Isaiah 4
The Voice
4 On that day, seven women will beg the same man:
Women: Please, take away our shame. We will support ourselves—eat our own bread, make our own clothes—just let us be called by your name.
The prophet warns of a time when only a few of God’s people will be left. The shredded fabric of families will leave the most vulnerable exposed and desperate. Women, who in this ancient Israelite society depend on relationships to men for social and financial security, will resort to doing whatever they can to survive beyond the deaths of their fathers, brothers, and husbands. Although the framework of their culture will seem to have crumbled, the story will move forward as the God of Israel remembers His own. There will always be a remnant of those who follow the Lord. Utter despair gives way to hope.
2 Then, oh then, a tiny shoot cultivated and nurtured by the Eternal will emerge new and green, promising beauty and glory. Everything that comes from the earth will offer itself, lovely and magnificent, to those who escaped Israel’s demise. 3 Those who survived in precious Zion, all who remain in that special city, Jerusalem, will be called holy. They are destined to be alive, these remaining few, in Jerusalem. 4 Then the Lord will wash away the filth that clung to the daughters of Zion and clean up the blood that stained Jerusalem’s streets with a spirit of justice and the breath of fire. 5 And the Eternal will create wonders over the whole of Mount Zion and those who gather there—cloud and smoke to dim the day, bright shining fire to light the night, all billowing over Zion’s glory like a satin canopy. 6 And it will be a resting place, protected from the heat of the day, a place of shelter and retreat amid storms and rain.
Isaiah 4
New International Version
4 1 In that day(A) seven women
will take hold of one man(B)
and say, “We will eat our own food(C)
and provide our own clothes;
only let us be called by your name.
Take away our disgrace!”(D)
The Branch of the Lord
2 In that day(E) the Branch of the Lord(F) will be beautiful(G) and glorious, and the fruit(H) of the land will be the pride and glory(I) of the survivors(J) in Israel. 3 Those who are left in Zion,(K) who remain(L) in Jerusalem, will be called holy,(M) all who are recorded(N) among the living in Jerusalem. 4 The Lord will wash away the filth(O) of the women of Zion;(P) he will cleanse(Q) the bloodstains(R) from Jerusalem by a spirit[a] of judgment(S) and a spirit[b] of fire.(T) 5 Then the Lord will create(U) over all of Mount Zion(V) and over those who assemble there a cloud of smoke by day and a glow of flaming fire by night;(W) over everything the glory[c](X) will be a canopy.(Y) 6 It will be a shelter(Z) and shade from the heat of the day, and a refuge(AA) and hiding place from the storm(AB) and rain.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 4:4 Or the Spirit
- Isaiah 4:4 Or the Spirit
- Isaiah 4:5 Or over all the glory there
Isaiah 4
King James Version
4 And in that day seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel: only let us be called by thy name, to take away our reproach.
2 In that day shall the branch of the Lord be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and comely for them that are escaped of Israel.
3 And it shall come to pass, that he that is left in Zion, and he that remaineth in Jerusalem, shall be called holy, even every one that is written among the living in Jerusalem:
4 When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning.
5 And the Lord will create upon every dwelling place of mount Zion, and upon her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night: for upon all the glory shall be a defence.
6 And there shall be a tabernacle for a shadow in the day time from the heat, and for a place of refuge, and for a covert from storm and from rain.
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