Isaiah 3

Chapter 3

¹For, behold, the Lord, the Lord of hosts,

is taking away from Jerusalem and from Judah

stay and staff,

the whole stay of bread,

and the whole stay of water;

²the mighty man and the soldier,

the judge and the prophet,

the diviner and the elder,

³the captain of fifty

and the man of rank,

the counselor and the skilful magician

and the expert in charms.

⁴And I will make boys their princes,

and babes shall rule over them.

⁵And the people will oppress one another,

every man his fellow

and every man his neighbor;

the youth will be insolent to the elder,

and the base fellow to the honorable.

⁶When a man takes hold of his brother

in the house of his father, saying:

“You have a mantle;

you shall be our leader,

and this heap of ruins

shall be under your rule”;

⁷in that day he will speak out, saying:

“I will not be a healer;

in my house there is neither bread nor mantle;

you shall not make me

leader of the people.”

⁸For Jerusalem has stumbled,

and Judah has fallen;

because their speech and their deeds are against the Lord,

defying his glorious presence.

⁹Their partiality witnesses against them;

they proclaim their sin like Sodom,

they do not hide it.

Woe to them!

For they have brought evil upon themselves.

¹⁰Tell the righteous that it shall be well with them,

for they shall eat the fruit of their deeds.

¹¹Woe to the wicked! It shall be ill with him,

for what his hands have done shall be done to him.

¹²My people—children are their oppressors,

and women rule over them.

O my people, your leaders mislead you,

and confuse the course of your paths.

¹³The Lord has taken his place to contend,

he stands to judge his people.

¹⁴The Lord enters into judgment

with the elders and princes of his people:

“It is you who have devoured the vineyard,

the spoil of the poor is in your houses.

¹⁵What do you mean by crushing my people,

by grinding the face of the poor?”

says the Lord GOD of hosts.

¹⁶The Lord said:

Because the daughters of Zion are haughty

and walk with outstretched necks,

glancing wantonly with their eyes,

mincing along as they go,

tinkling with their feet;

¹⁷the Lord will smite with a scab

the heads of the daughters of Zion,

and the Lord will lay bare their secret parts.

¹⁸In that day the Lord will take away the finery of the anklets, the headbands, and the crescents; ¹⁹the pendants, the bracelets, and the scarfs; ²⁰the headdresses, the armlets, the sashes, the perfume boxes, and the amulets; ²¹the signet rings and nose rings; ²²the festal robes, the mantles, the cloaks, and the handbags; ²³the garments of gauze, the linen garments, the turbans, and the veils.

²⁴Instead of perfume there will be rottenness;

and instead of a girdle, a rope;

and instead of well-set hair, baldness

and instead of a rich robe, a girding of sackcloth;

instead of beauty, shame.

²⁵Your men shall fall by the sword

and your mighty men in battle.

²⁶And her gates shall lament and mourn;

ravaged, she shall sit upon the ground.