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, virgin daughter of Babylon, and sit in the dust. For your days of sitting on a throne have ended. O daughter of Babylonia, never again will you be the lovely princess, tender and delicate. Take heavy millstones and grind flour. Remove your veil, and strip off your robe. Expose yourself to public view. 3You will be naked and burdened with shame. I will take vengeance against you without pity.” 4Our Redeemer, whose name is the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, 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 11:5All the firstborn sons will die in every family in Egypt, from the oldest son of Pharaoh, who sits on his throne, to the oldest son of his lowliest servant girl who grinds the flour. Even the firstborn of all the livestock will die.
• Judges 16:21So the Philistines captured him and gouged out his eyes. They took him to Gaza, where he was bound with bronze chains and forced to grind grain in the prison.
• Job 31:10then let my wife serve another man; let other men sleep with her.
• Jeremiah 27:7All the nations will serve him, his son, and his grandson until his time is up. Then many nations and great kings will conquer and rule over Babylon.
• Lamentations 5:13Young men are led away to work at millstones, and boys stagger under heavy loads of wood.
• Matthew 24:41Two women will be grinding flour at the mill; one will be taken, the other left.
• Luke 17:35Two women will be grinding flour together at the mill; one will be taken, the other left.”
• Isaiah 3:17So the Lord will send scabs on her head; the Lord will make beautiful Zion bald.”
• Isaiah 20:4For the king of Assyria will take away the Egyptians and Ethiopians as prisoners. He will make them walk naked and barefoot, both young and old, their buttocks bared, to the shame of Egypt.
• Jeremiah 13:22You may ask yourself, “Why is all this happening to me?” It is because of your many sins! That is why you have been stripped and raped by invading armies.
• Ezekiel 16:37this is what I am going to do. I will gather together all your allies—the lovers with whom you have sinned, both those you loved and those you hated—and I will strip you naked in front of them so they can stare at you.
• Hosea 2:3Otherwise, I will strip her as naked as she was on the day she was born. I will leave her to die of thirst, as in a dry and barren wilderness.
• Micah 1:11You people in Shaphir, go as captives into exile—naked and ashamed. The people of Zaanan dare not come outside their walls. The people of Beth-ezel mourn, for their house has no support.
• Nahum 3:5“I am your enemy!” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. “And now I will lift your skirts and show all the earth your nakedness and 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