1 For, lo, the Lord, Jehovah of Hosts, Is turning aside from Jerusalem, And from Judah, stay and staff, Every stay of bread, and every stay of water.
2 Hero and man of war, judge and prophet, And diviner and elder,
3 Head of fifty, and accepted of faces, And counsellor, and the wise of artificers, And the intelligent of charmers.
4 And I have made youths their heads, And sucklings rule over them.
5 And the people hath exacted -- man upon man, Even a man on his neighbour, Enlarge themselves do the youths against the aged, And the lightly esteemed against the honoured.
6 When one layeth hold on his brother, `Of' the house of his father, `by' the garment, `Come, a ruler thou art to us, And this ruin `is' under thy hand.'
7 He lifteth up, in that day, saying: `I am not a binder up, And in my house is neither bread nor garment, Ye do not make me a ruler of the people.'
8 For stumbled hath Jerusalem, and Judah hath fallen, For their tongue and their doings `are' against Jehovah, To provoke the eyes of His glory.
9 The appearance of their faces witnessed against them, And their sin, as Sodom, they declared, They have not hidden! Wo to their soul, For they have done to themselves evil.
10 Say ye to the righteous, that `it is' good, Because the fruit of their doings they eat.
11 Wo to the wicked -- evil, Because the deed of his hand is done to him.
12 My people -- its exactors `are' sucklings, And women have ruled over it. My people -- thy eulogists are causing to err, And the way of thy paths swallowed up.
13 Jehovah hath stood up to plead, And He is standing to judge the peoples.
14 Jehovah into judgment doth enter With elders of His people, and its heads: `And ye, ye have consumed the vineyard, Plunder of the poor `is' in your houses.
15 What -- to you? ye bruise My people, And the faces of the poor ye grind.' An affirmation of the Lord, Jehovah of Hosts, And Jehovah saith:
16 `Because that daughters of Zion have been haughty, And they walk stretching out the neck, And deceiving `with' the eyes, Walking and mincing they go, And with their feet they make a tinkling,
17 The Lord also hath scabbed The crown of the head of daughters of Zion, And Jehovah their simplicity exposeth.
18 In that day doth the Lord turn aside The beauty of the tinkling ornaments, And of the embroidered works, And of the round tires like moons,
19 Of the drops, and the bracelets, and the mufflers,
20 Of the bonnets, and the ornaments of the legs, And of the bands, And of the perfume boxes, and the amulets,
21 Of the seals, and of the nose-rings,
22 Of the costly apparel, and of the mantles, And of the coverings, and of the purses,
23 Of the mirrors, and of the linen garments, And of the hoods, and of the vails,
24 And it hath been, instead of spice is muck, And instead of a girdle, a rope, And instead of curled work, baldness, And instead of a stomacher a girdle of sackcloth.
25 For instead of glory, thy men by sword do fall, And thy might in battle.
26 And lamented and mourned have her openings, Yea, she hath been emptied, on the earth she sitteth!
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,