Isaiah 47:3
in Isaiah 47Your nakedness will be uncovered and your shame will be exposed. I will take vengeance; I will spare no one.”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Thy nakedness shall be uncovered, yea, thy shame shall be seen: I will take vengeance, and will spare no man.
KJV
Thy nakedness shall be uncovered, yea, thy shame shall be seen: I will take vengeance, and I will not meet thee as a man.
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This verse in Isaiah 47
Commentary
11 notes on this verse(Chapter 47, verses 1 and following) Descend, sit in the dust, virgin daughter of Babylon: sit on the ground, there is no throne for the daughter of the Chaldeans, for you shall no longer be called tender and delicate. Take a millstone and grind flour: uncover your nakedness, uncover your shoulder, reveal your legs, cross the rivers. Your shame will be exposed, and your disgrace will be seen; I will take vengeance, and no one will be able to resist me. 70: Descend, sit on the ground, virgin daughter of Babylon, sit on the ground.
This site's exposition
Go down and sit in the dust
on Isaiah 47:1-4
“Go down and sit in the dust, O Virgin Daughter of Babylon” takes away both throne and title. She is set to a slave’s labor, “Take millstones and grind flour”. Into the taunt verse 4 sets “the Holy One of Israel”, the book’s title through both its halves.
This site's exposition
Your nakedness will be uncovered
Barnes reads the uncovered nakedness as the abject state of the city, its pride stripped to the deepest shame. Vitringa, whom Barnes cites, took it to mean that the weakness, poverty and cruelty of Babylon would all be exposed. The vengeance is the LORD's alone.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
"Bare your legs and cross the rivers. Your shame will be uncovered and your disgrace shown." For she was once led into captivity. She was taken from her own land into that of the victors. Being between the two rivers, they had to cross on their feet and uncover themselves. What decorum the women had was lost, and out of necessity even the private parts of their bodies were exposed to many.
"Come down, sit on the ground, virgin daughter of Babylon." Isaiah calls her "virgin" not because she was chaste—in fact she was corrupt and shameless—but because she was dressed in the manner of a virgin. "Sit down on the ground; it is not a throne." …
The Medieval Church1 voice
And he shows the author of this ignominy: I will take vengeance, however powerful you may be.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
As in pardoning the penitent, so in punishing the impenitent, he is God and not man, Hos. xi. The particular ground of this controversy. We are sure that there is cause for it, and it is a just cause; it is the vengeance of his temple ( Jer. l.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
Thy nakedness shall be uncovered, yea, thy shame shall be seen,.... Not only stripped of their garments, and have nothing to cover their naked bodies, being spoiled of all by the soldiers; but should have nothing to cover those parts which women are most ashamed should be exposed to view, and which is often the case of such who fall into the hands of the conquerors.
3 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Thy nakedness - This denotes the abject condition to which the city would be reduced. All its pride would be taken away; and it would be brought to such a state as to fill its inhabitants with the deepest mortification and shame. Vitringa supposes that it means, that all the imbecility and weakness; the vileness; the real poverty; the cruelty and injustice of Babylon, would be exposed. But it more probably means, that it would be reduced to the deepest ignominy.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
Or, "I will not make peace with any man," before all are destroyed. Literally, "strike a league with"; a phrase arising from the custom of striking hands together in making a compact [MAURER], (see on Pr 17:18; Or else from striking the victims sacrificed in making treaties.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
I will not meet thee as a man “Neither will I suffer man to intercede with me” - The verb should be pointed, or written, אפגיע aphgia, in Hiphil.
The words behind it
10 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| תִּגָּל֙ | tigal | let it be uncovered | H1540 → | 186 times |
| עֶרְוָתֵ֔ךְ | ʾervatekh | nakedness your | H6172 → | |
| גַּ֥ם | gam | also | H1571 → | 769 times |
| תֵּרָאֶ֖ה | teraeh | let it be visible | H7200 → | 1300 times |
| חֶרְפָּתֵ֑ךְ | cherpatekh | reproach your | H2781 → | 73 times |
| נָקָ֣ם | nakam | vengeance | H5359 → | 17 times |
| אֶקָּ֔ח | ʾekach | I will take | H3947 → | 966 times |
| וְלֹ֥א | velo' | and not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| אֶפְגַּ֖ע | ʾefga' | I will meet | H6293 → | 46 times |
| אָדָֽם׃ ס | ʾadam | anyone | H120 → | 551 times |
תִּגָּל֙let it be uncovered
tigalH1540 →186 times
עֶרְוָתֵ֔ךְnakedness your
ʾervatekhH6172 →
גַּ֥םalso
gamH1571 →769 times
תֵּרָאֶ֖הlet it be visible
teraehH7200 →1300 times
חֶרְפָּתֵ֑ךְreproach your
cherpatekhH2781 →73 times
נָקָ֣םvengeance
nakamH5359 →17 times
אֶקָּ֔חI will take
ʾekachH3947 →966 times
וְלֹ֥אand not
velo'H3808 →5168 times
אֶפְגַּ֖עI will meet
ʾefga'H6293 →46 times
אָדָֽם׃ סanyone
ʾadamH120 →551 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Nahum 3:5“Behold, I am against you,” declares the LORD of Hosts. “I will lift your skirts over your face. I will show your nakedness to the nations and your shame to the kingdoms.
it leads to
- Jeremiah 13:26
So I will pull your skirts up over your face, that your shame may be seen.
- Jeremiah 13:22
And if you ask yourself, “Why has this happened to me?” It is because of the magnitude of your iniquity that your skirts have been stripped off and your body has been exposed.
- Ezekiel 23:29
They will treat you with hatred, take all for which you have worked, and leave you naked and bare, so that the shame of your prostitution will be exposed. Your indecency and promiscuity
- Isaiah 47:2–3
Take millstones and grind flour; remove your veil; strip off your skirt, bare your thigh, and wade through the streams.
- Jeremiah 13:26
Through
Revelation 16:19The great city was split into three parts, and the cities of the nations collapsed. And God remembered Babylon the great and gave her the cup of the wine of the fury of His…
it leads to
- Revelation 18:5
For her sins are piled up to heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities.
- Revelation 17:18
And the woman you saw is the great city that rules over the kings of the earth.”
- Revelation 18:10
In fear of her torment, they will stand at a distance and cry out: “Woe, woe to the great city, the mighty city of Babylon! For in a single hour your judgment has come.”
- Revelation 18:21
Then a mighty angel picked up a stone the size of a great millstone and cast it into the sea, saying: “With such violence the great city of Babylon will be cast down, never…
- Revelation 18:5
Where this verse is studied
About Isaiah
This page draws on 11 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Book of Isaiah; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Cyril of Alexandria, COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH 4:3.47:1-3; Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Isaiah; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Isaiah; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Theodoret of Cyrus, COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH 14:47.1-4 and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Isaiah.