American Standard Version
Isaiah 47:2
2Take the millstones, and grind meal; remove thy veil, strip off the train, uncover the leg, pass through the rivers.
Isaiah 47:2 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)Take the millstones, and grind meal: uncover thy locks, make bare the leg, uncover the thigh, pass over the rivers.
- New International Version (NIV)Take millstones and grind flour; take off your veil. Lift up your skirts, bare your legs, and wade through the streams.
- English Standard Version (ESV)Take the millstones and grind flour, put off your veil, strip off your robe, uncover your legs, pass through the rivers.
- New King James Version (NKJV)Take the millstones and grind meal. Remove your veil, Take off the skirt, Uncover the thigh, Pass through the rivers.
Context of Isaiah 47:2
1Come down, and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon; sit on the ground without a throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans: for thou shalt no more be called tender and delicate. Take the millstones, and grind meal; remove thy veil, strip off the train, uncover the leg, pass through the rivers. 3Thy nakedness shall be uncovered, yea, thy shame shall be seen: I will take vengeance, and will spare no man. 4Our Redeemer, Jehovah of hosts is his name, the Holy One of Israel.
Read all of Isaiah 47Isaiah 47:2 word by word
קְחִ֥י רֵחַ֖יִם וְטַ֣חֲנִי קָ֑מַח גַּלִּ֨י צַמָּתֵ֧ךְ חֶשְׂפִּי־שֹׁ֛בֶל גַּלִּי־שׁ֖וֹק עִבְרִ֥י נְהָרֽוֹת׃Read the interlinear
Cross-references for Isaiah 47:2
- Exodus 11:5and all the first-born in the land of Egypt shall die, from the first-born of Pharaoh that sitteth upon his throne, even unto the first-born of the maid-servant that is behind the mill; and all the first-born of cattle.
- Judges 16:21And the Philistines laid hold on him, and put out his eyes; and they brought him down to Gaza, and bound him with fetters of brass; and he did grind in the prison-house.
- Job 31:10Then let my wife grind unto another, And let others bow down upon her.
- Jeremiah 27:7And all the nations shall serve him, and his son, and his son’s son, until the time of his own land come: and then many nations and great kings shall make him their bondman.
- Lamentations 5:13The young men bare the mill; And the children stumbled under the wood.
- Matthew 24:41two women shall be grinding at the mill; one is taken, and one is left.
- Luke 17:35There shall be two women grinding together; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left.
- Isaiah 3:17therefore the Lord will smite with a scab the crown of the head of the daughters of Zion, and Jehovah will lay bare their secret parts.
- Isaiah 20:4so shall the king of Assyria lead away the captives of Egypt, and the exiles of Ethiopia, young and old, naked and barefoot, and with buttocks uncovered, to the shame of Egypt.
- Jeremiah 13:22And if thou say in thy heart, Wherefore are these things come upon me? for the greatness of thine iniquity are thy skirts uncovered, and thy heels suffer violence.
- Ezekiel 16:37therefore behold, I will gather all thy lovers, with whom thou hast taken pleasure, and all them that thou hast loved, with all them that thou hast hated; I will even gather them against thee on every side, and will uncover thy nakedness unto them, that they may see all thy nakedness.
- Hosea 2:3lest I strip her naked, and set her as in the day that she was born, and make her as a wilderness, and set her like a dry land, and slay her with thirst.
- Micah 1:11Pass away, O inhabitant of Shaphir, in nakedness and shame: the inhabitant of Zaanan is not come forth; the wailing of Beth-ezel shall take from you the stay thereof.
- Nahum 3:5Behold, I am against thee, saith Jehovah of hosts, and I will uncover thy skirts upon thy face; and I will show the nations thy nakedness, and the kingdoms thy shame.
Commentaries on Isaiah 47:2
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 2Take the millstones, and grind meal "Take the mill, and grind corn" - It was the work of slaves to grind the corn. They used hand-mills: water-mills were not invented till a little before the time of Augustus, (see the Greek epigram of Antipater, which seems to celebrate it as a new invention, Anthol. Cephalae, 653); wind-mills, not until long after. It was not only the work of slaves, but the hardest work; and often inflicted upon them as a severe…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 2Take the millstones, and grind meal - The design of this is plain. Babylon, that had been regarded as a delicately-trained female, was to be reduced to the lowest condition of poverty and wretchedness - represented here by being compelled to perform the most menial and laborious offices, and submitting to the deepest disgrace and ignominy. There is an allusion here to the custom of grinding in the East. The mills which were there commonly used, and which…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 1-4In this taunt against Babylon, the nation is described as a proud queen. But she is brought low and humiliated. Instead of ruling, she is forced to work like a servant girl.Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 22. millstones--like the querns or hand-mills, found in this country, before the invention of water mills and windmills: a convex stone, made by the hand to turn in a concave stone, fitted to receive it, the corn being ground between them: the office of a female slave in the East; most degrading (Job 31:10; Mt 24:41). uncover thy locks--rather, "take off thy veil" [Horsley]: perhaps the removal of the plaited hair worn round the women's temples is…Read the comment
Topics related to Isaiah 47:2
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Isaiah 47
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
American Standard Version — 1901 — Public Domain
Commentaries