And the gates of Zion will lament and mourn; destitute, she will sit on the ground.
Parallel translations
- WEB Her gates shall lament and mourn; and she shall be desolate and sit on the ground.
- KJV And her gates shall lament and mourn; and she being desolate shall sit upon the ground.
- NKJV Her gates shall lament and mourn, And she being desolate shall sit on the ground.
- NASB And her gates will lament and mourn, And she will sit deserted on the ground.
- NLT The gates of Zion will weep and mourn. The city will be like a ravaged woman, huddled on the ground.
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
Personified Jerusalem mourns at her gates and sits desolate on the ground, picturing a city emptied and bereaved. It captures the grief and emptiness that follow judgment.
Overview
City gates were centers of commerce and justice, so their lament signals the collapse of public life. The image of a widow sitting on the ground anticipates the desolation later associated with the exile (Lamentations 1:1). Yet within Isaiah's larger message, such judgment is never God's final word, for He promises restoration to a humbled remnant.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Lam 2:10The elders of the Daughter of Zion sit on the ground in silence. They have thrown dust on their heads and put on sackcloth. The young women of Jerusalem have bowed their heads to the ground.
- Jer 14:2“Judah mourns and her gates languish. Her people wail for the land, and a cry goes up from Jerusalem.
- Lam 1:4The roads to Zion mourn, because no one comes to her appointed feasts. All her gates are deserted; her priests groan, her maidens grieve, and she herself is bitter with anguish.
- Job 2:13Then they sat on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights, but no one spoke a word to him because they saw how intense his suffering was.
- Luke 19:44They will level you to the ground—you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation from God.”
- Ezek 26:16All the princes of the sea will descend from their thrones, remove their robes, and strip off their embroidered garments. Clothed with terror, they will sit on the ground, trembling every moment, appalled over you.
- Job 2:8And Job took a piece of broken pottery to scrape himself as he sat among the ashes.
- Isa 47:1“Go down and sit in the dust, O Virgin Daughter of Babylon. Sit on the ground without a throne, O Daughter of Chaldea! For you will no longer be called tender or delicate.
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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 3:26 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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