Isaiah 3
3
Jerusalem on Its Last Legs
1-7The Master, God-of-the-Angel-Armies,
is emptying Jerusalem and Judah
Of all the basic necessities,
plain bread and water to begin with.
He’s withdrawing police and protection,
judges and courts,
pastors and teachers,
captains and generals,
doctors and nurses,
and, yes, even the repairmen and jacks-of-all-trades.
He says, “I’ll put little kids in charge of the city.
Schoolboys and schoolgirls will order everyone around.
People will be at each other’s throats,
stabbing one another in the back:
Neighbor against neighbor, young against old,
the no-account against the well-respected.
One brother will grab another and say,
‘You look like you’ve got a head on your shoulders.
Do something!
Get us out of this mess.’
And he’ll say, ‘Me? Not me! I don’t have a clue.
Don’t put me in charge of anything.’
8-9“Jerusalem’s on its last legs.
Judah is soon down for the count.
Everything people say and do
is at cross-purposes with God,
a slap in my face.
Brazen in their depravity,
they flaunt their sins like degenerate Sodom.
Doom to their eternal souls! They’ve made their bed;
now they’ll sleep in it.
10-11“Reassure the righteous
that their good living will pay off.
But doom to the wicked! Disaster!
Everything they did will be done to them.
12“Skinny kids terrorize my people.
Silly girls bully them around.
My dear people! Your leaders are taking you down a blind alley.
They’re sending you off on a wild-goose chase.”
A City Brought to Her Knees by Her Sorrows
13-15 God enters the courtroom.
He takes his place at the bench to judge his people.
God calls for order in the court,
hauls the leaders of his people into the dock:
“You’ve played havoc with this country.
Your houses are stuffed with what you’ve stolen from the poor.
What is this anyway? Stomping on my people,
grinding the faces of the poor into the dirt?”
That’s what the Master,
God-of-the-Angel-Armies, says.
16-17 God says, “Zion women are stuck-up,
prancing around in their high heels,
Making eyes at all the men in the street,
swinging their hips,
Tossing their hair,
gaudy and garish in cheap jewelry.”
The Master will fix it so those Zion women
will all turn bald—
Scabby, bald-headed women.
The Master will do it.
18-23The time is coming when the Master will strip them of their fancy baubles—the dangling earrings, anklets and bracelets, combs and mirrors and silk scarves, diamond brooches and pearl necklaces, the rings on their fingers and the rings on their toes, the latest fashions in hats, exotic perfumes and aphrodisiacs, gowns and capes, all the world’s finest in fabrics and design.
24Instead of wearing seductive scents,
these women are going to smell like rotting cabbages;
Instead of modeling flowing gowns,
they’ll be sporting rags;
Instead of their stylish hairdos,
scruffy heads;
Instead of beauty marks,
scabs and scars.
25-26Your finest fighting men will be killed,
your soldiers left dead on the battlefield.
The entrance gate to Zion will be clotted
with people mourning their dead—
A city stooped under the weight of her loss,
brought to her knees by her sorrows.
* * *
Currently Selected:
Isaiah 3: MSG
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved. Used by permission of NavPress. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.
Isaiah 3
3
Judah’s Leaders Judged
1Note this: The Lord God of Armies
is about to remove from Jerusalem and from Judah
every kind of security:
the entire supply of bread and water,
2heroes and warriors,#2Kg 24:14; Ezk 17:13–14
judges and prophets,
fortune-tellers and elders,
3commanders of fifty and dignitaries,
counselors, cunning magicians,#3:3 Or skilled craftsmen and necromancers.#3:3 Or mediums
4“I will make youths their leaders,#Ec 10:16
and unstable rulers#3:4 Or mischief-makers will govern them.”
5The people will oppress one another,#Mc 7:3–6
man against man, neighbor against neighbor;
the young will act arrogantly toward the old,
and the worthless toward the honorable.
6A man will even seize his brother
in his father’s house, saying,
“You have a cloak — you be our leader!
This heap of rubble will be under your control.”
7On that day he will cry out, saying,
“I’m not a healer.
I don’t even have food or clothing in my house.
Don’t make me the leader of the people!”
8For Jerusalem has stumbled
and Judah has fallen
because they have spoken and acted against the Lord,#Ps 73:9–11
defying his glorious presence.#Nm 14:22–23; Is 43:7; 48:11; 59:19
9The look on their faces testifies against them,
and like Sodom,#Is 1:9–10; 13:19 they flaunt their sin;
they do not conceal it.
Woe to them,
for they have brought disaster on themselves.#Rm 6:23
10Tell the righteous that it will go well for them,
for they will eat the fruit of their labor.
11Woe to the wicked — it will go badly for them,
for what they have done will be done to them.
12Youths oppress my people,#Is 3:4
and women rule over them.
My people, your leaders mislead you;
they confuse the direction of your paths.#Is 28:14–22
13The Lord rises to argue the case
and stands to judge the people.#Ps 7:6; Hs 4:1
14The Lord brings this charge
against the elders and leaders of his people:#Mc 3:1–3
“You have devastated the vineyard.
The plunder from the poor is in your houses.#Ezk 18:10–18; 33:15
15Why do you crush my people
and grind the faces of the poor?”
This is the declaration of the Lord God of Armies.
Jerusalem’s Women Judged
16The Lord also says:
Because the daughters of Zion are haughty,#Is 32:9–15; 1Pt 3:3–4
walking with heads held high
and seductive eyes,
prancing along,
jingling their ankle bracelets,
17the Lord will put scabs on the heads
of the daughters of Zion,
and the Lord will shave their foreheads bare.
18On that day#Is 27:12 the Lord will strip their finery: ankle bracelets, headbands, crescents,#Jdg 8:21,26 19pendants, bracelets, veils, 20headdresses, ankle jewelry, sashes, perfume bottles, amulets,#Ezk 24:17 21signet rings, nose rings,#Gn 24:47; Ezk 16:12 22festive robes, capes, cloaks, purses, 23garments, linen clothes, turbans, and shawls.
24Instead of perfume there will be a stench;
instead of a belt, a rope;
instead of beautifully styled hair,#1Pt 3:3 baldness;#Is 15:2; 22:12; Ezk 27:31; Am 8:10; Mc 1:16
instead of fine clothes, sackcloth;#Gn 37:34; Is 15:3; Jr 48:36–38; Lm 2:10
instead of beauty, branding.#3:24 DSS read shame
25Your men will fall by the sword,
your warriors in battle.
26Then her gates#Jr 14:2; Lm 1:4 will lament and mourn;
deserted, she will sit on the ground.#Jb 2:13; Is 47:1; Lm 2:10
Currently Selected:
:
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
© 2017 Holman Bible Publishers