You said, ‘I will reign forever as queen of the world!’ You did not reflect on your actions or think about their consequences.
Parallel translations
- WEB 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.
- KJV And thou saidst, I shall be a lady for ever: so that thou didst not lay these things to thy heart, neither didst remember the latter end of it.
- BSB You said, ‘I will be queen forever.’ You did not take these things to heart or consider their outcome.
- NKJV And you said, ‘I shall be a lady forever,’ So that you did not take these things to heart, Nor remember the latter end of them.
- NASB “Yet you said, ‘I will be a queen forever.’ These things you did not consider Nor remember the outcome of them.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Babylon presumed she would reign forever and never considered the consequences. Pride blinds people to coming judgment.
Overview
The city imagined her dominion eternal — 'I will be a princess forever' — and so never reckoned with the end of her ways. Her fatal flaw was self-secure presumption. Scripture consistently warns that those who say 'I will never be moved' are ripe for a fall, in contrast to humble dependence on God.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Deut 32:29Oh that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end!
- Isa 47:5“Sit in silence, and go into darkness, daughter of the Chaldeans. For you shall no longer be called the mistress of kingdoms.
- Jer 5:31The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule by their own authority; and my people love to have it so. What will you do in the end of it?
- Dan 4:29At the end of twelve months he was walking in the royal palace of Babylon.
- Dan 5:18–23You, king, the Most High God gave Nebuchadnezzar your father the kingdom, and greatness, and glory, and majesty:
- Ezek 29:3Speak and say, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Behold, I am against you, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great monster that lies in the middle of his rivers, that has said, ‘My river is my own, and I have made it for myself.’
- Ezek 7:3–9Now is the end on you, and I will send my anger on you, and will judge you according to your ways. I will bring on you all your abominations.
- Ezek 28:2Son of man, tell the prince of Tyre, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Because your heart is lifted up, and you have said, I am a god, I sit in the seat of God, in the middle of the seas; yet you are man, and not God, though you set your heart as the heart of God —
- Ezek 28:12–14Son of man, take up a lamentation over the king of Tyre, and tell him, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: You were the seal of full measure, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty.
- Isa 42:25Therefore he poured the fierceness of his anger on him, and the strength of battle; and it set him on fire all around, but he didn’t know; and it burned him, but he didn’t take it to heart.”
- Isa 46:8–9“Remember this, and show yourselves men. Bring it to mind again, you transgressors.
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Christ at the center
Isaiah sees him most clearly: the virgin's son Immanuel, the child on David's throne, the shoot from Jesse, the light to the nations, and above all the Suffering Servant pierced for our transgressions (ch. 53).
How Isaiah 47:7 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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