Isaiah 47:1

By 900 *BC, Babylon was already famous among the nations as a most beautiful city. This was well before Nebuchadnezzar developed the city still more, 300 years later (see Daniel 4:29-30).

• The city’s unusual beauty was the reason why people thought of Babylon as a ‘beautiful young woman’. So in this chapter, the *Lord speaks to the inhabitants of Babylon as one speaks to a woman. ‘You’ means the city, its inhabitants and especially the powerful forces that controlled it.

• The city was beautiful. But enemies will destroy the city completely. It will never be beautiful again.