Isaiah 3

CHAPTER 3

Yahweh Will Judge Judah’s Leaders

¹For behold, the Lord, Yahweh of hosts, ^ais going to remove from Jerusalem and Judah

Both ¹supply and support, the whole ²supply of bread

And the whole ³supply of water,

^2aThe mighty man and the man of war,

The judge and the prophet,

The diviner and the elder,

³The commander of fifty and the ¹highly respected man,

The counselor and the wise craftsman,

And the experienced enchanter.

⁴And I will make ^ayoung men their princes,

And ¹capricious children will rule over them,

⁵And the people will be ^aoppressed,

Each one by another, and each one by his ^bneighbor;

The youth will overwhelm the elder

And the dishonorable, the honorable.

⁶When a man ^agrasps his brother in his father’s house, saying,

“You have a cloak, you shall be our ruler,

And these ruins will be under your hand,”

⁷He will ¹protest on that day, saying,

“I will not be your ^2ahealer,

For in my house there is neither bread nor cloak;

You should not appoint me ruler of the people.”

⁸For ^aJerusalem has stumbled and Judah has fallen,

Because their ^btongue and their deeds are against Yahweh,

To ^crebel against ¹His glorious presence.

⁹¹The expression of their faces answers against them,

And they declare their sin like ^aSodom;

They do not even conceal it.

Woe to their soul!

For they have ^bdealt out evil on themselves.

¹⁰Say to the ^arighteous that it will go well with them,

For they will eat the fruit of their deeds.

¹¹Woe to the wicked! It will go badly with him,

For ^1awhat he has dealt out will be done to him.

¹²O My people! Their taskmasters ¹are ^ainfants,

And women rule over them.

O My people! ^bThose who guide you lead you astray

And swallow up the way of your paths.

^13aYahweh takes His stand to contend,

And stands to judge the peoples.

¹⁴Yahweh ^aenters into judgment with the elders of His people and His princes,

“It is you who have ^bconsumed the vineyard;

The ^cplunder robbed of the afflicted is in your houses.

¹⁵“What do you mean by ^acrushing My people

And grinding the face of the afflicted?”

Declares Lord Yahweh of hosts.

Yahweh Will Judge Zion’s Daughters

¹⁶Moreover, Yahweh said, “Because the ^adaughters of Zion are haughty

And walk with outstretched necks and seductive eyes,

And go along with mincing steps

And tinkle the bangles on their feet,

¹⁷Therefore the Lord will smite the skull of the daughters of Zion with scabs,

And Yahweh will make their foreheads bare.”

¹⁸In that day the Lord will remove the beauty of their anklets, headbands, ^acrescent ornaments,

¹⁹dangling earrings, bracelets, veils,

^20aheaddresses, ankle chains, sashes, perfume boxes, enchanted charms,

²¹¹finger rings, ^anose rings,

²²festal robes, outer tunics, cloaks, money purses,

²³hand mirrors, undergarments, turbans, and shawls.

²⁴Now it will be that instead of ¹sweet ^aperfume there will be the smell of rot;

Instead of a belt, a rope;

Instead of ^bwell-set hair, a ^cplucked-out scalp;

Instead of fine clothes, a ^ddonning of sackcloth;

And branding instead of beauty.

²⁵Your men will ^afall by the sword

And your ¹mighty ones in battle.

²⁶And her ^1agates will lament and mourn,

And deserted she will ^bsit on the ground.