The expression of their faces testifies against them, And they display their sin like Sodom; They do not even conceal it. Woe to them! For they have done evil to themselves.
Parallel translations
- WEB The look of their faces testify against them. They parade their sin like Sodom. They don’t hide it. Woe to their soul! For they have brought disaster upon themselves.
- KJV The shew of their countenance doth witness against them; and they declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not. Woe unto their soul! for they have rewarded evil unto themselves.
- BSB The expression on their faces testifies against them, and like Sodom they flaunt their sin; they do not conceal it. Woe to them, for they have brought disaster upon themselves.
- NKJV The look on their countenance witnesses against them, And they declare their sin as Sodom; They do not hide it. Woe to their soul! For they have brought evil upon themselves.
- NLT The very look on their faces gives them away. They display their sin like the people of Sodom and don’t even try to hide it. They are doomed! They have brought destruction upon themselves.
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
Their very faces betray their guilt as they flaunt their sin like Sodom, without shame. Their brazen, open wickedness brings disaster on themselves.
Overview
The loss of shame, parading sin openly, marks a deep moral corruption likened to Sodom. The 'woe' pronounced shows that they have invited their own ruin. Such hardened sinfulness highlights humanity's need for the transforming grace found only in Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 18
- Gen 13:13Now the men of Sodom were exceedingly wicked and sinners against Yahweh.
- Gen 18:20–21Yahweh said, “Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous,
- Ps 73:6–7Therefore pride is like a chain around their neck. Violence covers them like a garment.
- Prov 30:13There is a generation, oh how lofty are their eyes! Their eyelids are lifted up.
- 2 Kgs 9:30When Jehu had come to Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it; and she painted her eyes, and adorned her head, and looked out at the window.
- Isa 3:16Moreover Yahweh said, “Because the daughters of Zion are haughty, and walk with outstretched necks and flirting eyes, walking to trip as they go, jingling ornaments on their feet;
- Lam 5:16The crown is fallen from our head: Woe to us! for we have sinned.
- Jer 44:16–17“As for the word that you have spoken to us in Yahweh’s name, we will not listen to you.
- Rom 6:23For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
- Gen 19:5–9They called to Lot, and said to him, “Where are the men who came in to you this night? Bring them out to us, that we may have sex with them.”
- Jer 3:3Therefore the showers have been withheld, and there has been no latter rain; yet you have a prostitute’s forehead. You refused to be ashamed.
- 1 Sam 15:32Then Samuel said, “Bring Agag the king of the Amalekites here to me!” Agag came to him cheerfully. Agag said, “Surely the bitterness of death is past.”
- Ps 10:4The wicked, in the pride of his face, has no room in his thoughts for God.
- Prov 8:36But he who sins against me wrongs his own soul. All those who hate me love death.”
- Jer 6:15Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? No, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush. Therefore they shall fall among those who fall; at the time that I visit them, they shall be cast down,” says Yahweh.
- Ezek 23:16As soon as she saw them she lusted after them, and sent messengers to them into Chaldea.
- Dan 7:20and concerning the ten horns that were on its head, and the other horn which came up, and before which three fell, even that horn that had eyes, and a mouth that spoke great things, whose look was more stout than its fellows.
- Hos 13:9You are destroyed, Israel, because you are against me, against your help.
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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 3:9 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.