Introduction: The Prophecy of Babylon's Fall
Chapter 47 in Yeshayahu is a prophecy concerning the downfall of Babylon. To understand the background, let us briefly recall: Nevuchadnezzar ruled paramount over the world; after him reigned his son Evil-Merodach, followed by Belshazzar. Belshazzar brought out the sacred vessels of the Beit HaMikdash, made a lavish banquet, invited all his concubines and ministers, and declared: It is finished; the seventy years of the Babylonian exile have passed, the Jewish people were not redeemed and will never be redeemed, and I have nothing left to fear. That very night, fingers of a hand appeared and wrote upon the wall of the palace hall where he sat: "Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin." He did not understand what it meant. They brought Daniel, who solved the riddle and told him: God has numbered your kingdom, you have been weighed and found wanting, and therefore peres - the Holy One, blessed be He, will divide and tear away your kingdom. "In that night was Belshazzar slain" - that very night Belshazzar was killed by his servants. And as if that were not enough, that same night, amidst the turmoil, Media and Persia arrived and conquered the Babylonian empire. Thus the ravaged "daughter of Babylon" received her retribution for all the suffering she inflicted upon the Jewish people. The prophecy before us was spoken concerning this downfall, wherein their king was killed and the empire itself was conquered by foreign hands.
Pasuk 1: A Princess Who Lost Her Throne
רְדִי וּשְׁבִי עַל עָפָר בְּתוּלַת בַּת בָּבֶל, שְׁבִי לָאָרֶץ אֵין כִּסֵּא בַּת כַּשְׂדִּים, כִּי לֹא תוֹסִיפִי יִקְרְאוּ לָךְ רַכָּה וַעֲנֻגָּה. - Come down, and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon; sit on the ground, there is no throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans; for you shall no longer be called tender and delicate.
The Jewish people, as we saw in the preceding prophecies, will rise from the dust and merit redemption; by contrast, the daughter of Babylon, who was once so lofty, is told: "Come down, and sit in the dust." The Malbim compares her to a princess whose fathers were killed, causing her to step down from the throne and sit in the dust to mourn them. When the mourning period ends, she seeks to return to the throne, for she is the heir - yet the throne is gone. What happened? While she sat in mourning, the enemies plundered the country and the populace, taking everyone captive. Therefore she is told: "Sit on the ground" - do not rise from the earth, but continue sitting upon it; "there is no throne," for the royal throne has already been stripped and captured. Not only will you not sit upon a royal throne, but you will also no longer be called "tender and delicate" - meaning pampered, like those nobles and dignitaries who never soil their hands with strenuous labor. From now on, you will go into exile and engage in grueling toil.
This illustrates what actually occurred to Babylon: Belshazzar's ministers slew him, the daughter of the Chaldeans sat on the ground to lament and mourn the death of their king, thinking - the king is dead, long live the new king. Yet it turned out there was neither a king nor a renewal: the enemies arrived and devastated the country, Cyrus reduced it to desolation, and the Chaldeans, who had been tender and pampered, were turned into slaves.
Pasuk 2: From Princess to Forced Laborer
קְחִי רֵחַיִם וְטַחֲנִי קָמַח, גַּלִּי צַמָּתֵךְ חֶשְׁפִּי שֹׁבֶל גַּלִּי שׁוֹק עִבְרִי נְהָרוֹת. - Take millstones and grind flour; uncover your veil, strip off the train, bare your leg, pass through the rivers.
Rashi explains according to the plain sense: this refers to a nation going into exile, and the labor of slaves and exiles is grinding at the millstones, just as they did to Shimshon, who was "grinding in the prison house." This is the most arduous and demeaning work - heavy stone millstones that require immense strength to turn, to the point that oxen were harnessed to them. Thus: take millstones and grind flour; prepare yourself, for hard labor awaits you in your exile.
The Malbim adds another perspective (without negating Rashi's explanation): not only will she be led away into slavery, but the tender and pampered princess will now have to provide for her own sustenance. Until now, fresh rolls were served to her; from now on - go buy wheat, place it in the millstones, and start grinding.
