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Isaiah 47:12 King James Version with Strong's Concordance (STRONG)

12 Stand H5975 now with thine enchantments, H2267 and with the multitude H7230 of thy sorceries, H3785 wherein H834 thou hast laboured H3021 from thy youth; H5271 if so be thou shalt be able H3201 to profit, H3276 if so be thou mayest prevail. H6206

Cross Reference

Exodus 7:11 STRONG

Then Pharaoh H6547 also called H7121 the wise men H2450 and the sorcerers: H3784 now the magicians H2748 of Egypt, H4714 they also did H6213 in like manner H3651 with their enchantments. H3858

Exodus 8:7 STRONG

And the magicians H2748 did H6213 so with their enchantments, H3909 and brought up H5927 frogs H6854 upon the land H776 of Egypt. H4714

Exodus 8:18-19 STRONG

And the magicians H2748 did H6213 so with their enchantments H3909 to bring forth H3318 lice, H3654 but they could H3201 not: so there were lice H3654 upon man, H120 and upon beast. H929 Then the magicians H2748 said H559 unto Pharaoh, H6547 This is the finger H676 of God: H430 and Pharaoh's H6547 heart H3820 was hardened, H2388 and he hearkened H8085 not unto them; as the LORD H3068 had said. H1696

Exodus 9:11 STRONG

And the magicians H2748 could H3201 not stand H5975 before H6440 Moses H4872 because H6440 of the boils; H7822 for the boil H7822 was upon the magicians, H2748 and upon all the Egyptians. H4714

Isaiah 8:19 STRONG

And when they shall say H559 unto you, Seek H1875 unto them that have familiar spirits, H178 and unto wizards H3049 that peep, H6850 and that mutter: H1897 should not a people H5971 seek H1875 unto their God? H430 for the living H2416 to the dead? H4191

Isaiah 19:3 STRONG

And the spirit H7307 of Egypt H4714 shall fail H1238 in the midst H7130 thereof; and I will destroy H1104 the counsel H6098 thereof: and they shall seek H1875 to the idols, H457 and to the charmers, H328 and to them that have familiar spirits, H178 and to the wizards. H3049

Isaiah 44:25 STRONG

That frustrateth H6565 the tokens H226 of the liars, H907 and maketh diviners H7080 mad; H1984 that turneth H7725 wise H2450 men backward, H268 and maketh their knowledge H1847 foolish; H5528

Isaiah 47:9-10 STRONG

But these two H8147 things shall come H935 to thee in a moment H7281 in one H259 day, H3117 the loss of children, H7908 and widowhood: H489 they shall come H935 upon thee in their perfection H8537 for the multitude H7230 of thy sorceries, H3785 and for the great H3966 abundance H6109 of thine enchantments. H2267 For thou hast trusted H982 in thy wickedness: H7451 thou hast said, H559 None seeth H7200 me. Thy wisdom H2451 and thy knowledge, H1847 it hath perverted H7725 thee; and thou hast said H559 in thine heart, H3820 I am, and none else H657 beside me.

Jeremiah 2:28 STRONG

But where are thy gods H430 that thou hast made H6213 thee? let them arise, H6965 if they can save H3467 thee in the time H6256 of thy trouble: H7451 for according to the number H4557 of thy cities H5892 are thy gods, H430 O Judah. H3063

Daniel 5:7-9 STRONG

The king H4430 cried H7123 aloud H2429 to bring H5954 in the astrologers, H826 the Chaldeans, H3779 and the soothsayers. H1505 And the king H4430 spake, H6032 and said H560 to the wise H2445 men of Babylon, H895 Whosoever H606 H3606 shall read H7123 this H1836 writing, H3792 and shew H2324 me the interpretation H6591 thereof, shall be clothed H3848 with scarlet, H711 and have a chain H2002 of gold H1722 about H5922 his neck, H6676 and shall be the third H8523 ruler H7981 in the kingdom. H4437 Then H116 came H5954 in all H3606 the king's H4430 wise H2445 men: but they could H3546 not H3809 read H7123 the writing, H3792 nor make known H3046 to the king H4430 the interpretation H6591 thereof. Then H116 was king H4430 Belshazzar H1113 greatly H7690 troubled, H927 and his countenance H2122 was changed H8133 in him, H5922 and his lords H7261 were astonied. H7672

