Judah’s Leaders Judged

Observe this: The Lord God of Hosts
is about to remove from Jerusalem and from Judah
every kind of security:
the entire supply of bread and water,
the hero and warrior,(A)
the judge and prophet,
the fortune-teller and elder,
the commander of 50 and the dignitary,
the counselor, cunning magician,[a] and necromancer.[b]
“I will make youths their leaders,(B)
and the unstable[c] will govern them.”
The people will oppress one another,(C)
man against man, neighbor against neighbor;
the youth will act arrogantly toward the elder,
and the worthless toward the honorable.
A man will even seize his brother
in his father’s house, saying:
“You have a cloak—you be our leader!
This heap of rubble will be under your control.”
On that day he will cry out, saying:
“I’m not a healer.
I don’t even have food or clothing in my house.
Don’t make me the leader of the people!”

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Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 3:3 Or skilled craftsman
  2. Isaiah 3:3 Or medium
  3. Isaiah 3:4 Or mischief-makers

Leaders of Judah and Jerusalem

For look, the Lord Yahweh of hosts is removing every source of support[a]
    from Jerusalem and from Judah:
all of the supplies of bread
    and all of the supplies of water,
mighty warrior and man of war,
    judge and prophet,
    and diviner and elder,
captain of fifty and the honorable men of rank,
    and counselor and skillful magicians and skillful enchanter.
And I will make boys their princes,
    and children shall rule over them.
And the people will be oppressed by each other[b]
    and a man by his neighbor.
The boy will act arrogantly toward the elder,
    and the dishonorable toward the honorable.
Indeed, a man will seize his brother
    in the house of his father:
You have a cloak;[c]
    you shall be a leader for us,
    and this heap of ruins shall be under your hand!”
He will lift up his voice on that day, saying,
“I will not be a healer;
    in my house there is no bread
        and there is no cloak.
    You shall not make me the leader of the people!”

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Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 3:1 Literally “supplies and supplies”
  2. Isaiah 3:5 Literally “man by man”
  3. Isaiah 3:6 Literally “a cloak for you”