"Uncover your veil [tzammatech]" - until now your garments were bound with cords and beautiful weaves; untie them. For a working person does not work in a suit, a coat, and elegant attire, but strips it all off and remains in basic work clothes. The word tzammah denotes binding and gathering. By the way, the Radak cites in his father's name that tzom (fast) is also related to tzomet (junction) - a place where many paths converge, as in tzomet hagiddim (the junction of sinews) where many sinews gather. A fast day was a day of solemn assembly, a day when people gathered and prayed to Hashem, bringing the ark out to the city square, decreeing a fast, and coming together. So too, tzammah shares this concept - gathering all the hair together in one place and binding it. Here, according to the Malbim, the verse refers to the bound, ornate garments that must now be removed.
"Strip off the train [shoval]" - shoval refers to the end of the leg, the hem, like the train of a dress trailing behind. That is, you will have to walk barefoot as the work requires. You, who were pampered and walked in magnificent shoes - prepare yourself. Furthermore, "bare your leg." Why? "Pass through the rivers" - since you are going into exile and must cross rivers, and when crossing a river one lifts one's garments so they do not get wet, you will inevitably have to bare your leg. All of this is an utter humiliation for a tender and pampered princess who falls from her exalted station to the lowest depths.
Verses 3-4: I Will Take Vengeance, and I Will Not Plead with Any Man
תִּגָּל עֶרְוָתֵךְ גַּם תֵּרָאֶה חֶרְפָּתֵךְ, נָקָם אֶקָּח וְלֹא אֶפְגַּע אָדָם. - Your nakedness shall be uncovered, your shame also shall be seen; I will take vengeance, and I will not let any man intercede.
The Malbim explains: "Your nakedness shall be uncovered" refers not only to the crossing of rivers - during the hard labor of this former royal princess, her garments will tear, and through this her shame will be seen. Here, while speaking of Babylon, the prophet, as it were, is stirred with emotion and begins to describe the retribution the Holy One, Blessed be He, will take from the Babylonian Empire: "I will take vengeance, and I will not plead with any man." The word pegiah means entreaty or request, as in "and entreat for me to Ephron the son of Zohar" (ufig'u li) - make a request of him, and as in "do not entreat Me" (ve'al tifga bi) - do not plead with Me. The Holy One, Blessed be He, says: I will not need to ask any human being to carry out vengeance for Me; I Myself will avenge them.
גֹּאֲלֵנוּ יְהֹוָה צְבָאוֹת שְׁמוֹ קְדוֹשׁ יִשְׂרָאֵל. - Our Redeemer, Hashem of Hosts is His Name, the Holy One of Israel.
Our Redeemer is named Hashem of Hosts, the Master over all legions. Does He need anyone to execute vengeance on His behalf? He exacts vengeance Himself; He will champion our cause and needs no human agent to bring retribution upon the daughter of Babylon.
Verse 5: From Mistress of Kingdoms to Sitting in Darkness
שְׁבִי דוּמָם וּבֹאִי בַחֹשֶׁךְ בַּת כַּשְׂדִּים, כִּי לֹא תוֹסִיפִי יִקְרְאוּ לָךְ גְּבֶרֶת מַמְלָכוֹת. - Sit in silence and enter into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans, for you shall no longer be called the mistress of kingdoms.
After describing her descent from wealth to poverty, the prophet now depicts her fall from sovereignty to degradation. A kingdom that once possessed royal power will yearn all its days to return to monarchy - it is an incurable bug. Anyone who was once a member of parliament or a government minister says: "I am answering the call of the people summoning me at this hour; as for myself, what do I need this headache for? But the public is pressing, they simply cannot manage without me, and one must consider the nation's wishes." The Gemara already noted something similar regarding one of the Sages who said: "If anyone had sought to appoint me head of the Yeshivah, I would have thrown a kettle of boiling water at him; but now that they have appointed me, whoever tries to depose me - woe to him for what I will do to him!" Before you have tasted power, you want no part of it; but once you have tasted it, try breaking free from it.