Nahum 3:4 STRONG

Because of the multitude H7230 of the whoredoms H2183 of the wellfavoured H2896 H2580 harlot, H2181 the mistress H1172 of witchcrafts, H3785 that selleth H4376 nations H1471 through her whoredoms, H2183 and families H4940 through her witchcrafts. H3785

Acts 13:8-12 STRONG

But G1161 Elymas G1681 the sorcerer G3097 (for G1063 so G3779 is his G846 name G3686 by interpretation G3177 ) withstood G436 them, G846 seeking G2212 to turn away G1294 the deputy G446 from G575 the faith. G4102 Then G1161 Saul, G4569 (who G3588 also G2532 is called Paul,) G3972 filled with G4130 the Holy G40 Ghost, G4151 G2532 set his eyes G816 on G1519 him, G846 And said, G2036 O G5599 full G4134 of all G3956 subtilty G1388 and G2532 all G3956 mischief, G4468 thou child G5207 of the devil, G1228 thou enemy G2190 of all G3956 righteousness, G1343 wilt thou G3973 not G3756 cease G3973 to pervert G1294 the right G2117 ways G3598 of the Lord? G2962 And G2532 now, G3568 behold, G2400 the hand G5495 of the Lord G2962 is upon G1909 thee, G4571 and G2532 thou shalt be G2071 blind, G5185 not G3361 seeing G991 the sun G2246 for G891 a season. G2540 And G1161 immediately G3916 there fell G1968 on G1909 him G846 a mist G887 and G2532 a darkness; G4655 and G2532 he went about G4013 seeking G2212 some to lead him by the hand. G5497 Then G5119 the deputy, G446 when he saw G1492 what was done, G1096 believed, G4100 being astonished G1605 at G1909 the doctrine G1322 of the Lord. G2962

Revelation 17:4-6 STRONG

And G2532 the woman G1135 was G2258 arrayed G4016 in purple G4209 and G2532 scarlet colour, G2847 and G2532 decked G5558 with gold G5557 and G2532 precious G5093 stones G3037 and G2532 pearls, G3135 having G2192 a golden G5552 cup G4221 in G1722 her G846 hand G5495 full of G1073 abominations G946 and G2532 filthiness G168 of her G846 fornication: G4202 And G2532 upon G1909 her G846 forehead G3359 was a name G3686 written, G1125 MYSTERY, G3466 BABYLON G897 THE GREAT, G3173 THE MOTHER G3384 OF HARLOTS G4204 AND G2532 ABOMINATIONS G946 OF THE EARTH. G1093 And G2532 I saw G1492 the woman G1135 drunken G3184 with G1537 the blood G129 of the saints, G40 and G2532 with G1537 the blood G129 of the martyrs G3144 of Jesus: G2424 and G2532 when I saw G1492 her, G846 I wondered G2296 with great G3173 admiration. G2295

2 Thessalonians 2:9-12 STRONG

Even him, whose G3739 coming G3952 is G2076 after G2596 the working G1753 of Satan G4567 with G1722 all G3956 power G1411 and G2532 signs G4592 and G2532 lying G5579 wonders, G5059 And G2532 with G1722 all G3956 deceivableness G539 of unrighteousness G93 in G1722 them that perish; G622 because G473 G3739 they received G1209 not G3756 the love G26 of the truth, G225 that G1519 they G846 might be saved. G4982 And G2532 for this G5124 cause G1223 God G2316 shall send G3992 them G846 strong G1753 delusion, G4106 that G1519 they G846 should believe G4100 a lie: G5579 That G2443 they all G3956 might be damned G2919 who G3588 believed G4100 not G3361 the truth, G225 but G235 had pleasure G2106 in G1722 unrighteousness. G93

Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Keil & Delitzsch Commentary » Commentary on Isaiah 47

