< Isaiah 47 >

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.
Thou virgyn, the douytir Babiloyne, go doun, sitte thou in dust, sitte thou in erthe; a kyngis seete is not to the douyter of Caldeis, for thou schalt no more be clepid soft and tendir.
2 Take the millstones and grind flour. Remove your veil, lift up your skirt, uncover your legs, and wade through the rivers.
Take thou a queerne stoon, and grynde thou mele; make thou nakid thi filthe, diskeuere the schuldur, schewe the hippis, passe thou floodis.
3 Your nakedness will be uncovered. Yes, your shame will be seen. I will take vengeance, and will spare no one.”
Thi schame schal be schewid, and thi schenschipe schal be seen; Y schal take veniaunce, and no man schal ayenstonde me.
4 Our Redeemer, the LORD of Armies is his name, is the Holy One of Israel.
Oure ayen biere, the Lord of oostis is his name, the hooli of Israel.
5 “Sit in silence, and go into darkness, daughter of the Chaldeans. For you shall no longer be called the mistress of kingdoms.
Douyter of Caldeis, sitte thou, be thou stille, and entre in to derknessis, for thou schalt no more be clepid the ladi of rewmes.
6 I was angry with my people. I profaned my inheritance and gave them into your hand. You showed them no mercy. You laid a very heavy yoke on the aged.
I was wrooth on my puple, Y defoulid myn eritage, and Y yaf hem in thin hond, and thou settidist not mercies to hem; thou madist greuouse the yok greetli on an eld man,
7 You said, ‘I will be a princess forever,’ so that you did not lay these things to your heart, nor did you remember the results.
and thou seidist, With outen ende Y schal be ladi; thou puttidist not these thingis on thin herte, nether thou bithouytist on thi laste thing.
8 “Now therefore hear this, you who are given to pleasures, who sit securely, who say in your heart, ‘I am, and there is no one else besides me. I will not sit as a widow, neither will I know the loss of children.’
And now, thou delicat, and dwellynge tristili, here these thingis, which seist in thin herte, Y am, and outakun me ther is no more; Y schal not sitte widewe, and Y schal not knowe bareynesse.
9 But these two things will come to you in a moment in one day: the loss of children and widowhood. They will come on you in their full measure, in the multitude of your sorceries, and the great abundance of your enchantments.
These twei thingis, bareynesse and widewhod schulen come to thee sudenli in o dai; alle thingis camen on thee for the multitude of thi witchecraftis, and for the greet hardnesse of thin enchauntours, ether tregetours.
10 For you have trusted in your wickedness. You have said, ‘No one sees me.’ Your wisdom and your knowledge has perverted you. You have said in your heart, ‘I am, and there is no one else besides me.’
And thou haddist trist in thi malice, and seidist, Noon is that seeth me; this thi wisdom and thi kunnyng disseyuede thee; and thou seidist in thin herte,
11 Therefore disaster will come on you. You will not know when it dawns. Mischief will fall on you. You will not be able to put it away. Desolation will come on you suddenly, which you do not understand.
Y am, and outakun me ther is noon other. Yuel schal come on thee, and thou schalt not knowe the bigynning therof; and wrecchidnesse schal falle on thee, which thou schalt not mowe clense; wretchidnesse which thou knowist not, schal come on thee sudenly.
12 “Stand now with your enchantments and with the multitude of your sorceries, in which you have labored from your youth, as if you might profit, as if you might prevail.
Stonde thou with thin enchauntours, and with the multitude of thi witchis, in whiche thou trauelidist fro thi yongthe; if in hap thei profiten ony thing to thee, ether if thou maist be maad the strongere.
13 You are wearied in the multitude of your counsels. Now let the astrologers, the stargazers, and the monthly prognosticators stand up and save you from the things that will happen to you.
Thou failidist in the multitude of thi councels; the false dyuynours of heuene stonde, and saue thee, whiche bihelden staris, and noumbriden monethis, that thei schulden telle bi tho thingis to comynge to thee.
14 Behold, they are like stubble. The fire will burn them. They will not deliver themselves from the power of the flame. It will not be a coal to warm at or a fire to sit by.
Lo! thei ben maad as stobil, the fier hath brent hem; thei schulen not delyuere her lijf fro the power of flawme; colis ben not, bi whiche thei schulen be warmed, nether fier, that thei sitte at it.
15 The things that you labored in will be like this: those who have trafficked with you from your youth will each wander in his own way. There will be no one to save you.
So tho thingis ben maad to thee in whiche euere thou trauelidist; thi marchauntis fro thi yongthe erriden, ech man in his weie; noon is, that schal saue thee.

< Isaiah 47 >