Isaiah 47 - Introduction

An Ode on the Fall of Babylon

The strain of prophetic exhortation is here interrupted by an ironical elegy or "taunt-song" with a strong resemblance to the ode on the king of Babylon in ch. Isaiah 14:4-21. The humiliation of the city is represented by the graphic image of a delicate and luxurious lady of the harem, suddenly reduced to the shameful condition of a slave or a captive. This female personification of Babylon forms an effective, and no doubt intentional, contrast to the figure of Zion, the desolate and bereaved widow, who is soon to be restored to the honour and joys of motherhood (ch. Isaiah 49:14 ff., Isaiah 51:17 ff., Isaiah 54). Although words of Jehovah occur in Isaiah 47:3; Isaiah 47:6, it is hardly natural to suppose that He is the speaker throughout. The singer is more probably either the nation of Israel (as in Isaiah 14:4 ff.) or the prophet speaking in his own name.

The poem is usually divided into four unequal strophes, commencing with Isaiah 47:1; Isaiah 47:5; Isaiah 47:8and Isaiah 47:12. Dillmann finds in it a combination of several distinct poetic measures, and recognises the characteristic rhythm of the elegy only in the opening verses of the first three strophes (1, 5, 8). There is however an approximationto the structure of the qînahin many verses; and the question is suggested whether the departures from the regular form are not to be accounted for by errors in the transmission of the text. Duhm, omitting three clauses as interpolations (see below), makes out a division into five equal strophes (1 4, 5 7, 8 10 a, 10 b12, 13 15) of seven lines each, and with a few minor alterations the elegiac cæsura (see on Isaiah 14:4) is fairly well marked in nearly every line. The textual alterations may not commend themselves in each instance, but there is at least a presumption in favour of a stricter prosody than earlier commentators allow.