◄ Isaiah 3:18 ►
In that day the Lord will take away their finery: their anklets and headbands and crescents;
Study Bible
In that day
This phrase refers to a specific time of judgment and reckoning. In the context of Isaiah, "that day" often points to the Day of the Lord, a time when God intervenes in history to judge and purify His people. It is a theme that runs throughout the prophetic books, indicating a future time of divine action. This phrase sets the stage for the consequences that will follow due to the people's pride and idolatry.

the Lord will take away their finery:
The removal of finery symbolizes the stripping away of pride and self-reliance. In ancient Israel, clothing and adornments were not only a sign of wealth but also of social status and identity. The Lord's action here is a direct response to the people's misplaced trust in material wealth and external appearances rather than in God. This act of taking away is a form of divine judgment meant to humble and bring the people back to reliance on God.

their anklets and headbands and crescents;
Anklets and headbands were common adornments in ancient Near Eastern cultures, often worn by women of status. Crescents, likely referring to crescent-shaped jewelry, may have had associations with pagan worship, as the moon was a common symbol in various ancient religions. The mention of these specific items highlights the cultural practices of the time and suggests a critique of the adoption of foreign customs and idolatry. The removal of these items signifies a cleansing from idolatrous practices and a call to return to covenant faithfulness. This stripping away can be seen as a precursor to the New Testament call to lay aside earthly treasures and seek the kingdom of God.

Persons / Places / Events
1. The Lord (Yahweh)
The sovereign God of Israel, who is executing judgment on His people for their pride and idolatry.

2. The Daughters of Zion
Representing the women of Jerusalem, who are symbolic of the nation’s pride and moral decay.

3. Jerusalem
The capital city of Judah, central to the events of Isaiah's prophecies, often representing the spiritual state of the nation.

4. Isaiah
The prophet through whom God delivers His message of judgment and hope to the people of Judah.

5. The Day of the Lord
A time of divine intervention, often associated with judgment and purification.
Teaching Points
The Danger of Pride and Vanity
The passage warns against the dangers of pride and vanity, as the women of Zion are judged for their focus on external beauty rather than inner righteousness.

God’s Sovereignty in Judgment
God’s removal of finery signifies His control over all aspects of life, including wealth and status. Believers are reminded of the importance of humility and submission to God’s will.

The Transience of Earthly Possessions
The temporary nature of material possessions is highlighted, encouraging believers to invest in eternal treasures rather than fleeting adornments.

The Call to Inner Beauty
The emphasis on external adornment serves as a call to cultivate inner beauty and godliness, which are of lasting value in God’s eyes.

Repentance and Restoration
The judgment serves as a call to repentance, with the hope of restoration for those who turn back to God and seek His righteousness.
Bible Study Questions
1. How does the removal of finery in Isaiah 3:18 reflect the spiritual condition of the people of Judah?

2. In what ways can we guard against the temptation of valuing external appearances over inner character in our own lives?

3. How does the concept of "The Day of the Lord" in Isaiah 3:18 relate to other instances of divine judgment in the Bible?

4. What practical steps can we take to cultivate inner beauty and godliness, as encouraged by 1 Peter 3:3-4?

5. How can the themes of judgment and restoration in Isaiah 3:18 inspire us to live lives of repentance and faithfulness today?
Connections to Other Scriptures
1 Peter 3:3-4
This passage contrasts external adornment with the inner beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is precious in God’s sight, echoing the theme of misplaced priorities in Isaiah 3:18.

Proverbs 31:30
Highlights the fleeting nature of charm and beauty, emphasizing the value of fearing the Lord, which aligns with the critique of vanity in Isaiah 3:18.