This is what is being said here: You think that perhaps you will return - but you will do so no more; you will never again attain the greatness you once possessed. Therefore, "sit in silence and enter into darkness" - sit in the dark where you will be seen no longer. Do not imagine that by meeting people and networking you will return to power. Who seeks the limelight and publicity? Someone who believes that people will call on him again, saying, "Come, we need you." But for you, there is no need to seek publicity, for no one will ever need you or want you, and you will no longer be called the mistress and ruler over kingdoms.
Verse 6: You Showed Them No Mercy
קָצַפְתִּי עַל עַמִּי חִלַּלְתִּי נַחֲלָתִי וָאֶתְּנֵם בְּיָדֵךְ, לֹא שַׂמְתְּ לָהֶם רַחֲמִים עַל זָקֵן הִכְבַּדְתְּ עֻלֵּךְ מְאֹד. - I was angry with My people, I defiled My heritage and gave them into your hand; you showed them no mercy; upon the aged you made your yoke exceedingly heavy.
We see from the psalm, "Happy is he who repays you your deeds that you dealt to us; happy is he who seizes and dashes your little ones against the rock" - and this reflects only a fraction of what the Babylonians did to us. "By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down and wept as we remembered Zion" - how terribly they abused us and how much evil they inflicted upon the Jewish people. The Holy One, Blessed be He, says: True, I was angry with My people, I defiled My heritage - removing them from holiness and glory to the mundane, and handing them over to a nation, the Babylonians. Yet you should have remembered that they are My people and My heritage, children of a King, and I placed them into your hands - a base and corrupt nation. Not only did you not treat them as children of royalty, but you did not even extend to them basic human mercy to which every person is entitled. "Upon the aged you made your yoke exceedingly heavy" - contrary to human nature, for naturally one pities the elderly and pities infants, yet upon the aged you made your yoke exceedingly heavy.
Verse 7: You Did Not Consider Its End
וַתֹּאמְרִי לְעוֹלָם אֶהְיֶה גְבָרֶת, עַד לֹא שַׂמְתְּ אֵלֶּה עַל לִבֵּךְ לֹא זָכַרְתְּ אַחֲרִיתָהּ. - And you said, "Forever I shall be mistress," so that you did not take these things to heart, nor did you consider its outcome.
Here the prophet addresses the second matter: you should have remembered that they were handed over to you, but not forever. If you make your yoke too heavy upon him, the King will see His son's suffering and affliction and take him back to Himself. You forgot that I handed My son over to you only for an allocated time, and you thought it was forever - "Forever I shall be mistress." You thought that the Holy One, blessed be He, would remain angry forever. And you forgot that the moment He removes His wrath from them, His wrath will fall upon you, for it was you who afflicted His son. "You did not take these things to heart" - you did not consider that the dominion in your hands was not due to your own merit, but only because this son sinned, and therefore Hashem handed him over into your hands, not because you had merits or were a mistress in your own right. "Nor did you consider its outcome" - you did not remember that in the end, the Holy One, blessed be He, would demand his blood from your hand.
Verse 8: Widowhood and Bereavement
וְעַתָּה שִׁמְעִי זֹאת עֲדִינָה הַיּוֹשֶׁבֶת לָבֶטַח הָאֹמְרָה בִּלְבָבָהּ אֲנִי וְאַפְסִי עוֹד, לֹא אֵשֵׁב אַלְמָנָה וְלֹא אֵדַע שְׁכוֹל. - And now hear this, pampered one who sits securely, who says in her heart, "I am, and there is none besides me; I shall not sit as a widow, nor shall I know bereavement."
The time has come for the King to bring back His son; the time has come for Hashem to redeem His people. Adinah ("pampered one") comes from the concept of refined delicacy and luxury. "Who sits securely, who says in her heart, 'I am, and there is none besides me'" - there is none other than myself; I am the sole superpower in the world.
