Isaiah 3 is the third chapter of the Book of Isaiah in the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
'' Old Testament of the Christian

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts ...

. This book contains the prophecies attributed to the prophet

Isaiah Isaiah ( or ; he, , ''Yəšaʿyāhū'', "God is Salvation"), also known as Isaias, was the 8th-century BC Israelite prophet after whom the Book of Isaiah is named. Within the text of the Book of Isaiah, Isaiah himself is referred to as "the ...

, and is one of the

Books of the Prophets Nevi'im (; he, נְבִיאִים ''Nəvīʾīm'', Tiberian: ''Năḇīʾīm,'' "Prophets", literally "spokespersons") is the second major division of the Hebrew Bible (the ''Tanakh''), lying between the Torah (instruction) and Ketuvim (wri ...

. This chapter describes how the corrupt leadership brought about the collapse of the social condition of

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

, and contains Isaiah's prophecies that "For the sin of the people, God will take away the wise men, and give them foolish princes".

Text

The original text was written in

Hebrew language Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

. This chapter is divided into 26 verses.

Textual witnesses

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter in

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

are of the

Masoretic Text The Masoretic Text (MT or 𝕸; he, נֻסָּח הַמָּסוֹרָה, Nūssāḥ Hammāsōrā, lit. 'Text of the Tradition') is the authoritative Hebrew and Aramaic text of the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh) in Rabbinic Judaism. ...

tradition, which includes some fragments among

Dead Sea Scrolls The Dead Sea Scrolls (also the Qumran Caves Scrolls) are ancient Jewish and Hebrew religious manuscripts discovered between 1946 and 1956 at the Qumran Caves in what was then Mandatory Palestine, near Ein Feshkha in the West Bank, on the ...

, such as the Isaiah Scroll (1Qlsa; 356-100 BCE; all verses) and 4QIsa (4Q56; with extant verses 14–22); as well as

codices The codex (plural codices ) was the historical ancestor of the modern book. Instead of being composed of sheets of paper, it used sheets of vellum, papyrus, or other materials. The term ''codex'' is often used for ancient manuscript books, with ...

, such as Codex Cairensis (895 CE), the Petersburg Codex of the Prophets (916), Aleppo Codex (10th century),

Codex Leningradensis The Leningrad Codex ( la, Codex Leningradensis [Leningrad Book]; he, כתב יד לנינגרד) is the oldest complete manuscript of the Hebrew Bible in Hebrew, using the Masoretic Text and Tiberian vocalization. According to its colopho ...

(1008). There is also a translation into

Koine Greek Koine Greek (; Koine el, ἡ κοινὴ διάλεκτος, hē koinè diálektos, the common dialect; ), also known as Hellenistic Greek, common Attic, the Alexandrian dialect, Biblical Greek or New Testament Greek, was the common supra-reg ...

known as the

Septuagint The Greek Old Testament, or Septuagint (, ; from the la, septuaginta, lit=seventy; often abbreviated ''70''; in Roman numerals, LXX), is the earliest extant Greek translation of books from the Hebrew Bible. It includes several books beyond ...

, made in the last few centuries BCE. Extant ancient manuscripts of the

version include

Codex Vaticanus The Codex Vaticanus ( The Vatican, Bibl. Vat., Vat. gr. 1209), designated by siglum B or 03 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), δ 1 ( von Soden), is a fourth-century Christian manuscript of a Greek Bible, containing the majority of the Greek Old ...

(B;

\mathfrak

^B; 4th century),

Codex Sinaiticus The Codex Sinaiticus ( Shelfmark: London, British Library, Add MS 43725), designated by siglum [Aleph] or 01 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering of New Testament manuscripts), δ 2 (in the von Soden numbering of New Testament manuscript ...

(S; BHK:

\mathfrak

^S; 4th century),

Codex Alexandrinus The Codex Alexandrinus (London, British Library, Royal MS 1. D. V-VIII), designated by the siglum A or 02 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering of New Testament manuscripts), δ 4 (in the von Soden numbering of New Testament manuscripts), is a manu ...

(A;

\mathfrak

^A; 5th century) and

Codex Marchalianus Codex Marchalianus designated by siglum Q is a 6th-century Greek manuscript copy of the Greek version of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh or Old Testament) known as the Septuagint. The text was written on vellum in uncial letters. Palaeographically it ...

(Q;

\mathfrak

^Q; 6th century).

Parashot

The '' parashah'' sections listed here are based on the Aleppo Codex. Isaiah 3 is a part of the ''Prophecies about Judah and Israel (

Isaiah 1 Isaiah 1 is the first chapter of the Book of Isaiah, one of the Book of the Prophets in the Hebrew Bible, which is the Old Testament of the Christian Bible.J. D. Davis. 1960. ''A Dictionary of the Bible''. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book Hou ...

-12)''. : open ''parashah''; : closed ''parashah''. : 3:1-12 3:13-15 3:16-17 3:18-26 :1

Structure

Motyer divides this chapter into two sections: * 3:1-15: shows the collapse of human leadership in contrast to the action of "the Lord, the Almighty" * 3:16-4:1: shows how the divine judgement work out, transforming prosperity into poverty, and prepares for the vision of the Lord's next action (described in

Isaiah 4 Isaiah 4 is the fourth chapter of the Book of Isaiah in the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. This book contains the prophecies attributed to the prophet Isaiah, and is one of the Books of the Prophets.Theodore Hiebert ...

