Isaiah 47:2

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

1‘Babylon, get down on the ground, and sit in the dirt! Come down off your throne, young lady! In the past, nobody has touched you, but people will no longer say that you are so pretty. Use heavy stones to make grain into flour. Take the veil off your face. Lift up your skirt. Walk through streams of water with bare legs. 3Stand there with your body completely bare! Everybody will see your great shame. I will punish you for your sins, and nobody will escape.’ 4This is what the Lord Almighty says. He is our Redeemer, Israel's Holy God.

Isaiah 47:2 word by word

קְחִ֥י רֵחַ֖יִם וְטַ֣חֲנִי קָ֑מַח גַּלִּ֨י צַמָּתֵ֧ךְ חֶשְׂפִּי־שֹׁ֛בֶל גַּלִּי־שׁ֖וֹק עִבְרִ֥י נְהָרֽוֹת׃Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• Takeלָקַחlâqach · to take: takeH3947
• the millstonesרֵחֶהrêcheh · millstoneH7347
• and grindטָחַןţâchan · to grindH2912
• mealקֶ֫מַחqemach · flourH7058
• uncoverגָּלָהgâlâh · to reveal: uncoverH1540
• thy locksצַמָּהtsammâh · veilH6777
• make bareחָשַׂףchâώaph · to stripH2834
• the legשֹׁ֫בֶלshôbel · skirtH7640
• the thighשׁוֹקshôq · legH7785
• pass overעָבַר‛âbar · to passH5674
• the riversנָהָרnâhâr · riverH5104

Cross-references for Isaiah 47:2

• Exodus 11:5I will cause all the firstborn sons in Egypt to die. The firstborn son of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, will die. The firstborn son of the female slave who makes flour, will die. Even the firstborn of the farm animals will die.
• Judges 16:21The Philistines took hold of Samson. They cut out his eyes. They tied him up with bronze chains. They made him do hard work as their prisoner. He had to push a heavy stone to make grain into flour.
• Job 31:10If I had done those things, my wife should prepare food for another man. It would be right for other men to have sex with her.
• Jeremiah 27:7People from all nations will serve him. They will also serve his son and his grandson until the time of their kingdom has finished. Then great kings and people from many other nations will take away his power.
• Lamentations 5:13They took the young men to make flour for them, like slaves. Our boys have to carry heavy bags of wood.
• Matthew 24:41Two women will be preparing food together in the same place. God will take one of them away, but he will leave the other woman behind.
• Luke 17:35Two women will be preparing food together in the same place. God will take one of them away but he will leave the other one behind.’
• Isaiah 3:17Because of that, the Lord God will give them sores on their heads. Those beautiful women will be bald!’
• Isaiah 20:4The king of Assyria will take away people from Egypt as prisoners. He will do the same thing to the people of Cush. Young people and old people will go as prisoners to Assyria. They will not wear any clothes or shoes. People will see their bare bodies. The Egyptians will be very ashamed.
• Jeremiah 13:22You may ask, “Why are these things happening to me?” It is because of your many terrible sins. Like an adulteress, they have torn off your dress to make you ashamed.
• Ezekiel 16:37So listen to me! I will bring all those men that you had sex with. You liked some of them and you hated others. I will bring all of them to stand around you. Then I will remove all your clothes and they will all see your completely bare body.
• Hosea 2:3If she does not return to me, I will remove all her clothes. She will have nothing to wear, like the day when she was born. She will be ashamed. Her life will be useless and empty, like a dry land that has no water. Then I will leave her to die because she has no water to drink.
• Micah 1:11You people who live in Shaphir, go on your way. Your enemies will not let you wear any clothes while they take you away. So you will be ashamed. The people who live in Zaanan will be afraid to leave their city. The people at Beth-Ezel will cry because nobody comes to help them.
• Nahum 3:5This is why I am against you, says the Lord Almighty. I will make you like a woman whose skirt is up over her face. I will show the countries that you are like that woman. You will be like a woman who is not wearing any clothes.

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

• Mill

In the dictionaries

• Dress
• Mill
• Sport
• Wroth
• Hair
• Isaiah
• Leg
• Locks
• Mark, the Gospel According to
• Saviour

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