What are widowhood and bereavement? The Malbim explains: The Holy One, blessed be He, brings down a kingdom in one of two ways. The first is an internal rebellion, where the people rise up, rebel against the ruler, and overthrow him. Then the head has fallen and the country is widowed of its ruler, leaving the people to cast off restraint and do whatever they please. The second is an external enemy coming from without, killing its people and thereby destroying the kingdom, which is called bereavement, like bereaved parents. And in Babylon itself, we saw both.
Babylon believed she was safe from both possibilities. She did not fear widowhood, for she was "a pampered one who sits securely" - in our land everything is quiet, with no unrest and no rebels. For when does a king's throne tremble? When there is unrest among the people, and in her case there was neither unrest nor uprising. Nor did she fear bereavement, for who fears an external enemy? Only a weak nation, whereas she declared, "I am, and there is none besides me" - who can stand against me? Hence: "I shall not sit as a widow" - there will be no internal unrest to overthrow the king, "nor shall I know bereavement" - I have no fear of outside enemies. Thus, the two halves of the verse parallel each other.
Verse 9: Both of These in a Moment, on a Single Day
וְתָבֹאנָה לָּךְ שְׁתֵּי אֵלֶּה רֶגַע בְּיוֹם אֶחָד שְׁכוֹל וְאַלְמֹן, כְּתֻמָּם בָּאוּ עָלַיִךְ בְּרֹב כְּשָׁפַיִךְ בְּעָצְמַת חֲבָרַיִךְ מְאֹד. - But both of these shall come upon you in a moment, on a single day: bereavement and widowhood; in their full measure they shall come upon you, despite your many sorceries and the great power of your spells.
And this is precisely what happened during the downfall of Babylon: widowhood and bereavement on a single day. First, Belshazzar's officers rebelled and killed Belshazzar - this corresponds to widowhood, where the people rise up from within and kill the head. And on that very same night, the armies of Persia and Media arrived and slaughtered the people of the kingdom - this corresponds to bereavement and destruction. Not gradually, but all at once, "in a moment, on a single day."
Ketumam ("in their full measure") - the Malbim explains: Sometimes bereavement and widowhood are a plague that sweeps across the entire world, as in the days of Nebuchadnezzar, "the king who made kingdoms tremble," who overturned every empire. In such a case, even if a nation suffers bereavement or widowhood, it is a shared distress; it is not just me, for he overturned here and conquered there, subduing the entire world. But with you it will not be so: ketumam means that once bereavement and widowhood have completely ended throughout the world, when all the other nations are dwelling in tranquility under secure kingdoms, only then will your downfall arrive. Shared misery provides some comfort; if everyone was conquered and I was conquered too, what can one do? But when everyone else is at ease and only I am conquered, the blow is far more devastating.
And he adds: this cannot be attributed to you falling from your stature or your wise men losing their wisdom - on the contrary, "for the multitude of your sorceries, for the great abundance of your enchantments"; at that very moment, you had exceedingly many sorcerers and charmers. These are the "astrologers" (hovrei shamayim) that we will see later, the sages skilled in astrology, and they were very active. That is to say, there was no natural cause here that would lead one to say the empire lost its power because its sages departed. There was immense strength here, and yet you fell - and this demonstrates Divine Providence, that there is Someone who took vengeance upon the kingdom of Babylon for what it did to the people of Israel.
Pasuk 10: Your Wisdom and Your Knowledge Have Led You Astray
וַתִּבְטְחִי בְרָעָתֵךְ אָמַרְתְּ אֵין רֹאָנִי, חָכְמָתֵךְ וְדַעְתֵּךְ הִיא שׁוֹבְבָתֶךְ, וַתֹּאמְרִי בְלִבֵּךְ אֲנִי וְאַפְסִי עוֹד. - And you trusted in your wickedness; you said, "No one sees me"; your wisdom and your knowledge have led you astray, and you said in your heart, "I am, and there is no one else beside me."
