Isaiah 47:1

Babylon Will Fall

47:1 “Fall down! Sit in the dirt,

O virgin ¹  daughter Babylon!

Sit on the ground, not on a throne,

O daughter of the Babylonians!

Indeed, ²  you will no longer be called delicate and pampered.

Isaiah 49:23

49:23 Kings will be your children’s ³  guardians;

their princesses will nurse your children. ⁴ 

With their faces to the ground they will bow down to you

and they will lick the dirt on ⁵  your feet.

Then you will recognize that I am the Lord;

those who wait patiently for me are not put to shame.

Isaiah 65:25

65:25 A wolf and a lamb will graze together; ⁶ 

a lion, like an ox, will eat straw, ⁷ 

and a snake’s food will be dirt. ⁸ 

They will no longer injure or destroy

on my entire royal mountain,” ⁹  says the Lord.

[47:1]  ¹ tn בְּתוּלַה (bÿtulah) often refers to a virgin, but the phrase “virgin daughter” is apparently stylized (see also 23:12; 37:22). In the extended metaphor of this chapter, where Babylon is personified as a queen (vv. 5, 7), she is depicted as being both a wife and mother (vv. 8-9).

[47:1]  ² tn Or “For” (NASB, NRSV).

[49:23]  ³ tn Heb “your,” but Zion here stands by metonymy for her children (see v. 22b).

[49:23]  ⁴ tn Heb “you.” See the preceding note.

[49:23]  ⁵ tn Or “at your feet” (NAB, NIV); NLT “from your feet.”

[65:25]  ⁵ sn A similar statement appears in 11:6.

[65:25]  ⁶ sn These words also appear in 11:7.

[65:25]  ⁷ sn Some see an allusion to Gen 3:14 (note “you will eat dirt”). The point would be that even in this new era the snake (often taken as a symbol of Satan) remains under God’s curse. However, it is unlikely that such an allusion exists. Even if there is an echo of Gen 3:14, the primary allusion is to 11:8, where snakes are pictured as no longer dangerous. They will no longer attack other living creatures, but will be content to crawl along the ground. (The statement “you will eat dirt” in Gen 3:14 means “you will crawl on the ground.” In the same way the statement “dirt will be its food” in Isa 65:25 means “it will crawl on the ground.”)

[65:25]  ⁸ tn Heb “in all my holy mountain.” These same words appear in 11:9. See the note there.