1 For, behold, the Lord, H113 the LORD H3068 of hosts, H6635 doth take away H5493 from Jerusalem H3389 and from Judah H3063 the stay H4937 and the staff, H4938 the whole stay H4937 of bread, H3899 and the whole H3605 stay H4937 of water, H4325
And when I have broken H7665 the staff H4294 of your bread, H3899 ten H6235 women H802 shall bake H644 your bread H3899 in one H259 oven, H8574 and they shall deliver H7725 you your bread H3899 again H7725 by weight: H4948 and ye shall eat, H398 and not be satisfied. H7646
Cease H2308 ye from man, H120 whose breath H5397 is in his nostrils: H639 for wherein is he to be accounted of? H2803
Therefore my people H5971 are gone into captivity, H1540 because they have no knowledge: H1847 and their honourable H3519 men H4962 are famished, H7458 and their multitude H1995 dried up H6704 with thirst. H6772
But Rabshakeh H7262 said, H559 Hath my master H113 sent H7971 me to thy master H113 and to thee to speak H1696 these words? H1697 hath he not sent me to the men H582 that sit H3427 upon the wall, H2346 that they may eat H398 their own dung, H2716 H6675 and drink H8354 their own piss H4325 H7272 H7890 with you?
Thus saith H559 thy Lord H113 the LORD, H3068 and thy God H430 that pleadeth H7378 the cause of his people, H5971 Behold, I have taken out H3947 of thine hand H3027 the cup H3563 of trembling, H8653 even the dregs H6907 of the cup H3563 of my fury; H2534 thou shalt no more H3254 drink it again: H8354
Then Zedekiah H6667 the king H4428 commanded H6680 that they should commit H6485 Jeremiah H3414 into the court H2691 of the prison, H4307 and that they should give H5414 him daily H3117 a piece H3603 of bread H3899 out of the bakers' H644 street, H2351 until all the bread H3899 in the city H5892 were spent. H8552 Thus Jeremiah H3414 remained H3427 in the court H2691 of the prison. H4307
My lord H113 the king, H4428 these men H582 have done evil H7489 in all that they have done H6213 to Jeremiah H3414 the prophet, H5030 whom they have cast H7993 into the dungeon; H953 and he is like to die H4191 for H6440 hunger H7458 in the place H8478 where he is: for there is no more bread H3899 in the city. H5892
Moreover he said H559 unto me, Son H1121 of man, H120 behold, I will break H7665 the staff H4294 of bread H3899 in Jerusalem: H3389 and they shall eat H398 bread H3899 by weight, H4948 and with care; H1674 and they shall drink H8354 water H4325 by measure, H4884 and with astonishment: H8078 That they may want H2637 bread H3899 and water, H4325 and be astonied H8074 one H376 with another, H251 and consume away H4743 for their iniquity. H5771
Son H1121 of man, H120 when the land H776 sinneth H2398 against me by trespassing H4603 grievously, H4604 then will I stretch out H5186 mine hand H3027 upon it, and will break H7665 the staff H4294 of the bread H3899 thereof, and will send H7971 famine H7458 upon it, and will cut off H3772 man H120 and beast H929 from it:
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Isaiah 3
Commentary on Isaiah 3 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 3
The prophet, in this chapter, goes on to foretel the desolations that were coming upon Judah and Jerusalem for their sins, both that by the Babylonians and that which completed their ruin by the Romans, with some of the grounds of God's controversy with them. God threatens,
O that the nations of the earth, at this day, would hearken to rebukes and warnings which this chapter gives!
Isa 3:1-8
The prophet, in the close of the foregoing chapter, had given a necessary caution to all not to put confidence in man, or any creature; he had also given a general reason for that caution, taken from the frailty of human life and the vanity and weakness of human powers. Here he gives a particular reason for it-God was now about to ruin all their creature-confidences, so that they should meet with nothing but disappointments in all their expectations from them (v. 1): The stay and the staff shall be taken away, all their supports, of what kind soever, all the things they trusted to and looked for help and relief from. Their church and kingdom had now grown old and were going to decay, and they were (after the manner of aged men, Zec. 8:4) leaning on a staff: now God threatens to take away their staff, and then they must fall of course, to take away the stays of both the city and the country, of Jerusalem and of Judah, which are indeed stays to one another, and, if one fail, the other feels from it. He that does this is the Lord, the Lord of hosts-Adon, the Lord that is himself the stay or foundation; if that stay depart, all other stays certainly break under us, for he is the strength of them all. He that is the Lord, the ruler, that has authority to do it, and the Lord of hosts, that has the ability to do it, he shall take away the stay and the staff. St. Jerome refers this to the sensible decay of the Jewish nation after they had crucified our Saviour, Rom. 11:9, 10. I rather take it as a warning to all nations not to provoke God; for if they make him their enemy, he can and will thus make them miserable. Let us view the particulars.
Isa 3:9-15
Here God proceeds in his controversy with his people. Observe,
Isa 3:16-26
The prophet's business was to show all sorts of people what they had contributed to the national guilt and what share they must expect in the national judgments that were coming. Here he reproves and warns the daughters of Zion, tells the ladies of their faults; and Moses, in the law, having denounced God's wrath against the tender and delicate woman (the prophets being a comment upon the law, Deu. 28:56), he here tells them how they shall smart by the calamities that are coming upon them. Observe,