3The captain of fifty and the honorable man,
         The counselor and the expert artisan,
         And the skillful enchanter.

4And I will make mere lads their princes,
         And capricious children will rule over them,

5And the people will be oppressed,
         Each one by another, and each one by his neighbor;
         The youth will storm against the elder
         And the inferior against the honorable.

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 charge,”

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 bears witness against them,
         And they display their sin like Sodom;
         They do not even conceal it.
         Woe to them!
         For they have brought evil on themselves.

10Say to the righteous that it will go well with them,
         For they will eat the fruit of their actions.

11Woe to the wicked! It will go badly with him,
         For what he deserves will be done to him.

12O My people! Their oppressors are children,
         And women rule over them.
         O My people! Those who guide you lead you astray
         And confuse the direction of your paths.

God Will Judge

13The LORD arises to contend,
         And stands to judge the people.

14The LORD enters into judgment with the elders and princes of His people,
         “It is you who have devoured the vineyard;
         The plunder of the poor is in your houses.

15“What do you mean by crushing My people
         And grinding the face of the poor?”
         Declares the Lord GOD of hosts.

Judah’s Women Denounced

16Moreover, the LORD said, “Because the daughters of Zion are proud
         And walk with heads held high and seductive eyes,
         And go along with mincing steps
         And tinkle the bangles on their feet,

17Therefore the Lord will afflict the scalp of the daughters of Zion with scabs,
         And the LORD will make their foreheads bare.”

18In 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, 22festal robes, outer tunics, cloaks, money purses, 23hand mirrors, undergarments, turbans and veils.

24Now it will come about that instead of sweet perfume there will be putrefaction;
         Instead of a belt, a rope;
         Instead of well-set hair, a plucked-out scalp;
         Instead of fine clothes, a donning 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 deserted she will sit on the ground.

NASB ©1995

American Standard Version
the captain of fifty, and the honorable man, and the counsellor, and the expert artificer, and the skilful enchanter.

Douay-Rheims Bible
The captain over fifty, and the honourable in countenance, and the counsellor, and the architect, and the skilful in eloquent speech.

Darby Bible Translation
the captain of fifty, and the honourable man, and the counsellor, and the clever among artificers, and the one versed in enchantments.

English Revised Version
the captain of fifty, and the honourable man, and the counsellor, and the cunning artificer, and the skilful enchanter.

Webster's Bible Translation
The captain of fifty, and the honorable man, and the counselor, and the skillful artificer, and the eloquent orator.

World English Bible
the captain of fifty, the honorable man, the counselor, the skilled craftsman, and the clever enchanter.

Young's Literal Translation
Head of fifty, and accepted of faces, And counsellor, and the wise of artificers, And the intelligent of charmers.A Paradox of Selling and Buying
'Ye have sold yourselves for nought; and ye shall be redeemed without money.'--ISAIAH iii. 3. THE first reference of these words is of course to the Captivity. They come in the midst of a grand prophecy of freedom, all full of leaping gladness and buoyant hope. The Seer speaks to the captives; they had 'sold themselves for nought.' What had they gained by their departure from God?--bondage. What had they won in exchange for their freedom?-- only the hard service of Babylon. As Deuteronomy puts it: …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Marching Orders
'Depart ye, depart ye, go ye out from thence, touch no unclean thing; go ye out of the midst of her; be ye clean, that bear the vessels of the Lord. 12. For ye shall not go out with haste, nor go by flight: for the Lord will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your reward.'--ISAIAH iii. 11, 12. These ringing notes are parts of a highly poetic picture of that great deliverance which inspired this prophet's most exalted strains. It is described with constant allusion to the first Exodus, …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Christian view of Sorrow
"A man of sorrow, and acquainted with grief" Is. Iii. 3. There is one great distinction between the productions of Heathen and of Christian art. While the first exhibits the perfection of physical form and of intellectual beauty, the latter expresses, also, the majesty of sorrow, the grandeur of endurance, the idea of triumph refined from agony. In all those shapes of old there is nothing like the glory of the martyr; the sublimity of patience and resignation; the dignity of the thorn-crowned Jesus. …
E. H. Chapin—The Crown of Thorns

