Thy nakedness shall be uncovered, yea, thy shame shall be seen: I will take vengeance, and I will not meet thee as a man.

ISAIAH 47:3KJV
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Isaiah 47:3 (KJV)

What does Isaiah 47:3 mean?

Isaiah 47:3 announces that God will bring down Babylon, pictured as a woman who will be stripped of her former dignity. The verse presents Babylon’s disgrace as God’s vengeance, not merely as a change in political power.

After the forced labor pictured in verse 2, the exposure of nakedness makes the image of humiliation more severe. God speaks directly to Babylon, ending with the unusual phrase, “I will not meet thee as a man.”

The Hebrew behind Isaiah 47:3

  • “shame” — חֶרְפָּה (ḥerpah): This word can mean disgrace or public reproach. Alongside “nakedness,” it emphasizes the dishonor attached to exposure.
  • “meet” — פָּגַע (pagaʿ): This word can mean to meet or encounter, but can also carry the sense of dealing with someone. Its range helps explain why the KJV’s final phrase is difficult to understand.

Why Isaiah 47:3 matters

  • Babylon is addressed as a person, but the passage has a city and its people in view. Isaiah 47:1 calls her “the daughter of the Chaldeans,” a name associated with Babylon.
  • The exposure is a picture of lost status as well as personal shame. The preceding verse tells the once-honored woman to perform the work of a servant.
  • The last phrase is difficult to translate. The KJV says, “I will not meet thee as a man”; other translations understand the Hebrew along the lines of “I will spare no one” or “I will let no one intervene.”

Where else these words appear

“vengeance” Hebrew H5359 · used in 17 verses

  • Leviticus 26:25 And I will bring a sword upon you, that shall avenge the quarrel of my covenant: and when ye are gathered together within your cities, I will send the pestilence among you; and ye shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy.
  • Psalms 58:10 The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance: he shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked.
  • Isaiah 61:2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;

“nakedness” Hebrew H6172 · used in 40 verses

  • Genesis 9:22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without.
  • Leviticus 18:13 Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy mother's sister: for she is thy mother's near kinswoman.
  • Deuteronomy 23:14 For the LORD thy God walketh in the midst of thy camp, to deliver thee, and to give up thine enemies before thee; therefore shall thy camp be holy: that he see no unclean thing in thee, and turn away from thee.

“meet” Hebrew H6293 · used in 43 verses

  • Genesis 23:8 And he communed with them, saying, If it be your mind that I should bury my dead out of my sight; hear me, and intreat for me to Ephron the son of Zohar,
  • Joshua 19:27 And turneth toward the sunrising to Bethdagon, and reacheth to Zebulun, and to the valley of Jiphthahel toward the north side of Bethemek, and Neiel, and goeth out to Cabul on the left hand,
  • 1 Kings 2:32 And the LORD shall return his blood upon his own head, who fell upon two men more righteous and better than he, and slew them with the sword, my father David not knowing thereof, to wit, Abner the son of Ner, captain of the host of Israel, and Amasa the son of Jether, captain of the host of Judah.

“shame” Hebrew H2781 · used in 72 verses

  • Genesis 30:23 And she conceived, and bare a son; and said, God hath taken away my reproach:
  • Psalms 71:13 Let them be confounded and consumed that are adversaries to my soul; let them be covered with reproach and dishonour that seek my hurt.
  • Jeremiah 42:18 For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; As mine anger and my fury hath been poured forth upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem; so shall my fury be poured forth upon you, when ye shall enter into Egypt: and ye shall be an execration, and an astonishment, and a curse, and a reproach; and ye shall see this place no more.