This biblical text talks about God’s punishment for Jerusalem and Judah because of their sins. Here’s a summary in simpler terms:God will take away everything good from Jerusalem and Judah, including food, water, and strong leaders.
He’ll replace wise rulers with foolish children, causing chaos and oppression among the people. The text describes how people will be so desperate they’ll beg anyone with clothes to become their leader.
The passage explains that Jerusalem and Judah have fallen because they’ve gone against God with their words and actions. They’re not even trying to hide their sins anymore, which will bring them trouble.
The text then criticizes leaders who take advantage of the poor and warns that God will judge them harshly. It also talks about how the women of Zion (Jerusalem) are too proud and showy, walking around with their heads held high and making noise with their fancy jewelry.
As punishment, God will take away all their beautiful things and replace them with ugly and uncomfortable items. The city will be left in ruins, with its men killed in battle and its gates empty and sad.
1599 Geneva Bible Version: Isaiah 3
3 1 For the sin of the people, God will take away the wise men, and give them foolish princes. 14 The covetousness of the governors. 26 The pride of the women.
1 For lo, the Lord God of hosts will take away from Jerusalem and from Judah the stay [a]and the strength: even all the stay of bread, and all the stay of water,
2 The strong man, and the man of war, [b]the judge, and the Prophet, the prudent and the aged,
3 The captain of fifty, and the honorable, and the counselor, and the cunning artificer, and [c]eloquent man.
4 And I will appoint [d]children to be their princes, and babes shall rule over them.
5 The people shall be [e]oppressed one of another, and every one by his neighbor: the children shall presume against the ancient, and the vile against the honorable.
6 When everyone shall [f]take hold of his brother of the house of his father, and say, Thou hast clothing, thou shalt be our prince, and let this fall be under thine hand:
7 In that day he shall [g]swear, saying, I cannot be an helper: for there is no bread in mine house, nor clothing: therefore make me no prince of the people.
8 Doubtless Jerusalem is fallen, and Judah is fallen down, because their tongue and works are against the Lord, to provoke the eyes of his glory.
9 The [h]trial of their countenance testifieth against them, yea, they declare their sins, as Sodom, they hide them not. Woe be unto their souls: for they have rewarded evil unto themselves.
10 [i]Say ye, Surely it shall be well with the just: for they shall eat the fruit of their works.
11 Woe be to the wicked, it shall be evil with him: for the reward of his hands shall be given him.
12 [j]Children are extortioners of my people, and women have rule over them: O my people, they that lead thee, cause thee to err, and destroy the way of thy paths.
13 The Lord standeth up to plead, yea, he standeth to judge the people.
14 The Lord shall enter into judgment with the [k]Ancients of his people and the princes thereof: for ye have eaten up the vineyard: the spoil of the poor is in your houses.
15 What have ye to do that ye beat my people to pieces, [l]and grind the faces of the poor, saith the Lord, even the Lord of hosts?
16 The Lord also saith, [m]Because the daughters of Zion are haughty, and walk with [n]stretched out necks, and with [o]wandering eyes, walking and [p]mincing as they go, and making a [q]tinkling with their feet,
17 Therefore shall the Lord make the heads of the daughters of Zion bald, and the Lord shall discover their secret parts.
18 In that day shall the Lord take away the ornament of the slippers, and the cauls, and the round tyres,
19 The sweet balls, and the bracelets, and the bonnets,
20 The tyres of the head, and the slops, and the headbands, and the tablets, and the earrings,
21 The rings and the mufflers,
22 The costly apparel and the veils, and the wimples, and the crisping pins,
23 And the glasses and the fine linen, and the hoods and the [r]lawns.
24 And instead of sweet savor, there shall be stink, and instead of girdle, a rent, and instead of dressing of the hair, baldness, and instead of a stomacher, a girding of sackcloth, and burning instead of beauty.
25 Thy men shall fall by the [s]sword, and thy strength in the battle.
26 Then shall her gates mourn and lament, and she being desolate, shall sit upon the ground.