Judgement on Jerusalem and Judah (3:1–15)

Verses 1-15 speaks of the imminent collapse of the society in a unified composition within the inclusion of the phrase "the Lord, the Almighty" ( of hosts), as follows: :A The act of the Lord, the Almighty (verse 1a) ::B The collapse of leadership and social disorder (verses 1b-5) :::C Vignette: leadership debased (verse 6-7) ::::D Jerusalem's collapse explained (verse 8) ::::D Jerusalem's judgment pronounced (verses 9-11) ::B Social oppression and misleading leaders (verse 12) :::C Vignette: leadership brought to trial (verses 13-15a) :A The word of the Lord, the Almighty (verse 15b)

Verse 1

:''For, behold, the Lord, the 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'' *"For": translated from , ', as the opening word to the chapter, connecting to the last verse in the previous chapter ( 2:22), justifying "the call to stop trusting in man." *"The Lord, the of hosts" (NIV: "The Lord, the LORD Almighty): translated from , ''ha-

YHWH The Tetragrammaton (; ), or Tetragram, is the four-letter Hebrew theonym (transliterated as YHWH), the name of God in the Hebrew Bible. The four letters, written and read from right to left (in Hebrew), are ''yodh'', '' he'', '' waw'', and ...

''Isaiah 3:1 Hebrew
- Biblehub.com *"The stay and the staff" ( ESV: "support and supply"): translated from , '' ū-'', where "mashenah" is the feminine form of the masculine word "mashen", so here the masculine and feminine forms of the

noun A noun () is a word that generally functions as the name of a specific object or set of objects, such as living creatures, places, actions, qualities, states of existence, or ideas.Example nouns for: * Living creatures (including people, alive, ...

are used, symbolising completeness. Keil and Delitzsch render them as "supporter and means of support", and, among all, "bread" and "water" are first named as the "two indispensable conditions and the lowest basis of human life". Both alludes to "the structure of the society, without which there would be chaos."

Verse 15

King James Version The King James Version (KJV), also the King James Bible (KJB) and the Authorized Version, is an Bible translations into English, English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England, which was commissioned in 1604 and publis ...

:''What mean ye that ye beat my people to pieces, and grind the faces of the poor? saith the Lord GOD of hosts.'' New International Version :''What do you mean by crushing my people and grinding the faces of the poor?" declares the Lord, the LORD Almighty.'' *"What mean ye" (NIV: "What do you mean"): from the Hebrew word written (כ) as , but read (ק) as , ''mah-lakem'', lit. "What is to you?" according to

Rashi Shlomo Yitzchaki ( he, רבי שלמה יצחקי; la, Salomon Isaacides; french: Salomon de Troyes, 22 February 1040 – 13 July 1105), today generally known by the acronym Rashi (see below), was a medieval French rabbi and author of a compre ...

. *"Beat ... to pieces" (NIV: "crushing"): translated from , derived from the root word , ', also meaning "to bruise, to break in pieces, to oppress, to contrite". *"The Lord GOD of hosts" (NIV: "The Lord, the LORD Almighty): translated from , ''

''Isaiah 3:15 Hebrew
- Biblehub.com

A warning to the daughters of Zion (3:16–26)

There are two contrasts in this section: the first one (verses 16–17) shows how the daughters of Zion are blemished as God's judgment falls on sinners, whereas the second contrast (verses 18–24) itemizes the luxury in life's ease which will be lost in sorrow. According to Susanne Scholz (2010), there is a common mistranslation of the Hebrew word ''pōt'' as "forehead" or "scalp". Also often translated as "genitals" or "secret parts", Scholz believes that a more accurate translation of the word in context is " cunt", as first suggested by J. Cheryl Exum's ''The Ethics of Biblical Violence against Women'' (1995). They and other scholars such as Johnny Miles (2006) conclude that this stripping of women's clothes to expose their genitals refers to

sexual violence Sexual violence is any sexual act or attempt to obtain a sexual act by violence or coercion, act to traffic a person, or act directed against a person's sexuality, regardless of the relationship to the victim.World Health Organization., World re ...

as God's punishment for women's arrogance and pride.

Verse 16

: ''Moreover the Lord says:'' :: ''“Because the daughters of Zion are haughty,'' :: ''And walk with outstretched necks'' :: ''And wanton eyes,'' :: ''Walking and mincing as they go,'' :: ''Making a jingling with their feet''. (NKJV) Cross reference: Psalm 75

Verse 17

: ''Therefore the Lord will strike with a scab'' : ''The crown of the head of the daughters of Zion,'' : ''And the LORD will uncover their secret parts.”'' (NKJV)

Clothing and finery of the daughters of Zion

:Source: ''In that day the Lord will take away the finery:'' * ''

hapax legomenon In corpus linguistics, a ''hapax legomenon'' ( also or ; ''hapax legomena''; sometimes abbreviated to ''hapax'', plural ''hapaxes'') is a word or an expression that occurs only once within a context: either in the written record of an entire ...

Verse 24

:''And so it shall be:'' ::''Instead of a sweet smell there will be a stench;'' ::''Instead of a sash, a rope;'' ::''Instead of well-set hair, baldness;'' ::''Instead of a rich robe, a girding of sackcloth;'' ::''And branding instead of beauty.'' *"Branding": or "burning scar": from , ', a noun form only used here in the whole Bible which is "an unexceptionable formation" from , ' (; ; ; ). It is used here, with the reverse word order compared to the previous four sets of items, to achieve a rhyme (''ki ṯa-ḥaṯ yō-p̄î'') to end the list and to give "the effect of a tailing off into sadness". All the luxury the people enjoyed was itemized (verses 18–23), and then with five times "instead" (verse 24), their ease would be exchanged for mourning.

Verses 3:25–4:1

This section, which continues to 4:1, states without any imagery how the city in actuality is bereft.

Verse 25

:''Your men shall fall by the sword,'' :''And your mighty in the war.'' *"Mighty": lit. "strength".Note on Isaiah 3:25 in the New King James Version. This verse shows that "sin ends in death."