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

1Go, sit in the dirt, virgin princess of Babylon! Sit on the ground, not on a throne, princess of the Babylonians! You will no longer be called soft and delicate. Take millstones and grind flour. Remove your veil. Take off your skirt. Uncover your legs, and cross the river. 3People will see you naked. People will see your shame. I will take revenge. I won’t spare anyone. 4Our defender is the Holy One of Israel. His name is the Lord of Armies.

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 11:5Every firstborn son in Egypt will die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who rules the land, to the firstborn children of female slaves who use their handmills, including every firstborn domestic animal.
• Judges 16:21The Philistines grabbed him. They poked out his eyes and took him to the prison in Gaza. They tied him up with double chains and made him grind grain in the mill there.
• Job 31:10⌞then⌟ let my wife grind for another ⌞man⌟, and let other ⌞men⌟ kneel over her.
• Jeremiah 27:7All nations will serve him, his son, and his grandson until Babylon is defeated. Then many nations and great kings will make him their slave.
• Lamentations 5:13⌞Our⌟ young men work at the mill, and ⌞our⌟ boys stagger under loads of wood.
• Matthew 24:41Two women will be working at a mill. One will be taken, and the other one will be left.
• Luke 17:35Two women will be grinding grain together. One will be taken, and the other one will be left.”
• Isaiah 3:17The Lord will cause sores ⌞to appear⌟ on the heads of the women of Zion, and the Lord will make their foreheads bare.
• Isaiah 20:4The king of Assyria will lead away both the young and the old—captives from Egypt and exiles from Sudan. They will be barefoot and naked. Their buttocks will be exposed in order to disgrace Egypt.
• Jeremiah 13:22If you ask yourself, “Why do these things happen to me?” it’s because you have so many sins. Your clothes have been torn off and your limbs are bare.
• Ezekiel 16:37That is why I will gather all your lovers with whom you found pleasure. I will have all those who love you and hate you gather around. I will uncover your body for them, and they will see you naked.
• Hosea 2:3If she refuses, I will strip her. I will leave her as naked as the day she was born. I will turn her into a dry and barren land, and she will die of thirst.
• Micah 1:11Pass by, naked and ashamed, inhabitants of Shaphir. Don’t come out, inhabitants of Zaanan. Beth Ezel is in mourning. It will take its support away from you.
• Nahum 3:5“I am against you, Nineveh,” declares the Lord of Armies. “I will lift up your dress over your face. I will show nations your naked body and kingdoms your disgrace.

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