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For now the Sovereign, the Lord of hosts,
    is taking away from Jerusalem and from Judah
support and staff—
    all support of bread
    and all support of water—(A)
warrior and soldier,
    judge and prophet,
    diviner and elder,(B)
captain of fifty
    and dignitary,
counselor and skillful magician
    and expert enchanter.
And I will make youths their princes,
    and children shall rule over them.(C)
The people will be oppressed,
    everyone by another
    and everyone by a neighbor;
the youth will be insolent to the elder
    and the base to the honorable.(D)

Someone will seize a relative,
    a member of the clan, saying,
“You have a cloak;
    you shall be our leader,
and this heap of ruins
    shall be under your rule.”(E)
But the other will cry out on that day, saying,
“I will not be a healer;
    in my house there is neither bread nor cloak;
you shall not make me
    leader of the people.”(F)

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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