Commentary on Isaiah 47 Keil & Delitzsch Commentary


Verses 1-4

From the gods of Babylon the proclamation of judgment passes onto Babylon itself. “Come down, and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter Babel; sit on the ground without a throne, O Chaldaeans-daughter! For men no longer call thee delicate and voluptuous. Take the mill, and grind meal: throw back they veil, lift up the train, uncover the thigh, wade through streams. Let thy nakedness be uncovered, even let thy shame be seen; I shall take vengeance, and not spare men. Our Redeemer, Jehovah of hosts is His name, Holy One of Israel.” This is the first strophe in the prophecy. As v. 36 clearly shows, what precedes is a penal sentence from Jehovah. Both בּת in relation to בּתוּלת (Isaiah 23:12; Isaiah 37:22), and בּבל and כּשׂדּים in relation to בּת , are appositional genitives; Babel and Chaldeans ( כשׂדים as in Isaiah 48:20) are regarded as a woman, and that as one not yet dishonoured. The unconquered oppressor is threatened with degradation from her proud eminence into shameful humiliation; sitting on the ground is used in the same sense as in Isaiah 3:26. Hitherto men have called her, with envious admiration, rakkâh va‛ânuggâh (from Deuteronomy 28:56), mollis et delicata , as having carefully kept everything disagreeable at a distance, and revelled in nothing but luxury (compare ‛ōneg , Isaiah 13:22). Debauchery with its attendant rioting (Isaiah 14:11; Isaiah 25:5), and the Mylitta worship with its licensed prostitution (Herod. i. 199), were current there; but now all this was at an end. תוסיפי , according to the Masora, has only one pashta both here and in Isaiah 47:5, and so has the tone upon the last syllable, and accordingly m etheg in the antepenult . Isaiah's artistic style may be readily perceived both in the three clauses of Isaiah 47:1 that are comparable to a long trumpet-blast (compare Isaiah 40:9 and Isaiah 16:1), and also in the short, rugged, involuntarily excited clauses that follow. The mistress becomes the maid, and has to perform the low, menial service of those who, as Homer says in Od. vii. 104, ἀλετρεύουσι μύλης ἔπι μήλοπα καρπόν (grind at the mill the quince-coloured fruit; compare at Job 31:10). She has to leave her palace as a prisoner of war, and, laying aside all feminine modesty, to wade through the rivers upon which she borders. Chespı̄ has instead of , and, as in other cases where a sibilant precedes, the mute p instead of f (compare 'ispı̄ , Jeremiah 10:17). Both the prosopopeia and the parallel, “thy shame shall be seen,” require that the expression “thy nakedness shall be uncovered” should not be understood literally. The shame of Babel is her shameful conduct, which is not to be exhibited in its true colours, inasmuch as a stronger one is coming upon it to rob it of its might and honour. This stronger one, apart from the instrument employed, is Jehovah: vindictam sumam, non parcam homini . Stier gives a different rendering here, namely, “I will run upon no man, i.e., so as to make him give way;” Hahn, “I will not meet with a man,” so destitute of population will Babylon be; and Ruetschi, “I will not step in as a man.” Gesenius and Rosenmüller are nearer to the mark when they suggest non pangam ( paciscar ) cum homine ; but this would require at any rate את־אדם , even if the verb פּגע really had the meaning to strike a treaty. It means rather to strike against a person, to assault any one, then to meet or come in an opposite direction, and that not only in a hostile sense, but, as in this instance, and also in Isaiah 64:4, in a friendly sense as well. Hence, “I shall not receive any man, or pardon any man” (Hitzig, Ewald, etc.). According to an old method of writing the passage, there is a pause here. But Isaiah 47:4 is still connected with what goes before. As Jehovah is speaking in Isaiah 47:5, but Israel in Isaiah 47:4, and as Isaiah 47:4 is unsuitable to form the basis of the words of Jehovah, it must be regarded as the antiphone to Isaiah 47:1-3 (cf., Isaiah 45:15). Our Redeemer, exclaims the church in joyfully exalted self-consciousness, He is Jehovah of Hosts, the Holy One of Israel! The one name affirms that He possesses the all-conquering might; the other that He possesses the will to carry on the work of redemption - a will influenced and constrained by both love and wrath.


