Isaiah 3

Yahweh Will Judge Judah’s Leaders

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

Both supply and support, the whole supply of bread

And the whole supply of water,

²The mighty man and the man of war,

The judge and the prophet,

The diviner and the elder,

³The commander of fifty and the highly respected man,[#3:3 Lit one whose face is lifted up]

The counselor and the wise craftsman,

And the experienced enchanter.

⁴And I will make young men their princes,

And capricious children will rule over them,

⁵And the people will be oppressed,

Each one by another, and each one by his neighbor;

The youth will overwhelm the elder

And the dishonorable, the honorable.

⁶When a man grasps 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 protest on that day, saying,[#3:7 Lit lift up his voice]

“I will not be your healer,

For in my house there is neither bread nor cloak;

You should not appoint me ruler of the people.”

⁸For Jerusalem has stumbled and Judah has fallen,

Because their tongue and their deeds are against Yahweh,

To rebel against His glorious presence.

⁹The expression of their faces answers against them,[#3:9 Or Their partiality]

And they declare their sin like Sodom;

They do not even conceal it .

Woe to their soul!

For they have dealt out evil on themselves.

¹⁰Say to the righteous 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 what he has dealt out will be done to him.

¹²O My people! Their taskmasters are infants,[#3:12 Or deal severely]

And women rule over them.

O My people! Those who guide you lead you astray

And swallow up the way of your paths.

¹³¶Yahweh takes His stand to contend,

And stands to judge the peoples.

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

“It is you who have consumed the vineyard;

The plunder robbed of the afflicted is in your houses.

¹⁵“What do you mean by crushing 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 daughters 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, crescent ornaments,

¹⁹dangling earrings, bracelets, veils,

²⁰headdresses, ankle chains, sashes, perfume boxes, enchanted charms,

²¹finger rings, nose rings,[#3:21 Or signet rings]

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

²³hand mirrors, undergarments, turbans, and shawls.

²⁴Now it will be that instead of sweet perfume there will be the smell of rot;[#3:24 Or balsam oil]

Instead of a belt, a rope;

Instead of well-set hair, a plucked-out scalp;

Instead of fine clothes, a donning of sackcloth;

And branding instead of beauty.

²⁵Your men will fall by the sword

And your mighty ones in battle.

²⁶And her gates will lament and mourn,[#3:26 Lit entrances]

And deserted she will sit on the ground.