Isaiah 47:1-10

1A.(1) Come down, and sit in the dust,
O virgin daughter of Babylon, sit on the ground:
1B. there is no throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans:
for thou shalt no more be called tender and delicate.
(2) Take the millstones, and grind meal:
uncover thy locks,
make bare the leg,
uncover the thigh,
pass over the rivers.
(3) Thy nakedness shall be uncovered,
yea, thy shame shall be seen:
I will take vengeance,
and I will not meet thee as a man.

1B.(4) As for our redeemer,
the LORD of hosts is his name,
the Holy One of Israel.

1C’.(5) Sit thou silent,
and get thee into darkness,  O daughter of the Chaldeans:
for thou shalt no more be called, The lady of kingdoms.

1B’.(6) I was wroth with my people,
I have polluted mine inheritance,
and given them into thine hand:
thou didst shew them no mercy;
upon the ancient hast thou very heavily laid thy yoke.

1A’.(7) And thou saidst, I shall be a lady for ever:
so that thou didst not lay these things to thy heart,
neither didst remember the latter end of it.

2A.(8) Therefore hear now this,
thou that art given to pleasures,
that dwellest carelessly,
that sayest in thine heart, I am, and none else beside me;

2B. I shall not sit as a widow,

2C. neither shall I know the loss of children:

2D.(9) But these two things shall come to thee in a moment in one day,

2C’. the loss of children,

2B’. and widowhood:
they shall come upon thee in their perfection for the multitude of thy sorceries, and for the great abundance of thine enchantments. (10) For thou hast trusted in thy wickedness: thou hast said, None seeth me.

2A’. Thy wisdom and thy knowledge, it hath perverted thee; and thou hast said in thine heart, I am, and none else beside me.

One thought on “Isaiah 47:1-10”

  1. Isaiah 47:1-4
    While I agree with the second chaism as posted, the first one should be split into 3 tight chiasms:
    1A.(1) Come down, and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon, sit on the ground: 1B.
    1B there is no throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans:
    1C for thou shalt no more be called tender and delicate. (2)
    1D Take the millstones, and grind meal:
    1E uncover thy locks,
    1E make bare the leg,
    1Euncover the thigh,
    1D’ pass over the rivers. (3)
    1C ’Thy nakedness shall be uncovered,
    1B’ yea, thy shame shall be seen:
    1A’ I will take vengeance, and I will not meet thee as a man.

    2A (4) As for our redeemer,
    2B the LORD of hosts is his name,
    2A’the Holy One of Israel.

    3A.(5) Sit thou silent, and get thee into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans: for thou shalt no more be called, The lady of kingdoms.
    3B.(6) I was wroth with my people,
    3C. I have polluted mine inheritance,
    3D and given them into thine hand:
    3C’ thou didst shew them no mercy;
    3B’ upon the ancient hast thou very heavily laid thy yoke.
    3A’.(7) And thou saidst, I shall be a lady for ever: so that thou didst not lay these things to thy heart, neither didst remember the latter end of it.
    In Biblical Rhetoric and Rhetorical Criticism by Jack R Lundbom he states “In the poetry of Second Isaiah, Mullenburg delineated stanzas on the basis of climatic lines that lifted up the name of Yahweh. The stanza he said reaches its climax in these words: Our Redeemer—Yahweh of hosts is his name—is the Holy One of Israel.”
    I often see chiasms in the form of
    A
    B
    A’
    C where C is a summary of emphasis. Some call it a ballast line or a climatic line.

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