Isaiah 3

Wycliffe Bible

3 For lo! the lordly governor, the Lord of hosts, shall take away from Jerusalem and from Judah, a mighty man, and strong, and all the strength of bread, and all the strength of water; (For lo! the Lordly Governor, the Lord of hosts, shall take away from Jerusalem and from Judah, the mighty and the strong, and all the food and water;)

² a strong man, and a man a warrior, and a doomsman, and a prophet, and a false diviner in altars, and an eld man, (yea, a strong man, and a warrior, a judge, and a prophet, a false diviner of altars, and an old man,)

³ a prince over fifty men, and a worshipful man in cheer (a leader of fifty men, and an honourable man), and a counsellor, and a wise man of principal craftsmen, and a prudent man of mystic, either ghostly, speech.

⁴ And I shall give children to be the princes of them, and men of women’s conditions shall be lords of them. (And I shall make children to be their leaders, and young boys to be their lords and masters.)

⁵ And the people shall fall down, a man to a man, each man to his neighbour; a child shall make noise against an eld man, and an unnoble man against a noble man. (And the people shall fall down, one by one, each by his neighbour; a child shall not respect an old man, and an ignoble man shall not respect a noble man.)

⁶ For a man shall take his brother, the menial of his father, and shall say, A cloth is to thee, be thou our prince; forsooth this falling be under thine hand. (And a man shall take hold of his brother, in the house of his father, and shall say, Thou hath a cloak, so thou be our leader; and then this time of trouble shall be under thy hand.)

⁷ And he shall answer in that day, and say, I am no leech, and neither bread, neither cloth is in mine house; do not ye make me prince of the people. (And he shall answer on that day, and say, I am no physician, and there is no bread, or cloak, in my house; do not ye make me to be the leader of the people.)

⁸ For why Jerusalem fell down, and Judah fell down (al)together; for the tongue of them, and the findings of them (for their words, and their deeds), were against the Lord, for to stir to wrath the eyes of his majesty.

⁹ The knowing of their cheer shall answer to them (The look on their faces shall witness against them); and they preached their sin, as Sodom did, and hid (it) not. Woe to the soul of them, for why evils be yielded to them.

¹⁰ Say ye to the just man, that it shall be to him well; for he shall eat the fruit of his findings. (Say ye to the righteous person, that it shall be well with him, for he shall eat the fruit of his deeds.)

¹¹ Woe to the wicked man into evil; for why the yielding of his hands shall be made to him. (Woe to the wicked person unto evil; for the reward of his hands, or the fruit of his labour, shall be given to him.)

¹² The wrongful askers of my people robbed it, and women were lords thereof. My people, they that say thee blessed, deceive thee, and destroy the way of thy steps. (The oppressors of my people rob them, and women be their lords. My people, those who say that thou art blessed, deceive thee, and destroy the way of thy steps.)

¹³ The Lord standeth for to deem, and he standeth for to deem [the] peoples; (The Lord cometh forth to judge, yea, he cometh forth to judge the people;)

¹⁴ the Lord shall come to doom, with the elder men of his people, and with his princes; for ye have wasted my vineyard, and the raven of a poor man is in your house. (the Lord shall come to judge the elders of his people, and their leaders; for ye have destroyed my vineyard, and the spoils of the poor be in your house.)

¹⁵ Why all-break ye my people, and grind together the faces of poor men? saith the Lord God of hosts. (Why altogether break ye my people, and altogether grind down the poor? saith the Lord God of hosts.)

¹⁶ And the Lord God said, For that that the daughters of Zion were raised (up), and went with neck stretched forth, and went by signs of eyes, and clapped with hands, and went, and with their feet went in well-arrayed going (and went with their feet in well-arrayed fashion, and with bangles on their ankles),

¹⁷ the Lord shall make bald the noll of the daughters of Zion, and the Lord shall make naked the hair of them. (the Lord shall make the daughters of Zion bald, yea, the Lord shall shave off all their hair.)

¹⁸ In that day the Lord shall take away the ornament of shoes, and golden little bells like the moon, (On that day the Lord shall take away all the ornaments for shoes, the little gold bells like the moon,)

¹⁹ and (also the) ribbons, and brooches, and (the) ornaments of arms nigh the shoulders,

²⁰ and mitres, either chaplets, and combs, and ornaments of arms nigh the hands, and (the) golden ornaments like lampreys, and little vessels of ointments, and earrings,

²¹ and rings, and precious stones hanging in the forehead, (and rings, and precious stones that hang upon the forehead,)

²² and changing clothes, and mantles, and sheets, either smocks, and needles [and pins], (and changes of clothing, and cloaks, and smocks, and pins and needles,)

²³ and mirrors, and small linen clothes about the shoulders, and kerchiefs, and rochets. (and mirrors, and capes, and handkerchiefs, and veils.)

²⁴ And stink shall be for sweet odour, and a cord for the girdle; baldness shall be for the crisp hair, and an hair-shirt for a breast girdle.

²⁵ Also thy fairest men shall fall by sword, and thy strong men shall fall in battle. (And thy best shall fall by the sword, and thy strong shall fall in battle.)

²⁶ And the gates thereof shall wail, and mourn; and it shall sit desolate in [the] earth. (And her gates shall wail, and mourn; and she shall sit desolate upon the ground.)