The Personal History of Herod - the Two Worlds in Jerusalem.
It is an intensely painful history, [581] in the course of which Herod made his way to the throne. We look back nearly two and a half centuries to where, with the empire of Alexander, Palestine fell to his successors. For nearly a century and a half it continued the battle-field of the Egyptian and Syrian kings (the Ptolemies and the Seleucidæ). At last it was a corrupt High-Priesthood - with which virtually the government of the land had all along lain - that betrayed Israel's precious trust. …
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah

How those are to be Admonished who Praise the Unlawful Things of which they are Conscious, and those who While Condemning Them, in no Wise Guard
(Admonition 32.) Differently to be admonished are they who even praise the unlawful things which they do, and those who censure what is wrong, and yet avoid it not. For they who even praise the unlawful things which they do are to be admonished to consider how for the most part they offend more by the mouth than by deeds. For by deeds they perpetrate wrong things in their own persons only; but with the mouth they bring out wickedness in the persons of as many as there are souls of hearers, to …
Leo the Great—Writings of Leo the Great

"But Whereunto Shall I Liken this Generation?"
Matth. xi. 16.--"But whereunto shall I liken this generation?" When our Lord Jesus, who had the tongue of the learned, and spoke as never man spake, did now and then find a difficulty to express the matter herein contained. "What shall we do?" The matter indeed is of great importance, a soul matter, and therefore of great moment, a mystery, and therefore not easily expressed. No doubt he knows how to paint out this to the life, that we might rather behold it with our eyes, than hear it with our …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

Brief Memoir of Thomas Watson
Compiled by C. H. Spurgeon Thomas Watson's Body of Practical Divinity is one of the most precious of the peerless works of the Puritans; and those best acquainted with it prize it most. Watson was one of the most concise, racy, illustrative, and suggestive of those eminent divines who made the Puritan age the Augustan period of evangelical literature. There is a happy union of sound doctrine, heart-searching experience and practical wisdom throughout all his works, and his Body of Divinity is, beyond …
Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity

Of Civil Government.
OF CIVIL GOVERNMENT. This chapter consists of two principal heads,--I. General discourse on the necessity, dignity, and use of Civil Government, in opposition to the frantic proceedings of the Anabaptists, sec. 1-3. II. A special exposition of the three leading parts of which Civil Government consists, sec. 4-32. The first part treats of the function of Magistrates, whose authority and calling is proved, sec. 4-7. Next, the three Forms of civil government are added, sec. 8. Thirdly, Consideration …
John Calvin—The Institutes of the Christian Religion

The Call of Isaiah
The long reign of Uzziah [also known as Azariah] in the land of Judah and Benjamin was characterized by a prosperity greater than that of any other ruler since the death of Solomon, nearly two centuries before. For many years the king ruled with discretion. Under the blessing of Heaven his armies regained some of the territory that had been lost in former years. Cities were rebuilt and fortified, and the position of the nation among the surrounding peoples was greatly strengthened. Commerce revived, …
Ellen Gould White—The Story of Prophets and Kings

Letter Li to the virgin Sophia
To the Virgin Sophia He praises her for having despised the glory of the world: and, setting forth the praises, privileges, and rewards of Religious Virgins, exhorts her to persevere. Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux, to the Virgin Sophia, that she may keep the title of virginity and attain its reward. I. Favour is deceitful and beauty is vain; but a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised (Prov. xxxi. 31). I rejoice with you, my daughter, in the glory of your virtue, whereby, as I hear, you …
Saint Bernard of Clairvaux—Some Letters of Saint Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux

Ahaz
The accession of Ahaz to the throne brought Isaiah and his associates face to face with conditions more appalling than any that had hitherto existed in the realm of Judah. Many who had formerly withstood the seductive influence of idolatrous practices were now being persuaded to take part in the worship of heathen deities. Princes in Israel were proving untrue to their trust; false prophets were arising with messages to lead astray; even some of the priests were teaching for hire. Yet the leaders …
Ellen Gould White—The Story of Prophets and Kings

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