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The Prophets · Old Testament

Isaiah 3

Isaiah 3: Jerusalem stripped of its supports and the daughters of Zion

General context

The Lord of hosts takes away from Jerusalem and Judah every stay and staff, bread and water and a long list of leaders: the mighty man, the judge, the prophet, the ancient, the captain of fifty, the counsellor, the artificer and the orator. Children become their princes and babes rule. People oppress one another, the child against the ancient and the base against the honourable. A man will seize his brother because he has clothing and beg him to rule, and the brother will swear that he cannot be a healer since his own house has neither bread nor clothing. The reason is stated: Jerusalem is ruined and Judah fallen because their tongue and doings are against the Lord, and they declare their sin as Sodom did. The righteous are told it will be well with them; the wicked that it will be ill. The Lord stands up to plead and enters into judgment with the ancients and princes for eating up the vineyard and grinding the faces of the poor. Then the Lord speaks of the daughters of Zion who walk with stretched necks and tinkling feet: he will smite them with a scab and take away their ornaments, a catalogue of ornaments about their feet, cauls, chains, bracelets, bonnets, rings, nose jewels, mantles, hoods and veils. Stink replaces sweet smell, a rent the girdle, baldness well set hair, sackcloth a stomacher, burning beauty. The men fall by the sword, and the city's gates lament while she sits desolate on the ground.

Cited passages: Isaiah 3:1, Isaiah 3:2, Isaiah 3:3, Isaiah 3:4, Isaiah 3:5, Isaiah 3:6, Isaiah 3:7, Isaiah 3:8, Isaiah 3:9, Isaiah 3:10, Isaiah 3:11, Isaiah 3:13, Isaiah 3:14, Isaiah 3:15, Isaiah 3:16, Isaiah 3:17, Isaiah 3:18, Isaiah 3:21, Isaiah 3:23, Isaiah 3:24, Isaiah 3:25, Isaiah 3:26

Isaiah 3 (KJV)

1For, behold, the Lord, the Lord of hosts, doth take away from Jerusalem and from Judah the stay and the staff, the whole stay of bread, and the whole stay of water,

2The mighty man, and the man of war, the judge, and the prophet, and the prudent, and the ancient,

3The captain of fifty, and the honourable man, and the counsellor, and the cunning artificer, and the eloquent orator.

4And I will give children to be their princes, and babes shall rule over them.

5And the people shall be oppressed, every one by another, and every one by his neighbour: the child shall behave himself proudly against the ancient, and the base against the honourable.

6When a man shall take hold of his brother of the house of his father, saying, Thou hast clothing, be thou our ruler, and let this ruin be under thy hand:

7In that day shall he swear, saying, I will not be an healer; for in my house is neither bread nor clothing: make me not a ruler of the people.

8For Jerusalem is ruined, and Judah is fallen: because their tongue and their doings are against the Lord, to provoke the eyes of his glory.

9The shew of their countenance doth witness against them; and they declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not. Woe unto their soul! for they have rewarded evil unto themselves.

10Say ye to the righteous, that it shall be well with him: for they shall eat the fruit of their doings.

11Woe unto the wicked! it shall be ill with him: for the reward of his hands shall be given him.

12As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, they which lead thee cause thee to err, and destroy the way of thy paths.

13The Lord standeth up to plead, and standeth to judge the people.

14The Lord will enter into judgment with the ancients of his people, and the princes thereof: for ye have eaten up the vineyard; the spoil of the poor is in your houses.

15What mean ye that ye beat my people to pieces, and grind the faces of the poor? saith the Lord God of hosts.

16Moreover the Lord saith, Because the daughters of Zion are haughty, and walk with stretched forth necks and wanton eyes, walking and mincing as they go, and making a tinkling with their feet:

17Therefore the Lord will smite with a scab the crown of the head of the daughters of Zion, and the Lord will discover their secret parts.

18In that day the Lord will take away the bravery of their tinkling ornaments about their feet, and their cauls, and their round tires like the moon,

19The chains, and the bracelets, and the mufflers,

20The bonnets, and the ornaments of the legs, and the headbands, and the tablets, and the earrings,

21The rings, and nose jewels,

22The changeable suits of apparel, and the mantles, and the wimples, and the crisping pins,

23The glasses, and the fine linen, and the hoods, and the vails.

