Albert Barnes Commentary Isaiah 47:7

"And thou saidst, I shall be mistress for ever; so that thou didst not lay these things to thy heart, neither didst remember the latter end thereof." — Isaiah 47:7 (ASV)

And you said, I shall be a lady for ever — This passage describes the pride and self-confidence of Babylon. She was confident in her wealth, in the strength of her gates and walls, and in her abundant resources to resist an enemy or to sustain a siege. Babylon was ten miles square, and it was supposed to contain provisions enough to maintain a siege for many years. Moreover, there were no symptoms of internal decay; there were no apparent external reasons why her prosperity should not continue; nor were there any causes at work that human wisdom could detect which would prevent her from continuing for an indefinite period.

You did not lay these things to your heart — You did not consider what, under the government of a holy and just God, must be the effect of treating a captured and oppressed people in this manner. Babylon supposed that, notwithstanding her pride, haughtiness, and oppressions, she would be able to stand forever.

Neither did you remember the latter end of it — The end of pride, arrogance, and cruelty. The sense is that Babylon might have learned from the fate of other kingdoms that had been, like her, arrogant and cruel, what must inevitably be her own destiny. But she refused to learn a lesson from their doom. So common is it for nations to disregard the lessons which history teaches; so common for individuals to neglect the warnings provided by the destruction of the wicked.