The LORD brings this charge against the elders and leaders of His people: “You have devoured the vineyard; the plunder of the poor is in your houses.
Parallel translations
- WEB Yahweh will enter into judgment with the elders of his people, and their leaders: “It is you who have eaten up the vineyard. The plunder of the poor is in your houses.
- KJV The 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.
- NKJV The Lord will enter into judgment With the elders of His people And His princes: “For you have eaten up the vineyard; The plunder of the poor is in your houses.
- NASB The Lord enters into judgment with the elders and leaders of His people, “It is you who have devoured the vineyard; The goods stolen from the poor are in your houses.
- NLT The Lord comes forward to pronounce judgment on the elders and rulers of his people: “You have ruined Israel, my vineyard. Your houses are filled with things stolen from the poor.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The LORD brings charges against the elders and leaders for plundering His people, the poor. The nation's leaders are indicted for exploiting the vulnerable.
Overview
God's people are pictured as His vineyard, which the leaders have devoured for their own gain. The plunder of the poor stored in their houses is direct evidence of their guilt. God's special concern for the oppressed shines through, reflecting His just and compassionate character.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Job 22:4Is it for your reverence that He rebukes you and enters into judgment against you?
- Isa 5:7For the vineyard of the LORD of Hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are the plant of His delight. He looked for justice, but saw bloodshed; for righteousness, but heard a cry of distress.
- Jas 2:6But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who oppress you and drag you into court?
- Jer 5:27Like cages full of birds, so their houses are full of deceit. Therefore they have become powerful and rich.
- Amos 4:1Hear this word, you cows of Bashan on Mount Samaria, you women who oppress the poor and crush the needy, who say to your husbands, “Bring us more to drink.”
- Ps 143:2Do not bring Your servant into judgment, for no one alive is righteous before You.
- Job 24:9The fatherless infant is snatched from the breast; the nursing child of the poor is seized for a debt.
- Ps 14:4Will the workers of iniquity never learn? They devour my people like bread; they refuse to call upon the LORD.
- Isa 3:2–3the mighty man and the warrior, the judge and the prophet, the soothsayer and the elder,
- Mic 2:2They covet fields and seize them; they take away houses. They deprive a man of his home, a fellow man of his inheritance.
- Job 34:23For God need not examine a man further or have him approach for judgment.
- Mic 6:10Can I forget any longer, O house of the wicked, the treasures of wickedness and the short ephah, which is accursed?
- Matt 21:33Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it, and built a tower. Then he rented it out to some tenants and went away on a journey.
- Job 24:2–7Men move boundary stones; they pasture stolen flocks.
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Christ at the center
Isaiah sees him most clearly: the virgin's son Immanuel, the child on David's throne, the shoot from Jesse, the light to the nations, and above all the Suffering Servant pierced for our transgressions (ch. 53).
How Isaiah 3:14 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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