Isaiah 47:8
Translations
King James Version (KJV)
Therefore hear now this, you that are given to pleasures, that dwell carelessly, that say in your heart, I am, and none else beside me; I shall not sit as a widow, neither shall I know the loss of children:
American King James Version (AKJV)
Therefore hear now this, you that are given to pleasures, that dwell carelessly, that say in your heart, I am, and none else beside me; I shall not sit as a widow, neither shall I know the loss of children:
American Standard Version (ASV)
Now therefore hear this, thou that art given to pleasures, that sittest securely, that sayest in thy heart, I am, and there is none else besides me; I shall not sit as a widow, neither shall I know the loss of children:
Basic English Translation (BBE)
So now take note of this, you who are given up to pleasure, living without fear of evil, saying in your heart, I am, and there is no one like me; I will never be a widow, or have my children taken from me.
Webster's Revision
Therefore hear now this, thou that art given to pleasures, that dwellest carelessly, that sayest in thy heart, I am, and none else besides me; I shall not sit as a widow, neither shall I know the loss of children:
World English Bible
"Now therefore hear this, you who are given to pleasures, who sit securely, who say in your heart, I am, and there is none else besides me; I shall not sit as a widow, neither shall I know the loss of children:
English Revised Version (ERV)
Now therefore hear this, thou that art given to pleasures, that dwellest carelessly, that sayest in thine heart, I am, and there is none else beside me; I shall not sit as a widow, neither shall I know the loss of children:
Definitions for Isaiah 47:8
Barnes's Isaiah 47:8 Bible Commentary
Therefore hear now this - The prophet proceeds, in this verse and the following, to detail more particularly the sins of Babylon, and to state the certainty of the punishment which would come upon her. In the previous verses, the denunciation of punishment had been figurative. It had been represented under the image of a lady delicately trained and nurtured, doomed to the lowest condition of life, and compelled to stoop to the most menial offices. Here the prophet uses language without figure, and states directly her crimes, and her doom.
That art given to pleasures - Devoted to dissipation, and to the effeminate pleasures which luxury engenders (see the notes at Isaiah 47:1). Curtius, in his History of Babylon as it was in the times of Alexander (v. 5. 36), Herodotus (i. 198), and Strabo Georg. xvi.), have given a description of it, all representing it as corrupt, licentious, and dissipated in the extreme. Curtius, in the passage quoted on Isaiah 47:1, says, among other things, that no city was more corrupt in its morals; nowhere were there so many excitements to licentious and guilty pleasures.
That dwellest carelessly - In vain security; without any consciousness of danger, and without alarm (compare Zephaniah 2:15).
I am, and none else besides me - The language of pride. She regarded herself as the principal city of the world, and all others as unworthy to be named in comparison with her (compare the note at Isaiah 45:6). Language remarkably similar to this occurs in Martial's description of Rome (xii. 8):
Terrarum dea gentiumque, Roma,
Cui par est nihil, et nihil secundum -
Rome, goddess of the earth and of nations, to whom nothing is equal, nothing second.'
I shall not sit as a widow - On the word 'sit,' see the note at Isaiah 47:1. The sense is, that she would never be lonely, sad, and afflicted, like a wife deprived of her husband, and a mother of her children. The figure is changed from Isaiah 47:1, where she is represented as a virgin; but the same idea is presented under another form (compare the note at Isaiah 23:4).
Wesley's Isaiah 47:8 Bible Commentary
47:8 I am - Independent, and self - sufficient. None - Which is not either subject to me, or far inferior to me in power and glory.Shall not sit - I shall never want either a king or people to defend me.
