Isaiah 3

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¹For behold, the Lord God of armies is going to remove from Jerusalem and Judah Both supply and support, the entire supply of bread And the entire supply of water; ✦ ²The mighty man and the warrior, The judge and the prophet, The diviner and the elder, ✦ ³The captain of fifty and the esteemed person, The counselor and the expert artisan, And the skillful enchanter. ✦ ⁴And I will make mere boys their leaders, And mischievous children will rule over them, ✦ ⁵And the people will be oppressed, Each one by another, and each one by his neighbor; The youth will assault the elder, And the contemptible person will assault the one honored. ✦ ⁶When a man lays hold of his brother in his father’s house, saying, “You have a cloak, you shall be our ruler! And these ruins will be under your authority,” ✦ ⁷He will protest on that day, saying, “I will not be your healer, For in my house there is neither bread nor cloak; You should not appoint me ruler of the people.” ✦ ⁸For Jerusalem has stumbled and Judah has fallen, Because their speech and their actions are against the Lord, To rebel against His glorious presence. ✦ ⁹The 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. ✦ ¹⁰Say to the righteous that it will go well for them, For they will eat the fruit of their actions. ✦ ¹¹Woe to the wicked! It will go badly for him, For what he deserves will be done to him. ✦ ¹²My people! Their oppressors treat them violently, And women rule over them. My people! Those who guide you lead you astray And confuse the direction of your paths. ✦ ¹³¶The Lord arises to contend, And stands to judge the people. ✦ ¹⁴The 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. ✦ ¹⁵“What do you mean by crushing My people And oppressing the face of the poor?” Declares the Lord God of armies. ✦ ¹⁶¶Moreover, the Lord said, “Because the daughters of Zion are haughty And walk with heads held high and seductive eyes, And go along with mincing steps And jingle the anklets on their feet, ✦ ¹⁷The Lord will afflict the scalp of the daughters of Zion with scabs, And the Lord will make their foreheads bare.” ✦ ¹⁸On that day the Lord will take away the beauty of their anklets, headbands, crescent ornaments, ✦ ¹⁹dangling earrings, bracelets, veils, ✦ ²⁰headdresses, ankle chains, sashes, perfume boxes, amulets, ✦ ²¹finger rings, nose rings, ✦ ²²festive robes, outer garments, shawls, purses, ²³papyrus garments, undergarments, headbands, and veils. ✦ ²⁴Now it will come about that instead of balsam oil there will be a stench; Instead of a belt, a rope; Instead of well-set hair, a plucked-out scalp; Instead of fine clothes, a robe of sackcloth; And branding instead of beauty. ✦ ²⁵Your men will fall by the sword And your mighty ones in battle. ✦ ²⁶And her gates will lament and mourn, And she will sit deserted on 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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