Isaiah 3
God Will Remove the Leaders
1Listen carefully, the Lord God of hosts is removing from Jerusalem and from Judah
Both supply and support, the whole supply of bread
And the whole supply of water;
2The brave man and the warrior [He is also removing],
The judge and the prophet,
The diviner and the elder,
3The captain of fifty and the man of honor,
The counselor and the expert artisan,
And the skillful enchanter.
4And I will make mere boys their princes,
And capricious (impulsive, unpredictable) children will rule over them.
5And the people will be oppressed,
Each one by another, and each one by his neighbor;
The boy will be arrogant and insolent toward the elder
And the vulgar (common) toward the honorable [person of rank].
6When a man takes hold of his brother in the house of his father, saying,
“You have a robe, you shall be our judge and ruler,
And this pile of ruins will be under your control,”
7He will protest on that day, saying,
“I will not be a governor;
For in my house there is neither bread nor clothing;
You should not make me a judge and ruler of the people.”
8For Jerusalem has stumbled and Judah has fallen,
Because their words and their actions are against the Lord,
To rebel against His glorious presence and defiantly provoke Him.
9Their partiality testifies against them,
They display their sin like Sodom;
They do not even hide it.
Woe (judgment is coming) to them!
For they have brought evil on themselves [as a reward].
10Say to the righteous that it will go well with them,
For they will eat the fruit of their [righteous] actions.
11Woe (judgment is coming) to the wicked! It shall go badly with him,
For what his hand has done shall be done to him.
12O My people! Children are their oppressors,
And women rule over them.
O My people! Your leaders lead you astray
And confuse (destroy, swallow up) the direction of your paths.
God Will Judge
13The Lord rises to contend,
And stands to judge the people.
14The Lord enters into judgment with the elders of His people and their princes,
“For it is you who have devoured the vineyard [with your oppression, you have robbed the people and ruined the country];
The plunder of the poor is in your houses.
15What do you mean by crushing My people
And grinding the face of the poor?”
Declares the Lord God of hosts.
Judah’s Women Denounced
16Moreover, the Lord said, “Because the daughters of Zion are proud
And walk with outstretched necks and seductive (flirtatious, alluring) eyes,
And trip along with mincing steps and an affected gait
And walk with jingling anklets on their feet,
17Therefore the Lord will afflict the crown of the head of the daughters of Zion with scabs [making them bald],
And the Lord will expose their foreheads (send them into captivity).”
18In that day the Lord will take away the beauty of their anklets, [braided] caps, crescent [head] ornaments, 19dangling earrings, bracelets, and the hanging veils and scarves, 20head wraps (turbans), [short, jingling] ankle chains, sashes, perfume boxes, amulets (charms), 21signet [finger] rings, nose rings, 22festival robes, outer tunics, shawls, handbags, 23hand mirrors, [fine linen] undergarments, headbands, and veils [covering the entire body].
24Now it will come to pass that instead of the sweet fragrance of spices there will be [the stench of] rottenness;
Instead of a belt, a rope;
Instead of well-set hair, baldness;
Instead of fine clothes, a robe of sackcloth;
And branding [of captives by the scorching heat] instead of beauty.
25Your men will fall by the sword
And your mighty men in battle.
26And Jerusalem’s gates will lament (cry out in grief) and mourn [as those who wail for the dead];
And she, being ruined and desolate, will sit upon the ground.