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“Come down and sit in the dust, Virgin daughter of Babylon; Sit on the ground without a throne, Daughter of the Chaldeans! For you will no longer be called tender and delicate. Take the millstones and grind flour. Remove your veil, strip off the skirt, Uncover the leg, cross the rivers. 3Your nakedness will be uncovered, Your shame will also be exposed; I will take vengeance and will not spare anyone.” 4Our Redeemer, the Lord of armies is His name, The Holy One of Israel.

Isaiah 47:2 word by word

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

• Takeלָקַחlâqach · to take: takeH3947
• millstonesרֵחֶהrêcheh · millstoneH7347
• grindטָחַןţâchan · to grindH2912
• flourקֶ֫מַחqemach · flourH7058
• Removeגָּלָהgâlâh · to reveal: uncoverH1540
• veilצַמָּהtsammâh · veilH6777
• stripחָשַׂףchâώaph · to stripH2834
• the skirtשֹׁ֫בֶלshôbel · skirtH7640
• the legשׁוֹקshôq · legH7785
• crossעָבַר‛âbar · to passH5674
• the riversנָהָרnâhâr · riverH5104

Cross-references for Isaiah 47:2

• Exodus 11:5and all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of the Pharaoh who sits on his throne, to the firstborn of the slave girl who is behind the millstones; all the firstborn of the cattle as well.
• Judges 16:21Then the Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes; and they brought him down to Gaza and restrained him with bronze chains, and he became a grinder in the prison.
• Job 31:10May my wife grind grain for another, And let others kneel down over her.
• Jeremiah 27:7All the nations shall serve him and his son and his grandson until the time of his own land comes; then many nations and great kings will make him their servant.
• Lamentations 5:13Young men worked at the grinding mill, And youths staggered under loads of wood.
• Matthew 24:41Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one will be left.
• Luke 17:35There will be two women grinding at the same place; one will be taken and the other will be left.
• Isaiah 3:17The Lord will afflict the scalp of the daughters of Zion with scabs, And the Lord will make their foreheads bare.”
• Isaiah 20:4so the king of Assyria will lead away the captives of Egypt and the exiles of Cush, young and old, naked and barefoot with buttocks uncovered, to the shame of Egypt.
• Jeremiah 13:22If you say in your heart, ‘Why have these things happened to me?’ Because of the magnitude of your wrongdoing Your skirts have been removed And your heels have suffered violence.
• Ezekiel 16:37therefore, behold, I am going to gather all your lovers whom you pleased, all those whom you loved as well as all those whom you hated. So I will gather them against you from every direction and expose your nakedness to them so that they may see all your nakedness.
• Hosea 2:3Otherwise, I will strip her naked And expose her as on the day she was born. I will also make her like a wilderness, Make her like desert land, And put her to death with thirst.
• Micah 1:11Go on your way, inhabitant of Shaphir, in shameful nakedness. The inhabitant of Zaanan does not escape. The mourning of Beth-ezel: “He will take from you its support.”
• Nahum 3:5“Behold, I am against you,” declares the Lord of armies; “And I will lift up your skirts over your face, And show the nations your nakedness, And the kingdoms your 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

• 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