Verses 5-7

In the second strophe the penal sentence of Jehovah is continued. “Sit silent, and creep into the darkness, O Chaldeans-daughter! for men no longer call thee lady of kingdoms. I was wroth with my people; I polluted mine inheritance, and gave them into thy hand: thou hast shown them no mercy; upon old men thou laidst thy yoke very heavily. And thou saidst, I shall be lady for ever; so that thou didst not take these things to heart: thou didst not consider the latter end thereof.” Babylon shall sit down in silent, brooding sorrow, and take herself away into darkness, just as those who have fallen into disgrace shrink from the eyes of men. She is looked upon as an empress (Isaiah 13:9; the king of Babylon called himself the king of kings, Ezekiel 26:7), who has been reduced to the condition of a slave, and durst not show herself for shame. This would happen to her, because at the time when Jehovah made use of her as His instrument for punishing His people, she went beyond the bounds of her authority, showing ho pity, and ill-treating even defenceless old men. According to Loppe, Gesenius, and Hitzig, Israel is here called zâqēn , as a decayed nation awakening sympathy; but according to the Scripture, the people of God is always young, and never decays; on the contrary, its ziqnâh , i.e., the latest period of its history (Isaiah 46:4), is to be like its youth. The words are to be understood literally, like Lamentations 4:16; Lamentations 5:12 : even upon old men, Babylon had placed the heavy yoke of prisoners and slaves. But in spite of this inhumanity, it flattered itself that it would last for ever. Hitzig adopts the reading עד גּברת , and renders it, “To all future times shall I continue, mistress to all eternity.” This may possibly be correct, but it is by no means necessary, inasmuch as it can be shown from 1 Samuel 20:41, and Job 14:6, that ( ד is used as equivalent to אשׁר עד , in the sense of “till the time that;” and g e bhereth , as the feminine of gâbhēr = gebher , may be the absolute quite as well as the construct. The meaning therefore is, that the confidence of Babylon in the eternal continuance of its power was such, that “these things,” i.e., such punishments as those which were now about to fall upon it according to the prophecy, had never come into its mind; such, indeed, that it had not called to remembrance as even possible “the latter end of it,” i.e., the inevitably evil termination of its tyranny and presumption.


Verses 8-11

A third strophe of this proclamation of punishment is opened here with ועתה , on the ground of the conduct censured. “And now hear this, thou voluptuous one, she who sitteth so securely, who sayeth in her heart, I am it, and none else: I shall not sit a widow, nor experience bereavement of children. And these two will come upon thee suddenly in one day: bereavement of children and widowhood; they come upon thee in fullest measure, in spite of the multitude of thy sorceries, in spite of the great abundance of thy witchcrafts. Thou trustedst in thy wickedness, saidst, No one seeth me. Thy wisdom and thy knowledge, they led thee astray; so that thou saidst in thy heart, I am it, and none else. And misfortune cometh upon thee, which thou dost not understand how to charm away: and destruction will fall upon thee, which thou canst not atone for; there will come suddenly upon thee ruin which thou suspectest not.” In the surnames given to Babylon here, a new reason is assigned for the judgment - namely, extravagance, security, and self-exaltation. עדין is an intensive from of עדן (lxx τρυφερά ). The i of אפסי is regarded by Hahn as the same as we meet with in אתּי = אתּ ; but this is impossible here with the first person. Rosenmüller, Ewald, Gesenius, and others, take it as c hirek c ompaginis , and equivalent to עוד אין , which would only occur in this particular formula. Hitzig supposes it to be the suffix of the word, which is meant as a preposition in the sense of et praeter me ultra ( nemo ); but this nemo would be omitted, which is improbable. The more probable explanation is, that אפס signifies absolute non-existence, and when used as an adverb, “exclusively, nothing but,” e.g., קצהוּ אפס , nothing, the utmost extremity thereof, i.e., only the utmost extremity of it (Numbers 23:13; cf., Numbers 22:35). But it is mostly used with a verbal force, like אין ( אין ), ( utique ) non est (see Isaiah 45:14); hence אפסי , like איני , ( utique ) non sum . The form in which the presumption of Babylon expresses itself, viz., “I (am it), and I am absolutely nothing further,” sounds like self-deification, by the side of similar self-assertion on the part of Jehovah (Isaiah 45:5-6; Isaiah 14:21, Isaiah 14:22 and Isaiah 46:9). Nineveh speaks in just the same way in Zephaniah 2:15; compare Martial: “ Terrarum Dea gentiumque Roma cui par est nihil et nihil secundum .” Babylon also says still further (like the Babylon of the last days in Revelation 18:7): “I shall not sit as a widow (viz., mourning thus in solitude, Lamentations 1:1; Lamentations 3:28; and secluded from the world, Genesis 38:11), nor experience the loss of children” ( orbitatem ). She would become a widow, if she should lose the different nations, and “the kings of the earth who committed fornication with her” (Revelation 18:9); for her relation to her own king cannot possibly be thought of, inasmuch as the relation in which a nation stands to its temporal king is never thought of as marriage, like that of Jehovah to Israel. She would also be a mother bereaved of her children, if war and captivity robbed her of her population. But both of these would happen to her suddenly in one day, so that she would succumb to the weight of the double sorrow. Both of them would come upon her k e thummâm ( secundum integritatem eorum ), i.e., so that she would come to learn what the loss of men and the loss of children signified in all its extent and in all its depth, and that in spite of ( בּ , with, equivalent to “notwithstanding,” as in Isaiah 5:25; not “through = on account of,” since this tone is adopted for the first time in Isaiah 47:10) the multitude of its incantations, and the very great mass ( ‛ ŏtsmâh , an inf. noun, as in Isaiah 30:19; Isaiah 55:2, used here, not as in Isaiah 40:29, in an intensive sense, but, like ‛ âtsūm , as a parallel word to rabh in a numerical sense) of its witchcrafts ( c hebher , binding by means of incantations, κατάδεσμος ). Babylonia was the birth-place of astrology, from which sprang the twelve-fold division of the day, the horoscope and sun-dial (Herod. ii. 109); but it was also the home of magic, which pretended to bind the course of events, and even the power of the gods, and to direct them in whatever way it pleased (Diodorus, ii. 29). Thus had Babylon trusted in her wickedness (Isaiah 13:11), viz., in the tyranny and cunning by which she hoped to ensure perpetual duration, with the notion that she was exalted above the reach of any earthly calamity.

