Isaiah 47 · a question people ask
The one who speaks says he gave his people into Babylon's hand (47:6). Why then is Babylon brought down?
The verse holds both. "I was angry with my people. I profaned my inheritance and gave them into your hand" (47:6) (tap inheritance): the giving is the speaker's. "You showed them no mercy. You laid a very heavy yoke on the aged" (47:6): that is hers. The chapter goes on with what she said: "You said, ‘I will be a princess forever,’ so that you didn’t lay these things to your heart, nor did you remember the results" (47:7) (tap results). Then comes "Now therefore hear this" (47:8). And after "For you have trusted in your wickedness. You have said, ‘No one sees me.’" (47:10) comes "Therefore disaster will come on you" (47:11). The chapter's therefore follows what she did with those given into her hand and what she said in her heart. It doesn't say more of how the giving and the blame stand together, and these notes don't either. The chapter on Isaiah 13 quotes 47:6 among the book's own later words about Babylon.
The verses
“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. You said, ‘I will be a princess forever,’ so that you didn’t lay these things to your heart, nor did you remember the results. “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 won’t sit as a widow, neither will I know the loss of children.’”
“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.’ Therefore disaster will come on you. You won’t know when it dawns. Mischief will fall on you. You won’t be able to put it away. Desolation will come on you suddenly, which you don’t understand.”