Revelation 18:16
Describes the fall of Babylon and the loss of its luxurious adornments, paralleling the removal of finery in Isaiah 3:18 as a symbol of judgment.
Sermons
A Jerusalem Fashion PlateT. De Witt Talmage, D. D.Isaiah 3:16-24
A Mincing GaitF. Delitzsch.Isaiah 3:16-24
Comely Clothing NaturalT. De Witt Talmage, D. D.Isaiah 3:16-24
Costume and MoralsT. De Witt Talmage, D. D.Isaiah 3:16-24
God-Defying Extravagance of Modern SocietyT. De Witt Talmage, D. D.Isaiah 3:16-24
Pride of Beauty and Attire ReprovedIsaiah 3:16-24
The Wanton EyesA. B. Davidson, LL. D.Isaiah 3:16-24
Wanton EyesF. Delitzsch.Isaiah 3:16-24
The Vanity of VanityW. Clarkson Isaiah 3:16-26
People
Isaiah
Places
Jerusalem, Sodom, Zion
Topics
Anklets, Aside, Bangles, Beauty, Bravery, Cauls, Crescent, Crescents, Embroidered, Fillets, Finery, Foot-rings, Glory, Headbands, Moon, Moon-ornaments, Moons, Necklaces, Ornament, Ornaments, Round, Sun-jewels, Suns, Tinkling, Tires, Turn, Works
Dictionary of Bible Themes
Isaiah 3:16-24

     5476   property
     8308   modesty

Isaiah 3:18-19

     5126   arm

Isaiah 3:18-23

     5139   bracelet
     5177   robes
     5399   luxury

Isaiah 3:18-24

     5419   mourning

Library
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

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

"All Our Righteousnesses are as Filthy Rags, and we all do Fade as a Leaf, and Our Iniquities, Like the Wind, have Taken us Away. "
Isaiah lxiv. 6, 7.--"All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags, and we all do fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away." Not only are the direct breaches of the command uncleanness, and men originally and actually unclean, but even our holy actions, our commanded duties. Take a man's civility, religion, and all his universal inherent righteousness,--all are filthy rags. And here the church confesseth nothing but what God accuseth her of, Isa. lxvi. 8, and chap. i. ver. …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

"Thou Shalt Honor Thy Father and Thy Mother. "
From this Commandment we learn that after the excellent works of the first three Commandments there are no better works than to obey and serve all those who are set over us as superiors. For this reason also disobedience is a greater sin than murder, unchastity, theft and dishonesty, and all that these may include. For we can in no better way learn how to distinguish between greater and lesser sins than by noting the order of the Commandments of God, although there are distinctions also within the …
Dr. Martin Luther—A Treatise on Good Works

Concerning Salutations and Recreations, &C.
Concerning Salutations and Recreations, &c. [1273] Seeing the chief end of all religion is to redeem men from the spirit and vain conversation of this world and to lead into inward communion with God, before whom if we fear always we are accounted happy; therefore all the vain customs and habits thereof, both in word and deed, are to be rejected and forsaken by those who come to this fear; such as taking off the hat to a man, the bowings and cringings of the body, and such other salutations of that …
Robert Barclay—Theses Theologicae and An Apology for the True Christian Divinity

A Sermon on Isaiah xxvi. By John Knox.
[In the Prospectus of our Publication it was stated, that one discourse, at least, would be given in each number. A strict adherence to this arrangement, however, it is found, would exclude from our pages some of the most talented discourses of our early Divines; and it is therefore deemed expedient to depart from it as occasion may require. The following Sermon will occupy two numbers, and we hope, that from its intrinsic value, its historical interest, and the illustrious name of its author, it …
John Knox—The Pulpit Of The Reformation, Nos. 1, 2 and 3.

The Prophet Micah.
PRELIMINARY REMARKS. Micah signifies: "Who is like Jehovah;" and by this name, the prophet is consecrated to the incomparable God, just as Hosea was to the helping God, and Nahum to the comforting God. He prophesied, according to the inscription, under Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. We are not, however, entitled, on this account, to dissever his prophecies, and to assign particular discourses to the reign of each of these kings. On the contrary, the entire collection forms only one whole. At …
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament

Isaiah
CHAPTERS I-XXXIX Isaiah is the most regal of the prophets. His words and thoughts are those of a man whose eyes had seen the King, vi. 5. The times in which he lived were big with political problems, which he met as a statesman who saw the large meaning of events, and as a prophet who read a divine purpose in history. Unlike his younger contemporary Micah, he was, in all probability, an aristocrat; and during his long ministry (740-701 B.C., possibly, but not probably later) he bore testimony, as …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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