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Donald C. Fleming

Bridgeway Bible Commentary - Isaiah 47:1-15

Judgment on Babylon (47:1-15)The great nation Babylon is likened to a beautiful and vain young lady who is now disgraced. She once lived in luxury, but now she is made to sit in the dirt, forced to work like a slave girl, stripped of her beautiful clothing and made to walk around naked (47:1-3). God’s judgment on Babylon brings freedom to Israel (4).Pride is the reason for Babylon’s downfall. God’s desire was to use Babylon to punish Israel, but Babylon has gone beyond the limits God set and... read more

E.W. Bullinger

E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes - Isaiah 47:1

ground = earth. Hebrew. 'arez. there is no throne = throneless. read more

James Burton Coffman

Coffman Commentaries on the Bible - Isaiah 47:1

This chapter is a prophecy of the destruction of Babylon. The Lord, through Isaiah, had already denounced the idols of that great city and had foretold their worthlessness and impotence for providing any kind of assistance to the city in the time of her calamity; but here he detailed the doom and destruction of Babylon itself. The speaker throughout is God Himself except for Isaiah 47:4, which may be attributed to a heavenly chorus,[1] after the manner of the proleptic passages in Revelation,... read more

Thomas Coke

Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible - Isaiah 47:1-3

Isaiah 47:1-3. Come down, and sit in the dust, &c.— The prophet here commands Babylon to assume the habit and forms of the most abject state, most opposite to that state of honour and glory in which she had long flourished. She is addressed as a virgin, according to the usual modes of speaking, when cities or states are personified; though some say that she is called the virgin daughter of Babylon, because, according to Herodotus, she had never been conquered before. Take the mill-stones,... read more

Robert Jamieson; A. R. Fausset; David Brown

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Isaiah 47:1

1. in the dust—(See on :-; Job 2:13; Lamentations 2:10). virgin—that is, heretofore uncaptured [HERODOTUS, 1.191]. daughter of Babylon—Babylon and its inhabitants (see on Isaiah 1:8; Isaiah 47:3). no throne—The seat of empire was transferred to Shushan. Alexander intended to have made Babylon his seat of empire, but Providence defeated his design. He soon died; and Seleucia, being built near, robbed it of its inhabitants, and even of its name, which was applied to Seleucia. delicate—alluding... read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Isaiah 47:1

God depicted Babylon here as a rather prissy virgin. The city, representing the kingdom of Babylon, had, like a virgin, thus far not experienced the breaching of her walls by invaders. The Lord summoned her to sit on the ground, rather than on the throne that she intended to occupy. Sitting in the dust was an act that depicted great mourning (cf. Jonah 3:6). She thought that she would be a queen, but in reality she would become a common, even a humiliated, beggar. Other peoples had regarded her... read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Isaiah 47:1-4

A call to Babylon 47:1-4The first four verses constitute the introduction to the oracle. read more

John Dummelow

John Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible - Isaiah 47:1-15

An Ode on the Humiliation of Babylon1-15. The coming calamity. The reason of Babylon’s fall. Her helplessness to avert it.2. Grind] i.e. as a slave (Exodus 11:5).Uncover, etc.] RV ’remove thy veil, strip off the train, uncover the leg.’ The overthrow of the city is set forth under the figure of a maiden carried away into slavery. Pass over] on the way to exile. 3. Will not meet, etc.] RV ’will accept no man,’ i.e. none shall be spared.6. Babylon is to be thus punished because, when the Jewish... read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Isaiah 47:1

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. read more

William Nicoll

Expositor's Bible Commentary - Isaiah 47:1-15

CHAPTER XIIBABYLONIsaiah 47:1-15THROUGHOUT the extent of Bible history, from Genesis to Revelation, One City remains, which in fact and symbol is execrated as the enemy of God and the stronghold of evil. In Genesis we are called to see its foundation, as of the first city that wandering men established, and the quick ruin, which fell upon its impious builders. By the prophets we hear it cursed as the oppressor of God’s people, the temptress of the nations, full of cruelty and wantonness. And in... read more

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