All your seers, all those who are paid to foresee the future - not a single one foresaw what was to befall you. The Malbim explains: a person who does evil abandons his evil for one of two reasons. First, he fears someone who sees him and can harm him or take revenge on him. Second, he himself is afraid that he will regret it; he is not at peace with his actions and knows that the evil he is committing will eventually cause him remorse, like those who sin out of physical desire, who, once their passion subsides, regret what they have done.
Concerning this, the prophet says: in your case, neither of these existed. First, "And you trusted in your wickedness; you said, 'No one sees me'" - you thought that no one is watching over your deeds, and therefore there is no reason for you to turn back from your evil; rather, you trust in it and continue in it. Second, perhaps you might realize your error and repent? In your case, the sin did not stem from lust, but rather, "your wisdom and your knowledge have led you astray" - wisdom and intellect are what led you to sin. From a sin committed out of lust, there is hope of repentance, for once the desire subsides, a person's conscience pricks him. But a sin committed out of intellectual distortion is exceedingly difficult to repent of, because the person is not merely sinning, he has constructed an entire ideology for himself.
We have already discussed that this is the way of the yetzer hara: in the first stage, it tempts the person; he tastes it once and sees that it is pleasing, then a second time, a fourth, a fifth, until he becomes addicted. At that point, he is still ashamed, and when he wishes to throw off the yoke, he strips away the mask of shame and does whatever he pleases. In the next stage, there is still discomfort - you cast off the yoke just for physical desire? You are a weak-willed person. So the yetzer constructs an ideology for him explaining why this is what ought to be done and why this is the proper path. And in the subsequent stage, he builds an ideology explaining why precisely those who abstain from all that filth in which he is steeped are flawed, defective, and in need of psychological help. He, who came out into the open, is in the light, while they are in darkness. This is the worst of all, for once a person builds an ideology, it is nearly impossible to detach from it; he is so convinced and so busy convincing himself that in his eyes, it is no longer something to regret or a matter of "I made a mistake," but rather: this is how things ought to be.
And this is what was said of Babylon: shovav (led astray) is a term denoting turning aside from the proper path, deviating from the straight path. And what led you to sin? Your wisdom and your knowledge - your sin was committed intentionally and rationally, with an ideology. "And you said in your heart, 'I am, and there is no one else beside me'" - and had there been anyone who wished to tell you that your view was mistaken, or had you feared that someone was watching you, you feared no one: "Who can stand against me?"
Pasuk 11: A Calamity Whose Dawn Is Unknown
וּבָא עָלַיִךְ רָעָה לֹא תֵדְעִי שַׁחְרָהּ, וְתִפֹּל עָלַיִךְ הֹוָה לֹא תוּכְלִי כַּפְּרָהּ, וְתָבֹא עָלַיִךְ פִּתְאֹם שׁוֹאָה לֹא תֵדָעִי. - And evil shall come upon you, you will not know its dawn; and disaster will fall upon you, which you will not be able to appease; and ruin will come upon you suddenly, of which you will not be aware.
What is the meaning of shachrah? Rashi explains: you will not know whose face to seek (teshachari) in order to escape it. Leshacher means to approach someone and petition him, as in the expression "I will seek his face" (ashacharah fanav) - and why is it called this? Because when you wish to ask something of someone, you do not come to him in the evening; rather, you come early in the morning, at dawn (shachar). If so, "you will not know its dawn" means you will not know whose face to seek in supplication to avert this calamity from upon you.
Radak notes a grammatical anomaly here: "And evil shall come upon you" (u-va alecha ra'ah) - yet ra'ah is feminine, so it should have said u-va'ah! He answers that the phrasing is elliptic, as though it said "a day of evil shall come upon you" or "a matter of evil," and the masculine verb refers to the day, which is a day of calamity. Radak further explains "you will not know its dawn (shachrah)" - you will not know when to expect it, like dawn which arrives in a single moment. A person sitting in the dark of night without a watch does not know whether six hours remain until dawn, two hours, or half an hour; suddenly twilight begins and light starts to break. So too, the calamity will arrive without you knowing when to expect it. It is well known that for an anticipated misfortune, one is far better prepared, whereas an unexpected calamity is the hardest of all. If one were told a tsunami was imminent, one would prepare; if one were told missiles were about to fall, one would prepare. But when misfortune strikes suddenly in a single moment, it catches a person unprepared. And so it is in general life: which people are the most difficult to be around? Unpredictable people. You say something and do not know whether they will snap at you or laugh; a person of moody whims. We like predictability - do not surprise me, let me know a week in advance, do not spring things on me; a person likes order.
