
Jeremiah 50:38A drought is upon her waters, and they will be dried up. For it is a land of graven images, and the people go mad over idols.
Revelation 17:16And the ten horns and the beast that you saw will hate the prostitute. They will leave her desolate and naked, and they will eat her flesh and burn her with fire.
Ezekiel 23:26-29They will strip off your clothes and take your fine jewelry. / So I will put an end to your indecency and prostitution, which began in the land of Egypt, and you will not lift your eyes to them or remember Egypt anymore.’ / For this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Surely I will deliver you into the hands of those you hate, from whom you turned away in disgust. ...
Jeremiah 51:13You who dwell by many waters, rich in treasures, your end has come; the thread of your life is cut.
Revelation 18:22-23And the sound of harpists and musicians, of flute players and trumpeters, will never ring out in you again. Nor will any craftsmen of any trade be found in you again, nor the sound of a millstone be heard in you again. / The light of a lamp will never shine in you again, and the voices of a bride and bridegroom will never call out in you again. For your merchants were the great ones of the earth, because all the nations were deceived by your sorcery.”
Jeremiah 51:25“Behold, I am against you, O destroying mountain, you who devastate the whole earth, declares the LORD. I will stretch out My hand against you; I will roll you over the cliffs and turn you into a charred mountain.
Treasury of Scripture Take the millstones, and grind meal: uncover your locks, make bore the leg, uncover the thigh, pass over the rivers. the milestones Exodus 11:5
And all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sitteth upon his throne, even unto the firstborn of the maidservant thatis behind the mill; and all the firstborn of beasts. Judges 16:21
But the Philistines took him, and put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza, and bound him with fetters of brass; and he did grind in the prison house. Job 31:10
Then let my wife grind unto another, and let others bow down upon her. make bare Isaiah 3:17
Therefore the Lord will smite with a scab the crown of the head of the daughters of Zion, and the LORD will discover their secret parts. Isaiah 20:4
So shall the king of Assyria lead away the Egyptians prisoners, and the Ethiopians captives, young and old, naked and barefoot, even withtheir buttocks uncovered, to the shame of Egypt. Jeremiah 13:22,26
And if thou say in thine heart, Wherefore come these things upon me? For the greatness of thine iniquity are thy skirts discovered,and thy heels made bare… Jump to Previous BareCrossCrushedDrawFlourGrindLegLiftMealMillstonesRemoveRiversRobeSkirtSkirtsStreamsStripThighTrainUncoverUncoveredVeilWadeJump to Next BareCrossCrushedDrawFlourGrindLegLiftMealMillstonesRemoveRiversRobeSkirtSkirtsStreamsStripThighTrainUncoverUncoveredVeilWadeIsaiah 47 1.God's judgment upon Babylon and Chaldea6.For their unmercifulness7.Pride10.And over-boldness11.Shall be irresistibleTake millstones and grind flour;This phrase signifies a call to labor and servitude, reflecting the reversal of fortunes for Babylon. In ancient times, grinding flour was a task for servants or captives, indicating a loss of status and power. The imagery of millstones connects to the daily, menial labor that was often assigned to women or slaves, highlighting the humbling of Babylon. This can be seen as a fulfillment of the prophecy against Babylon, where the once proud city is brought low ( Isaiah 13:19). The use of millstones also recalls the judgment against Babylon in Revelation 18:21, where a mighty angel casts a stone into the sea, symbolizing Babylon's downfall. remove your veil;
The removal of the veil signifies exposure and shame. In ancient Near Eastern culture, a veil was a symbol of modesty and protection, often worn by women of status. Removing it indicates vulnerability and humiliation. This act can be seen as a metaphor for the uncovering of Babylon's sins and the stripping away of its false pretenses. The veil's removal is akin to the exposure of hidden sins, as seen in other biblical passages likeEzekiel 16:37, where God exposes the sins of Jerusalem. strip off your skirt,
Stripping off the skirt further emphasizes the theme of humiliation and disgrace. In biblical times, clothing was a sign of dignity and identity. To strip off one's garments was to be laid bare and dishonored. This imagery is used to depict the complete abasement of Babylon, once a city of great power and influence. The act of stripping is also symbolic of judgment, as seen inLamentations 1:8, where Jerusalem is described as naked and exposed due to her sins. bare your thigh,
Baring the thigh is another symbol of shame and exposure. In the cultural context of the ancient Near East, modesty was highly valued, and exposing the body was considered disgraceful. This phrase underscores the totality of Babylon's humiliation. The exposure of the thigh can also be seen as a metaphor for vulnerability to attack and defeat, as Babylon is left defenseless before its enemies. This connects to the broader theme of divine judgment against nations that oppose God, as seen inNahum 3:5. and wade through the streams.