She thought, “None seeth me” ( non est videns me ), thus suppressing the voice of conscience, and practically denying the omnipotence and omnipresence of God. ראני (with a verbal suffix, videns me , whereas ראי saere in Genesis 16:3 signifies videns m ei = m eus ), also written ראני , is a pausal form in half pause for ראני (Isaiah 29:15). Tzere passes in pause both into pathach (e.g., Isaiah 42:22), and also, apart from such hithpael forms as Isaiah 41:16, into kametz , as in קימנוּ (Job 22:20, which see). By the “wisdom and knowledge” of Babylon, which had turned her aside from the right way, we are to understand her policy, strategy, and more especially her magical arts, i.e., the mysteries of the Chaldeans, their ἐπιχώριοι φιλόσοφοι (Strabo, xxi. 1, 6). On hōvâh (used here and in Ezekiel 7:26, written havvâh elsewhere), according to its primary meaning, “yawning,” χαῖνον , then a yawning depth, χάσμα , utter destruction, see at Job 37:6. שׁאה signifies primarily a desert, or desolate place, here destruction; and hence the derivative meaning, waste noise, a dull groan. The perfect consec. of the first clause precedes its predicate רעה in the radical form בא (Ges., §147, a ). With the parallelism of כּפּרהּ , it is not probable that שׁחרהּ , which rhymes with it, is a substantive, in the sense of “from which thou wilt experience no morning dawn” (i.e., after the night of calamity), as Umbreit supposes. The suffix also causes some difficulty (hence the Vulgate rendering, ortum ejus , sc. mali ); and instead of תדעי , we should expect תראי . In any case, shachrâh is a verb, and Hitzig renders it, “which thou wilt not know how to unblacken;” but this privative use of shichēr as a word of colour would be without example. It would be better to translate it, “which thou wilt not know how to spy out” (as in Isaiah 26:9), but better still, “which thou wilt not know how to conjure away” ( shichēr = Arab. sḥḥr , as it were incantitare , and here incantando averruncare ). The last relative clause affirms what shachrâh would state, if understood according to Isaiah 26:9 : destruction which thou wilt not know, i.e., which will come suddenly and unexpectedly.


