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.
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.
- BSB 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.
- 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.
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 piety that he reproves you, that he enters with you into judgment?
- Isa 5:7For the vineyard of Yahweh of Armies is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for justice, but, behold, oppression; for righteousness, but, behold, a cry of distress.
- Jas 2:6But you have dishonored the poor man. Don’t the rich oppress you, and personally drag you before the courts?
- Jer 5:27As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit. Therefore they have become great, and grew rich.
- Amos 4:1Listen to this word, you cows of Bashan, who are on the mountain of Samaria, who oppress the poor, who crush the needy, who tell their husbands, “Bring us drinks!”
- Ps 143:2Don’t enter into judgment with your servant, for in your sight no man living is righteous.
- Job 24:9There are those who pluck the fatherless from the breast, and take a pledge of the poor,
- Ps 14:4Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge, who eat up my people as they eat bread, and don’t call on Yahweh?
- Isa 3:2–3the mighty man, the man of war, the judge, the prophet, the diviner, the elder,
- Mic 2:2They covet fields, and seize them; and houses, and take them away: and they oppress a man and his house, even a man and his heritage.
- Job 34:23For he doesn’t need to consider a man further, that he should go before God in judgment.
- Mic 6:10Are there yet treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked, and a short ephah that is accursed?
- Matt 21:33“Hear another parable. There was a man who was a master of a household, who planted a vineyard, set a hedge about it, dug a wine press in it, built a tower, leased it out to farmers, and went into another country.
- Job 24:2–7There are people who remove the landmarks. They violently take away flocks, and feed them.
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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
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.