Wading through streams suggests a forced journey or exile, often associated with captivity and displacement. In the context of Babylon, this imagery may allude to the city's impending conquest and the subsequent exile of its people. Streams or rivers were often barriers or boundaries, and crossing them symbolized a transition from freedom to captivity. This phrase can be linked to the broader biblical narrative of exile and return, as seen in the Babylonian captivity of Judah and the eventual return to Jerusalem (2 Kings 25:11,Ezra 1:1-4). The act of wading through streams also evokes the idea of purification and judgment, as water is often a symbol of cleansing in scripture. Persons / Places / Events 1. BabylonA significant city and empire in ancient Mesopotamia, often symbolizing pride and idolatry in the Bible. In Isaiah 47, Babylon is personified as a woman who will face humiliation and judgment. 2. Daughter of the ChaldeansThis phrase refers to the inhabitants of Babylon, specifically highlighting their cultural and spiritual identity. The Chaldeans were known for their wisdom and astrology, which often led them away from the true God. 3. IsaiahA major prophet in the Old Testament, Isaiah conveyed God's messages of judgment and redemption to the people of Israel and surrounding nations, including Babylon. Teaching Points Humility Before GodThe passage serves as a reminder of the importance of humility. Babylon's pride led to its downfall, teaching us to remain humble before God and acknowledge His sovereignty. Consequences of IdolatryBabylon's reliance on false gods and practices resulted in judgment. We are called to examine our lives for any idols that may take precedence over our relationship with God. God's Sovereignty Over NationsIsaiah 47:2 illustrates that no nation or power is beyond God's control. This reassures believers that God is actively involved in the affairs of the world and will bring about His justice. Repentance and RedemptionWhile the passage focuses on judgment, it also implicitly calls for repentance. Recognizing our sins and turning back to God can lead to redemption and restoration. Lists and Questions Top 10 Lessons from Isaiah 47
Will you come to the waters for refreshment?
If Isaiah 2:2-3 indicates all peoples will stream to the Lord's mountain, how do we reconcile this with other faiths continuing to flourish?
Psalm 87:7 - In what sense are all 'springs' in Zion, given that historically rivers and water sources are not exclusive to Jerusalem?
In Isaiah 2:2, how can the temple be literally 'raised above all hills' when no physical elevation change is recorded in history?(2) Take the millstones.--Always the most servile form of female labour ( Exodus 11:5; Job 31:10; 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. Verse 2. - Take the millstones, and grind meal. Do the hard work commonly allotted to female slaves. Turn the heavy upper millstone all day long upon the nether one (comp. Exodus 11:5). Babylon having been personified as a female captive, the details have to be in unison. Uncover thy locks. Babylonian women are represented in the Assyrian sculptures as wearing closefitting caps upon their heads (see 'Ancient Monarchies,' vol. 2, p. 500). Make bare the leg... pass over the rivers. On the way from their own city to the land of their captivity, they would have to wade through streams, and in so doing to expose parts of their persons which delicacy required to be concealed.
Parallel Commentaries ...
Hebrew Takeקְחִ֥י(qə·ḥî)Verb - Qal - Imperative - feminine singular
Strong's 3947:To takemillstonesרֵחַ֖יִם(rê·ḥa·yim)Noun - md
Strong's 7347:A mill-stoneand grindוְטַ֣חֲנִי(wə·ṭa·ḥă·nî)Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Imperative - feminine singular
Strong's 2912:To grind meal, to be a, concubineflour;קָ֑מַח(qā·maḥ)Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 7058:Flour, mealremoveגַּלִּ֨י(gal·lî)Verb - Piel - Imperative - feminine singular
Strong's 1540:To denude, to exile, to revealyour veil,צַמָּתֵ֧ךְ(ṣam·mā·ṯêḵ)Noun - feminine singular construct | second person feminine singular
Strong's 6777:(woman's) veilstrip offחֶשְׂפִּי־(ḥeś·pî-)Verb - Qal - Imperative - feminine singular
Strong's 2834:To strip off, to make naked, to drain away, bail upyour skirt,שֹׁ֛בֶל(šō·ḇel)Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 7640:Flowing skirt, trainbareגַּלִּי־(gal·lî-)Verb - Piel - Imperative - feminine singular
Strong's 1540:To denude, to exile, to revealyour thigh,שׁ֖וֹק(šō·wq)Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 7785:The, legwade throughעִבְרִ֥י(‘iḇ·rî)Verb - Qal - Imperative - feminine singular
Strong's 5674:To pass over, through, or by, pass onthe streams.נְהָרֽוֹת׃(nə·hā·rō·wṯ)Noun - masculine plural
Strong's 5104:A stream, prosperity
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OT Prophets: Isaiah 47:2 Take the millstones and grind meal (Isa Isi Is) |
