Isaiah 3–4

Leaders of Judah and Jerusalem

3For look, the Lord Yahweh of hosts is removing every source of support^a

from Jerusalem and from Judah:

all of the supplies of bread

and all of the supplies of water,

²mighty warrior and man of war,

judge and prophet,

and diviner and elder,

³captain of fifty and the honorable men of rank,

and counselor and skillful magicians and skillful enchanter.

⁴And I will make boys their princes,

and children shall rule over them.

⁵And the people will be oppressed by each other^b

and a man by his neighbor.

The boy will act arrogantly toward the elder,

and the dishonorable toward the honorable.

⁶Indeed, a man will seize his brother

in the house of his father:

“You have a cloak;^c

you shall be a leader for us,

and this heap of ruins shall be under your hand!”

⁷He will lift up his voice on that day, saying,

“I will not be a healer;

in my house there is no bread

and there is no cloak.

You shall not make me the leader of the people!”

⁸For Jerusalem has stumbled,

and Judah has fallen

because their speech and their deeds are against Yahweh,

defying the eyes of his glory.

⁹The look on their faces testifies against them

and they declare their sin like Sodom;

they do not hide it.

Woe to their soul!

For they have dealt out evil to themselves.

¹⁰Tell the innocent^d that it is good

for they shall eat the fruit of their deeds.

¹¹Woe to the wicked!^e It is bad!

For what is done by his hands will be done to him.

¹²My people—children are their oppressors,

and women rule over them.

My people, your leaders are misleading you,

and they confuse the course of your paths.

¹³Yahweh takes his stand to conduct a legal case

and takes his stand to judge the peoples.

¹⁴Yahweh enters into judgment with the elders of his people and its princes.

“And you! You have devoured the vineyard;

the spoil of the poor is in your houses!

¹⁵Why^f do you crush my people

and grind the face of the poor?”

declares^g the Lord Yahweh of hosts.

The Pride of Jerusalem’s Women

¹⁶And Yahweh said: “Because^h the daughters of Zion are haughty,

and they walk with outstretched neck,

and they give flirting glances with their eyes,

mincing along as they go,ⁱ

and with their feet they rattle their bangles,^j

¹⁷the Lord will make the heads^k of the daughters of Zion scabby,

and Yahweh will lay their foreheads bare.”

¹⁸In that day the Lord will take away the finery of the anklets

and the headbands and the crescent necklaces,

¹⁹the pendants and the bracelets and the veils,

²⁰the headdresses and the armlets and the sashes,

and the perfume boxes^l and the amulets,

²¹the signet rings and the nose rings,

²²the festal robes and the mantles,

and the cloaks and the handbags,

²³and the mirrors and the linen garments,

and the turbans and the wraps.

²⁴And this shall happen: There will be

a stench instead of perfume,

and a rope instead of a sash,

and baldness instead of a well-set hairdo,

and a clothing wrap of sackcloth instead of a rich robe,

branding instead of beauty.

²⁵Your men shall fall by the sword,

and your warriors in battle.

²⁶And her^m gates shall lament and mourn,

and she shall be banished;

she shall sit upon the ground.

4And seven women shall grasp at one man on that day, saying,

“We will eat our own bread,

and we will wear our own clothing;

only let us be called by your name!^a

Take away our disgrace!”

The Glory of the Branch of Yahweh

²On that day the branch of Yahweh shall become beautiful and glorious,

and the fruit of the land shall become the pride and glory of the survivors^b of Israel.

³And this shall happen: He who is left in Zion

and he who remains in Jerusalem will be called holy,

everyone written for life in Jerusalem,

⁴when the Lord has washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion

and cleansed the blood of Jerusalem from her midst

by a spirit of judgment

and by a spirit of burning.

⁵Then Yahweh will create over all of the site^c of Mount Zion^d

and over her assembly a cloud by day

and smoke and the brightness of flaming fire by night.

Indeed, over all the glory there will be a canopy,

⁶and it will be a shelter for shade from the heat by day,

and a refuge and a hiding place from rainstorm and from rain.