Bible Strands
Isaiah 47:3
Your nakedness will be uncovered and your shame will be exposed. I will take vengeance; I will spare no one.”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The LORD pronounces judgment against Babylon immediately after commanding the city to strip and wade through streams. This declaration marks the transition from prophetic action to the execution of divine retribution.
The words — The text employs תִּגָּל (ti.Gal), meaning "let it be uncovered," and חֶרְפָּתֵךְ (cher.pa.Te/kh), meaning "your reproach" or shame. These terms explicitly describe the forced removal of cover to reveal hidden disgrace.
The thread — This imagery of exposed shame and divine vengeance parallels Nahum 3:5, where God promises to lift skirts and show nakedness. It also aligns with the punitive tone of Jeremiah 50:27 and Jeremiah 51:20 regarding national judgment.
Why it lands — The verse demands recognition that divine judgment removes all cover for human pride. It requires the reader to accept that exposure and retribution are final, leaving no room for evasion or mercy.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Thy nakedness shall be uncovered, yea, thy shame shall be seen: I will take vengeance, and I will not meet thee as a man.
Cross-references
- 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.
- Jeremiah 51:20 “You are My war club, My weapon for battle. With you I shatter nations; with you I bring kingdoms to ruin.
- Jeremiah 50:27 Kill all her young bulls; let them go down to the slaughter. Woe to them, for their day has come—the time of their punishment.
- Revelation 16:19 The 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 wrath.
- Deuteronomy 32:35 Vengeance is Mine; I will repay. In due time their foot will slip; for their day of disaster is near, and their doom is coming quickly.”
- Deuteronomy 32:41 when I sharpen My flashing sword, and My hand grasps it in judgment, I will take vengeance on My adversaries and repay those who hate Me.
- Psalms 94:1 O LORD, God of vengeance, O God of vengeance, shine forth.
- Psalms 137:8 O Daughter of Babylon, doomed to destruction, blessed is he who repays you as you have done to us.
- Isaiah 34:1 Come near, O nations, to listen; pay attention, O peoples. Let the earth hear, and all that fills it, the world and all that springs from it.
- Isaiah 59:17 He put on righteousness like a breastplate, and the helmet of salvation on His head; He put on garments of vengeance and wrapped Himself in a cloak of zeal.