24And it shall come to pass, that instead of sweet smell there shall be stink; and instead of a girdle a rent; and instead of well set hair baldness; and instead of a stomacher a girding of sackcloth; and burning instead of beauty.

25Thy men shall fall by the sword, and thy mighty in the war.

26And her gates shall lament and mourn; and she being desolate shall sit upon the ground.

This page shows the King James Version. In the app, reading opens in the Berean Standard Bible unless you have chosen another translation. The reader includes five translations: the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), the King James Version (KJV), the World English Bible (WEB), the Bible in Basic English (BBE), and the American Standard Version (ASV). Search covers three of them: Berean Standard, King James, and World English. Basic English and American Standard readers search the King James words.

Historical context

The chapter begins with For, behold, and carries no heading of its own; it continues the word concerning Judah and Jerusalem introduced in the previous chapter and names both Jerusalem and Judah in its first verse. No king, enemy or year is given. The removal of leaders and the fall of Jerusalem are stated as the Lord's act, and the cause is stated as the people's own tongue and doings, not as a foreign invasion, though the men falling by the sword and the mighty in the war imply fighting the text does not describe. The voice alternates: the Lord speaks in the first person, I will give children to be their princes, and the narrating voice marks his speech with saith the Lord God of hosts and Moreover the Lord saith. Two groups are singled out, the ancients and princes who have eaten up the vineyard, and the daughters of Zion. The long list of ornaments in verses eighteen to twenty-three is printed as a list of items and the text does not explain what each was. The Sodom comparison here concerns openness about sin, they hide it not, rather than any event from that story. The closing she who sits on the ground is the city, whose gates are said to lament.

Cited passages: Isaiah 3:1, Isaiah 3:8, Isaiah 3:25, Isaiah 3:4, Isaiah 3:15, Isaiah 3:16, Isaiah 3:14, Isaiah 3:9, Isaiah 3:20, Isaiah 3:26

Literary context

Lists shape this chapter. The first is a list of removals, eleven kinds of leader taken from the city, and the last is a list of ornaments taken from the daughters of Zion; the two catalogues frame the chapter and both are introduced by the Lord taking away. Between them the order of society is inverted, children over princes and the base against the honourable, and the inversion is dramatised in a small scene of speech and reply where a man is begged to rule and refuses. The pair of short sayings to the righteous and the wicked interrupts the judgment with a balanced promise and woe. The Lord's courtroom stance, standeth up to plead, echoes the hearing that opened the first chapter, and the charge about the vineyard and the poor anticipates the vineyard song of chapter five. The final verses work by substitution, five instead of clauses that replace scent, girdle, hair, stomacher and beauty with their opposites, before the poem closes on the city personified, sitting alone on the ground. The scene of the seven women in the next chapter's first verse continues this picture of a city emptied of men.

Cited passages: Isaiah 3:1, Isaiah 3:18, Isaiah 3:5, Isaiah 3:6, Isaiah 3:7, Isaiah 3:10, Isaiah 3:11, Isaiah 3:13, Isaiah 3:14, Isaiah 3:24, Isaiah 3:26, Isaiah 4:1

Key moments

  1. Stay and staff removed (Isaiah 3:1). The Lord of hosts takes away bread, water and every kind of leader from Jerusalem and Judah.
  2. Children as princes (Isaiah 3:4). The Lord says children will be their princes and babes will rule.
  3. A refused rulership (Isaiah 3:7). The man seized for his clothing swears he cannot heal a house without bread or clothing.
  4. The Lord stands to plead (Isaiah 3:13). The Lord rises to judge the people and their leaders.
  5. Grinding the faces of the poor (Isaiah 3:15). The Lord asks the ancients and princes why they beat his people to pieces.
  6. The daughters of Zion (Isaiah 3:16). The Lord describes the haughty walk and tinkling feet of the daughters of Zion.
  7. The city sits on the ground (Isaiah 3:26). Her gates lament and she sits desolate after her men fall by the sword.

For reflection

The man who is offered rule answers, in my house is neither bread nor clothing. What does the chapter suggest about why rule is offered to him at all?

People in this chapter