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.
• 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.
• New Living Translation (NLT)Take heavy millstones and grind flour. Remove your veil, and strip off your robe. Expose yourself to public view.

Context of Isaiah 47:2

1“Go down, sit in the dust, Virgin Daughter Babylon; sit on the ground without a throne, queen city of the Babylonians. No more will you be called tender or delicate. Take millstones and grind flour; take off your veil. Lift up your skirts, bare your legs, and wade through the streams. 3Your nakedness will be exposed and your shame uncovered. I will take vengeance; I will spare no one.” 4Our Redeemer—the Lord Almighty is his name— is 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

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 son of Pharaoh, who sits on the throne, to the firstborn son of the female slave, who is at her hand mill, and all the firstborn of the cattle as well.
• Judges 16:21Then the Philistines seized him, gouged out his eyes and took him down to Gaza. Binding him with bronze shackles, they set him to grinding grain in the prison.
• Job 31:10then may my wife grind another man’s grain, and may other men sleep with her.
• Jeremiah 27:7All nations will serve him and his son and his grandson until the time for his land comes; then many nations and great kings will subjugate him.
• Lamentations 5:13Young men toil at the millstones; boys stagger under loads of wood.
• Matthew 24:41Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.
• Luke 17:35Two women will be grinding grain together; one will be taken and the other left.”
• Isaiah 3:17Therefore the Lord will bring sores on the heads of the women of Zion; the Lord will make their scalps bald.”
• Isaiah 20:4so the king of Assyria will lead away stripped and barefoot the Egyptian captives and Cushite exiles, young and old, with buttocks bared—to Egypt’s shame.
• Jeremiah 13:22And if you ask yourself, “Why has this happened to me?”— it is because of your many sins that your skirts have been torn off and your body mistreated.
• Ezekiel 16:37therefore I am going to gather all your lovers, with whom you found pleasure, those you loved as well as those you hated. I will gather them against you from all around and will strip you in front of them, and they will see you stark naked.
• Hosea 2:3Otherwise I will strip her naked and make her as bare as on the day she was born; I will make her like a desert, turn her into a parched land, and slay her with thirst.
• Micah 1:11Pass by naked and in shame, you who live in Shaphir. Those who live in Zaanan will not come out. Beth Ezel is in mourning; it no longer protects you.
• Nahum 3:5“I am against you,” declares the Lord Almighty. “I will lift your skirts over your face. I will 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