Isaiah 3

Chapter 3

God Will Remove the Leaders

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

Both ²supply and support, the whole supply of bread

And the whole supply of water;

^2aThe mighty man and the warrior,

The judge and the prophet,

The diviner and the elder,

³The captain of fifty and the honorable man,

The counselor and the expert artisan,

And the skillful enchanter.

⁴And I will make mere ^alads 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 storm against the elder

And the inferior against the honorable.

⁶When a man ^alays hold of his brother in his father’s house, saying,

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

And these ruins will be under your ¹charge,”

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 ^1bspeech and their actions are against the Lord,

To ^crebel against ²His glorious presence.

⁹¹The expression of their faces bears witness against them,

And they display their sin like ^aSodom;

They do not even conceal it.

Woe to ²them!

For they have ^bbrought evil on themselves.

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

For they will eat the fruit of their actions.

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

For ^1awhat he deserves will be done to him.

¹²O My people! Their oppressors ¹are ^achildren,

And women rule over them.

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

And confuse the direction of your paths.

God Will Judge

^13aThe Lord arises to contend,

And stands to judge the people.

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

“It is you who have ^bdevoured the vineyard;

The ^cplunder of the poor is in your houses.

¹⁵“What do you mean by ^acrushing My people

And grinding the face of the poor?”

Declares the Lord ¹God of hosts.

Judah’s Women Denounced

¹⁶Moreover, the Lord said, “Because the ^adaughters of Zion are proud

And walk with ¹heads held high and seductive eyes,

And go along with mincing steps

And tinkle the bangles on their feet,

¹⁷Therefore the Lord will afflict the scalp of the daughters of Zion with scabs,

And the Lord will make their foreheads bare.”

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

¹⁹dangling earrings, bracelets, veils,

^20aheaddresses, ankle chains, sashes, perfume boxes, amulets,

²¹¹finger rings, ^anose rings,

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

²³hand mirrors, undergarments, turbans and veils.

²⁴Now it will come about that instead of ¹sweet ^aperfume there will be putrefaction;

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.