Radak offers an additional explanation: dawn brings light with it, and according to this, "you will not know its dawn" means you will not know when you will emerge from it and when the time of light will arrive - a calamity will come such that you will not know when daylight will shine and when you will ever escape it.
The Malbim explains the verse according to the stages of Babylon's fall: First, Belshazzar saw the writing on the wall, "Mene, mene, tekel, upharsin" - the writing was already on the wall, yet "you shall not know its dawn" (shachrah), meaning there was no one who knew how to explain it. He brought the magicians, the Chaldeans, and all the wise men, but none of them could interpret it; you did not know how to bring light to this impending evil and understand its meaning. Afterwards, "calamity (hovah) shall fall upon you" - hovah means ruin; King Belshazzar was killed by his ministers, and this ruin "you will not be able to atone for (kapperah)", the rebellion of Belshazzar's ministers could not be cleansed. And finally, "and desolation shall come upon you suddenly" - this was Media and Persia. Blow upon blow upon blow: the writing on the wall, the slaying of Belshazzar, and finally the decisive hammer-blow - the generals of Media and Persia who arrived and besieged the city. "Which you shall not know" - it happened all of a sudden, and you were not prepared for it; had you been prepared, the situation certainly would have been better.
The Malbim adds that kapparah also connotes covering, as in the kaporet (the Ark cover), and like "perhaps I will appease his face (achapperah fanav)." Some explain that when a person sinned against the king, they would place a veil over his face, as if the king did not wish to see him, and that is "achapperah fanav" - that it be like a veil over my face. We find a similar idea regarding Haman, whose face was covered so that Achashverosh would not look upon him and have his wrath stirred. According to the Malbim here, "you will not be able to cover it (kapperah)" is an expression of covering: just as the kaporet covers the Ark, so too the writing on the wall would remain covered, sealed, and concealed, veiled from you and hidden from you, and you would not know its interpretation.
Verse 12: Stand Fast in Your Enchantments
עִמְדִי נָא בַחֲבָרַיִךְ וּבְרֹב כְּשָׁפַיִךְ בַּאֲשֶׁר יָגַעַתְּ מִנְּעוּרָיִךְ, אוּלַי תּוּכְלִי הוֹעִיל אוּלַי תַּעֲרוֹצִי. - "Stand fast now in your enchantments and in the multitude of your sorceries, wherein you have labored from your youth; perhaps you will be able to profit, perhaps you will prevail."
The people of Babylon, and the ancient nations in general, had astrologers, soothsayers, stargazers - people who knew, or were supposed to know, the future. We saw this with Nebuchadnezzar, who turned to the magicians, the astrologers, and all those who were supposed to know hidden secrets when he dreamed his dreams. Therefore, the prophet approaches the daughter of Babylon and says: "Stand fast now in your enchantments" - consult all those among you who are supposed to know secrets; and likewise, "wherein you have labored from your youth," the vast lore of the Chaldeans, in which they labored intensely and invested so much effort to uncover secrets. "Perhaps you will be able to profit" - perhaps you will benefit from them so that the enemy does not breach your gates and harm you, for after all, you have great sages. And if you cannot prevent it entirely, "perhaps you will prevail (ta'arotzi)" - perhaps, once the enemy has already arrived and cannot be stopped, you will at least find a way to fight against him and wage battle. In reality, they lost the kingdom without any battle at all; they were handed over directly into the hands of their enemies. Thus, the Chaldean experts and sages who gazed into secrets neither foresaw what was coming nor possessed any counsel on how to fight once the enemy arrived.