Verses 12-15

Then follows the concluding strophe, which, like the first, announces to the imperial city in a triumphantly sarcastic tone its inevitable fate; whereas the intermediate strophes refer rather to the sins by which this fate has been brought upon it. “Come near, then, with thine enchantments, and with the multitude of thy witchcrafts, wherein thou hast laboured from thy youth: perhaps thou canst profit, perhaps thou wilt inspire terror. Thou art wearied through the multitude of thy consultations; let the dissectors of the heavens come near, then, and save thee, the star-gazers, they who with every new moon bring things to light that will come upon thee. Behold, they have become like stubble: fire has consumed them: there is not a red-hot coal to warm themselves, a hearth-fire to sit before. So is it with thy people, for whom thou hast laboured: thy partners in trade from thy youth, they wander away every one in his own direction; no one who brings salvation to thee.” Hitzig and others adopt the simple rendering, “Persevere, then, with thine enchantments.” It is indeed true, that in Leviticus 13:5 בּ עמד signifies “to remain standing by anything,” i.e., to persevere with it, just as in Ezekiel 13:5 it signifies to keep one's standing in anything; in 2 Kings 23:3, to enter upon anything; and in Ecclesiastes 8:3, to engage in anything; but there is no reason for taking it here in any other sense than in Isaiah 47:13. Babylon is to draw near with all the processes of the black art, wherein בּאשׁר , according to our western mode of expression, equivalent to בּהם אשׁר , Ges. 123, 2*) it had been addicted to abundance of routine from its youth upwards ( יגעאתּ with an auxiliary pathach for יגעתּ ); possibly it may be of some use, possibly it will terrify, i.e., make itself so terrible to the approaching calamity, as to cause it to keep off. The prophet now sees in spirit how Babylon draws near, and how it also harasses itself to no purpose; he therefore follows up the עמדי־נא , addressed in pleno to Babylon, with a second challenge commencing with יעמדוּ־נא . Their astrologers are to draw near, and try that power over the future to which they lay claim, by bringing it to bear at once upon the approaching destruction for the benefit of Babylon. עצתי ך is a singular form connected with a feminine plural suffix, such as we find in Psalms 9:15; Ezekiel 35:11; Ezra 9:15, connected with a masculine plural suffix. Assuming the correctness of the vowel-pointing, the singular appears in such cases as these to have a collective meaning, like the Arabic pl. fractus ; for there is no ground to suppose that the Aramaean plural form ‛ ētsâth is used here in the place of the Hebrew. Instead of שׁמים הברו (which would be equivalent to הברו אשׁרא , the keri reads שׁמים הברי , cutters up of the heavens, i.e., planners or dissectors of them, from hâb , dissecare , resecare (compare the rabbinical habhârâh , a syllable, i.e., segmentum vocabuli , and possibly also the talmudic ' ēbhârı̄m , limbs of a body). The correction proposed by Knobel, viz., c hōbh e rē , from c hâbhār , to know, or be versed in, is unnecessary. Châzâh b' signifies here, as it generally does, to look with pleasure or with interest at anything; hence Luther has rendered it correctly, die Sternkucker (Eng. ver. star-gazers). They are described still further as those who make known with every new moon ( lechŏdâshı̄m , like labb e qârı̄m , every morning, Isaiah 33:2, etc.), things which, etc. מאשׁר is used in a partitive sense: out of the great mass of events they select the most important, and prepare a calendar or almanack ( ἀλμενιχιακά in Plutarch) for the state every month. But these very wise men cannot save themselves, to say nothing of others, out of the power of that flame, which is no comforting coal-fire to warm one's self by, no hearth-fire (Isaiah 44:16) to sit in front of, but a devouring, eternal, i.e., peremptory flame (Isaiah 33:14). The rendering adopted by Grotius, Vitringa, Lowth, Gesenius, and others, “ non supererit pruna ad calendum ,” is a false one, if only because it is not in harmony with the figure. “Thus shall they be unto thee,” he continues in Isaiah 47:15, i.e., such things shall be endured to thy disgrace by those about whom thou hast wearied thyself ( אשׁר = בּהם אשׁר ). The learned orders of the Chaldeans had their own quarter, and enjoyed all the distinction and privileges of a priestly caste. What follows cannot possibly be understood as relating to these masters of astrology and witchcraft, as Ewald supposes; for, according to the expression שׁחרהּ in Isaiah 47:11, they would be called שׁחרי ך . Moreover, if they became a prey of the flames, and therefore were unable to flee, we should have to assume that they were burned while taking flight (Umbreit). סחרי ך are those who carried on commercial intercourse with the great “trading city” (Ezekiel 17:4), as Berossos says, “In Babylon there was a great multitude of men of other nations who had settled in Chaldea, and they lived in disorder, like the wild beasts;” compare Aeschylus, Pers. 52-3, Βαβυλὼν δ ̓ ἡ πολύχρυσος πάμμικτον ὄχλον πέμπει . All of these are scattered in the wildest flight, אל־עברו אישׁ , every one on his own side, viz., in the direction of his own home, and do not trouble themselves about Babylon.