Isaiah 3

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¹For, behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts, doth take away from Jerusalem and from Judah the stay and the staff, the whole stay of bread, and the whole stay of water. ✦ ²The mighty man, and the man of war, the judge, and the prophet, and the prudent, and the ancient, ✦ ³The captain of fifty, and the honourable man, and the counsellor, and the cunning artificer, and the eloquent orator. ✦ ⁴And I will give children to be their princes, and babes shall rule over them. ✦ ⁵And the people shall be oppressed, every one by another, and every one by his neighbour: the child shall behave himself proudly against the ancient, and the base against the honourable. ✦ ⁶When a man shall take hold of his brother of the house of his father, saying, Thou hast clothing, be thou our ruler, and let this ruin be under thy hand: ✦ ⁷In that day shall he swear, saying, I will not be an healer; for in my house is neither bread nor clothing: make me not a ruler of the people. ✦ ⁸For Jerusalem is ruined, and Judah is fallen: because their tongue and their doings are against the LORD, to provoke the eyes of his glory. ✦ ⁹The 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. ✦ ¹⁰Say ye to the righteous, that it shall be well with him: for they shall eat the fruit of their doings. ✦ ¹¹Woe unto the wicked! it shall be ill with him: for the reward of his hands shall be given him. ✦ ¹²As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, they which lead thee cause thee to err, and destroy the way of thy paths. ✦ ¹³The LORD standeth up to plead, and standeth to judge the people. ✦ ¹⁴The 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. ✦ ¹⁵What mean ye that ye beat my people to pieces, and grind the faces of the poor? saith the Lord GOD of hosts. ✦ ¹⁶Moreover the LORD saith, Because the daughters of Zion are haughty, and walk with stretched forth necks and wanton eyes, walking and mincing as they go, and making a tinkling with their feet: ✦ ¹⁷Therefore the LORD will smite with a scab the crown of the head of the daughters of Zion, and the LORD will discover their secret parts. ✦ ¹⁸In that day the Lord will take away the bravery of their tinkling ornaments about their feet, and their cauls, and their round tires like the moon, ✦ ¹⁹The chains, and the bracelets, and the mufflers, ✦ ²⁰The bonnets, and the ornaments of the legs, and the headbands, and the tablets, and the earrings, ✦ ²¹The rings, and nose jewels, ✦ ²²The changeable suits of apparel, and the mantles, and the wimples, and the crisping pins, ²³The glasses, and the fine linen, and the hoods, and the vails. ✦ ²⁴And it shall come to pass, that instead of sweet smell there shall be stink; and instead of a girdle a rent; and instead of well set hair baldness; and instead of a stomacher a girding of sackcloth; and burning instead of beauty. ✦ ²⁵Thy men shall fall by the sword, and thy mighty in the war. ✦ ²⁶And her gates shall lament and mourn; and she being desolate shall sit upon the ground. ✦

Tap any verse for its study page. Underlined terms mark a concept, person, or place; ✦ marks verses with cross-references.

Where this chapter connects

Ezek 16 ·6 Gen 24 ·5 2 Chr 36 ·5 Isa 1 ·5 Ezek 8 ·4 Isa 9 ·4 Mic 3 ·4 Deut 28 ·4

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 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.

Resources, by level

Lay

★ Start hereVideoBibleProject — video overviews & word studiesBibleProject · 5–10 min · Free · evangelical
Free animated overviews of every book of the Bible, plus themes and Hebrew/Greek word studies — the best visual on-ramp to any book. (Biblical-theology, broadly evangelical, not distinctly Reformed.)
★ Start hereAudioThrough the WordThrough the Word · ~10 min/chapter · Free · evangelical
A clear ~10-minute audio teaching for every one of the Bible's 1,189 chapters — the most systematic free way to study chapter by chapter.

Pastoral

SermonChuck Smith — C2000 SeriesChuck Smith · Free · evangelical
Free verse-by-verse audio through the entire Bible from the founder of Calvary Chapel.

Seminary

★ Start hereCommentaryThe Book of Isaiah (NICOT)John N. Oswalt · Paid · evangelical
The standard evangelical commentary on Isaiah — thorough and devotionally warm.

Commentaries & study tools

VideoBibleProject — Isaiah videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
VideoWatch teaching on Isaiah 3YouTube · Lay · Free
Sermons and chapter teaching from across YouTube.
CommentaryEnduring Word — Isaiah 3David Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical
Readable, verse-by-verse exposition of the whole chapter.
CommentaryMatthew Henry on IsaiahMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
ReferenceBlue Letter Bible — Isaiah 3Blue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free
Interlinear, lexicon, and study tools across the chapter.

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