Verse 13: Stargazers and Astrologers
נִלְאֵית בְּרֹב עֲצָתָיִךְ, יַעַמְדוּ נָא וְיוֹשִׁיעֻךְ הֹבְרֵי שָׁמַיִם הַחֹזִים בַּכּוֹכָבִים מוֹדִיעִים לֶחֳדָשִׁים מֵאֲשֶׁר יָבֹאוּ עָלָיִךְ. - "You are wearied in the multitude of your counsels; let now the stargazers, the astrologers, who tell by the new moons, stand up and save you from what shall come upon you."
"You are wearied in the multitude of your counsels" - regarding what is happening right now, there is no scheme or counsel to save you. And the verse continues: let the stargazers stand up and save you "from what shall come upon you" - that is, let them save you at least from the evils yet to come upon you. You must resign yourself to the present, but perhaps these experts will help you in the future to contend with what still awaits you. After all, they are stargazers, astrologers, who inform through visions at the new moons of all the upcoming events, and are supposed to know through all their disciplines. You still face impending calamities, so why should they not warn you about them?
Rashi explains hoverei shamayim as sky-gazers, in line with the Targum's rendering, demaschen lemazalot shemaya, from the root sechiya, meaning gazing or looking - just as Sarah was called Yiscah because she gazed (sachtah) through Ruach HaKodesh. These were people who observed the heavens and interpreted the phenomena they saw: if they observed a certain type of cloudiness it was a sign of one thing, if it came from the north it meant this, and if from the south, that. And why are they called hoverei? Rashi offers a wonderful explanation: from the words barah kachamah ("pure as the sun") and ul'varor ul'laben ("to clarify and cleanse") - they clarify the course of the constellations, for the sorcerers could not discern the exact moments of day and night until the heavens were clearly visible to them in purity. In other words, they require clear skies, and only then can they look and discern. But if the sky is overcast with clouds, the diviner cannot know, and he tells you: there is a screen, I cannot see what is happening in the heavens, and once it clears I will be able to see signs and offer interpretations. As Michah says, "and it shall be dark to you, that you shall not divine" - they could not practice divination on account of the darkness; when it grows dark and overcast, they cannot perform their sorceries.
"Who tell by the new moons (modi'im lechadashim)" - those who gaze upon what renews itself, and the moon is what renews itself; hence the word chodesh (month), for the moon renews itself once every thirty days. Those who know how to gaze at the moon - its shape, its position, and its markings - are supposed to know what the future holds.
Notice that Chazal expound upon the phrasing "from what (me'asher) shall come upon you" rather than "all that (kol asher) shall come upon you": the knowledge of astrologers and of all who foresee through various occult mediums - whether a crystal ball, Joseph's silver goblet, astrology of stargazers and sky-gazers, the whispering of palms, or the chirping of birds - all of these yield only vague and general knowledge. However, specific knowledge, such as "Behold, a son shall be born to the house of David, Josiah by name," detailing all that will happen, what he will do, and how he will act - only prophecy can pinpoint every detail with precision and exactness. Therefore, when speaking of astrologers, the verse says me'asher, meaning some of what will come upon you, rather than asher ("what"). Similarly, Pharaoh said, "Look, for evil is before your face" - he saw blood in the wilderness and thought their savior was doomed to perish by water, so he drowned baby boys in the Nile, whereas in truth it was the Waters of Meribah; and some say the blood he saw was the blood of circumcision, the foreskins when Joshua circumcised the children of Israel. This shows that their knowledge was merely general, which is the meaning of "me'asher yavo'u alayich - from what shall come upon you," whereas the knowledge of a prophet is one hundred percent accurate in every detail.
Through all these words here, the prophet speaks to Babylon with biting sarcasm: You assumed you had experts, stargazers, and people who knew all future events - a sort of protective umbrella, convincing you that you had nothing to fear from anyone. And now - well, where are your experts? Let them inform you of what has been and what will be. Where has all their knowledge vanished?
