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Isaiah 47 (CEV)

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¹ City of Babylon, You are delicate and untouched, but that will change. Surrender your royal power and sit in the dirt. ² Start grinding grain! Take off your veil. Strip off your fancy clothes and cross over rivers. ³ You will suffer the shame of going naked, because I will take revenge, and no one can escape. ⁴ I am the LORD All-Powerful, the holy God of Israel. I am their Savior. ⁵ Babylon, be silent! Sit in the dark. No longer will nations accept you as their queen. ⁶ I was angry with my people. So I let you take their land and bring disgrace on them. You showed them no mercy, but were especially cruel to those who were old. ⁷ You thought that you would be queen forever. You didn't care what you did; it never entered your mind that you might get caught. ⁸ You think that you alone are all-powerful, that you won't be a widow or lose your children. All you care about is pleasure, but listen to what I say. ⁹ Your magic powers and charms will suddenly fail, then you will be a widow and lose your children. ¹⁰ You hid behind evil like a shield and said, "No one can see me!" You were fooled by your wisdom and your knowledge; you felt sure that you alone were in full control. ¹¹ But without warning, disaster will strike-- and your magic charms won't help at all. ¹² Keep using your magic powers and your charms as you have always done. Maybe--just maybe-- you will frighten somebody! ¹³ You have worn yourself out, asking for advice from those who study the stars and tell the future month after month. Go ask them how to be saved from what will happen. ¹⁴ People who trust the stars are as helpless as straw in a flaming fire. No one can even keep warm, sitting by a fire that feeds only on straw. ¹⁵ These are the fortunetellers you have done business with all of your life. But they don't know where they are going, and they can't save you.