Isaiah 3

Judgment on Judah and Jerusalem

¹For behold, the Lord God of hosts

is taking away from Jerusalem and from Judah

support and supply,

all support of bread,

and all support of water;

²the mighty man and the soldier,

the judge and the prophet,

the diviner and the elder,

³the captain of fifty

and the man of rank,

the counselor and the skillful magician

and the expert in charms.

⁴And I will make boys their princes,

and infants shall rule over them.

⁵And the people will oppress one another,

every one his fellow

and every one his neighbor;

the youth will be insolent to the elder,

and the despised to the honorable.

⁶For a man will take hold of his brother

in the house of his father, saying:

“You have a cloak;

you shall be our leader,

and this heap of ruins

shall be under your rule”;

⁷in that day he will speak out, saying:

“I will not be a healer;

in my house there is neither bread nor cloak;

you shall not make me

leader of the people.”

⁸For Jerusalem has stumbled,

and Judah has fallen,

because their speech and their deeds are against the Lord,

defying his glorious presence.

⁹For the look on their faces bears witness against them;

they proclaim their sin like Sodom;

they do not hide it.

Woe to them!

For they have brought evil on themselves.

¹⁰Tell the righteous that it shall be well with them,

for they shall eat the fruit of their deeds.

¹¹Woe to the wicked! It shall be ill with him,

for what his hands have dealt out shall be done to him.

¹²My people—infants are their oppressors,

and women rule over them.

O my people, your guides mislead you

and they have swallowed up the course of your paths.

¹³The Lord has taken his place to contend;

he stands to judge peoples.

¹⁴The Lord will enter into judgment

with the elders and princes of his people:

“It is you who have devoured the vineyard,

the spoil of the poor is in your houses.

¹⁵What do you mean by crushing my people,

by grinding the face of the poor?”

declares the Lord God of hosts.

¹⁶The Lord said:

Because the daughters of Zion are haughty

and walk with outstretched necks,

glancing wantonly with their eyes,

mincing along as they go,

tinkling with their feet,

¹⁷therefore the Lord will strike with a scab

the heads of the daughters of Zion,

and the Lord will lay bare their secret parts.

¹⁸In that day the Lord will take away the finery of the anklets, the headbands, and the crescents;¹⁹the pendants, the bracelets, and the scarves;²⁰the headdresses, the armlets, the sashes, the perfume boxes, and the amulets;²¹the signet rings and nose rings;²²the festal robes, the mantles, the cloaks, and the handbags;²³the mirrors, the linen garments, the turbans, and the veils.

²⁴Instead of perfume there will be rottenness;

and instead of a belt, a rope;

and instead of well-set hair, baldness;

and instead of a rich robe, a skirt of sackcloth;

and branding instead of beauty.

²⁵Your men shall fall by the sword

and your mighty men in battle.

²⁶And her gates shall lament and mourn;

empty, she shall sit on the ground.