Pasuk 14: Like Straw Burned by Fire
הִנֵּה הָיוּ כְקַשׁ אֵשׁ שְׂרָפָתַם, לֹא יַצִּילוּ אֶת נַפְשָׁם מִיַּד לֶהָבָה, אֵין גַּחֶלֶת לַחְמָם אוּר לָשֶׁבֶת נֶגְדּוֹ. - Behold, they have become like straw, fire has burned them; they cannot save themselves from the power of the flame; there is no coal to warm them, no fire to sit before.
At first glance, this is a complex verse whose structure is not clear, but the Malbim brings clarity to it. Burning straw has two disadvantages compared to burning wood. First, straw burns even from a distant flame - and this is the difference between flame and fire: a flame can be distant while fire is close, yet straw catches fire merely from sensing the heat; wood, by contrast, requires the fire to linger upon it for a long time before catching hold. And this is the meaning of "Behold, they have become like straw, fire has burned them; they cannot save themselves from the power of the flame" - they are not saved even from a distant flame, and the speed of their destruction is as swift as straw catching fire.
Second, once fire takes hold of straw, nothing remains of it; it has no usefulness and is worth nothing. With burning wood, however, a coal remains; one can warm oneself by its light, bake with it, and derive benefit from it. This is the meaning of "there is no coal to warm them" - to warm oneself with, nor does any light remain from this straw to sit before, to bake before, or to sit across from in the cold. Nothing at all remains for you from it.
Pasuk 15: There Is None to Save You
כֵּן הָיוּ לָךְ אֲשֶׁר יָגָעַתְּ, סֹחֲרַיִךְ מִנְּעוּרַיִךְ אִישׁ לְעֶבְרוֹ תָּעוּ אֵין מוֹשִׁיעֵךְ. - Thus have they become to you with whom you labored, those who traded with you from your youth; each has wandered off in his own direction, there is none to save you.
All your toils, everything for which you strove and labored, were like straw: once the war began, everything was lost, like straw that merely smelled fire and was completely consumed. And in parallel to the statement that no coal was left from which to benefit: sometimes, when a royal capital falls, a place to which everyone used to flock for trade, even though it has declined from its greatness, those accustomed to coming for commerce still continue to visit. This is a decline rather than a total collapse, for the city still endures as a commercial hub where people gather to trade. This is analogous to wood that leaves behind a glowing coal: it is no longer whole timber, for wood as timber is very valuable and suitable for construction and many purposes, but one can still benefit from the coal, and it still retains usefulness.
But with you it was not so, and nothing remained. "Those who traded with you from your youth" - those who traded with you back when you were young, when Babylon was at the height of its glory and was a metropolis to which everyone streamed - "each has wandered off in his own direction"; every one dispersed to his own side, and nothing was left of you, not even a glowing coal. Thus, your fate was like straw: first, the war consumed you swiftly like a flame from afar; and second, the straw perished rapidly leaving no remnant, and so you were not even left with merchants who would visit out of habit. And therefore, "there is none to save you" - there is no salvation that can come to your aid, for as long as there are merchants and as long as you are still perceived in some way as a central world city, you still have some prospect of salvation; but once nothing remains, salvation too is gone.
In conclusion: This is what Hashem brought upon the daughter of Babylon, and we have already seen how the prophecy was fulfilled. Babylon will never be inhabited, Babylon will be laid waste - and so it was. The ruins of ancient Babylon exist to this day and were never rebuilt, and even the modern Nebuchadnezzar, Saddam Hussein, who planned to rebuild it - the Gulf War came and threw his cards into disarray and disrupted his plans, for the prophecy of the prophet stands forever. We find, then, that we have two prophecies: one concerning the destruction of the city of Babylon, and here a prophecy concerning the great downfall that would befall the Babylonian Empire - a downfall that came upon it in a single day, while all its wise men and stargazers were at its side, to teach us that the striking hand is the hand of Divine Providence, for "our Redeemer, Hashem of Hosts is His Name, the Holy One of Israel," and He Himself exacts vengeance for His people and has no need to rely on man.