Isaiah 47:2
“Take the millstones, and grind meal: uncover thy locks, make bare the leg, uncover the thigh, pass over the rivers.”
King James Version (KJV)
Read this verse in context with translation switching:
Read Full Chapter →Babylon, stripped of her finery, must do the work of slaves and refugees.
Context
The prophet describes the indignities of war and exile: a woman grinding grain (the work of the poorest enslaved people), removing her veil and covering (exposing her shame), wading through rivers in flight. Each image carries the weight of humiliation.
What Does Isaiah 47:2 Mean?
In the ancient Near East, grinding grain was the lowest work, done by captive women and slaves. To remove the veil was to lose the protection and dignity of honor; to bare the leg was the exposure of shame in a culture where modesty was identity itself. To wade rivers spoke of flight, of abandonment, of the refugee. Isaiah piles these images of degradation and displacement upon the proud city.
But we glimpse something deeper: the God of Israel dignifies even the enslaved. He sees the woman grinding grain, knows her shame, and will raise up those who are brought low. Jesus himself took on the slave's form, washed his disciples' feet, and reversed the logic of shame through his own suffering. Our humility, when received from God's hand, becomes the doorway to resurrection.
In the Original Language
raachatz (רחץ), 'grind' - the verb used for the daily labor of maidservants and prisoners.
Application
We are all, in some season, ground down by circumstance and loss. Rather than resist this diminishment, we can offer it to God and find that he works in what seems like failure to establish something lasting.