Isaiah 3The Message (MSG)
Jerusalem on Its Last Legs
3 1-7 The Master, God-of-the-Angel-Armies,
is emptying Jerusalem and
Judah
Of all the basic necessities,
plain bread and water to
begin with.
He’s withdrawing police and protection,
judges and courts,
pastors and teachers,
captains and generals,
doctors and nurses,
and, yes, even the
repairmen and jacks-of-all-trades.
He says, “I’ll put little kids in charge of the city.
Schoolboys and schoolgirls
will order everyone around.
People will be at each other’s throats,
stabbing one another in the
back:
Neighbor against neighbor, young against old,
the no-account against the
well-respected.
One brother will grab another and say,
‘You look like you’ve got a
head on your shoulders.
Do something!
Get us out of this mess.’
And he’ll say, ‘Me? Not me! I don’t have a clue.
Don’t put me in charge of
anything.’
8-9 “Jerusalem’s on its last legs.
Judah is soon down for the
count.
Everything people say and do
is at cross-purposes with
God,
a slap in my face.
Brazen in their depravity,
they flaunt their sins like
degenerate Sodom.
Doom to their eternal souls! They’ve made their bed;
now they’ll sleep in it.
10-11 “Reassure the righteous
that their good living will
pay off.
But doom to the wicked! Disaster!
Everything they did will be
done to them.
12 “Skinny kids terrorize my people.
Silly girls bully them
around.
My dear people! Your leaders are taking you down a blind alley.
They’re sending you off on
a wild-goose chase.”
A City Brought to Her Knees by Her Sorrows
13-15 God enters the courtroom.
He takes his place at the
bench to judge his people.
God calls for order in the court,
hauls the leaders of his
people into the dock:
“You’ve played havoc with this country.
Your houses are stuffed
with what you’ve stolen from the poor.
What is this anyway? Stomping on my people,
grinding the faces of the
poor into the dirt?”
That’s what the Master,
God-of-the-Angel-Armies,
says.
16-17 God says, “Zion women are stuck-up,
prancing around in their
high heels,
Making eyes at all the men in the street,
swinging their hips,
Tossing their hair,
gaudy and garish in cheap
jewelry.”
The Master will fix it so those Zion women
will all turn bald—
Scabby, bald-headed women.
The Master will do it.
18-23 The time is coming when the Master will strip them of their
fancy baubles—the dangling earrings, anklets and bracelets, combs and mirrors
and silk scarves, diamond brooches and pearl necklaces, the rings on their
fingers and the rings on their toes, the latest fashions in hats, exotic
perfumes and aphrodisiacs, gowns and capes, all the world’s finest in fabrics
and design.
24 Instead of wearing seductive scents,
these women are going to
smell like rotting cabbages;
Instead of modeling flowing gowns,
they’ll be sporting rags;
Instead of their stylish hairdos,
scruffy heads;
Instead of beauty marks,
scabs and scars.
25-26 Your finest fighting men will be killed,
your soldiers left dead on
the battlefield.
The entrance gate to Zion will be clotted
with people mourning their
dead—
A city stooped under the weight of her loss,
brought to her knees by her
sorrows.
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Judgment on Judah and Jerusalem
3 For behold, the Lord, the Lord of hosts,
Takes away from Jerusalem and from Judah
The stock and the store,
The whole supply of bread and the whole supply of water;
2 The mighty man and the man of war,
The judge and the prophet,
And the diviner and the elder;
3 The captain of fifty and the honorable man,
The counselor and the skillful artisan,
And the expert enchanter.
4 “I will give children to be their princes,
And babes shall rule over them.
5 The people will be oppressed,
Every one by another and every one by his neighbor;
The child will be insolent toward the elder,
And the base toward the honorable.”
6 When a man takes hold of his brother
In the house of his father, saying,
“You have clothing;
You be our ruler,
And let these ruins be under your power,”[a]
7 In that day he will protest, saying,
“I cannot cure your ills,
For in my house is neither food nor clothing;
Do not make me a ruler of the people.”
8 For Jerusalem stumbled,
And Judah is fallen,
Because their tongue and their doings
Are against the Lord,
To provoke the eyes of His glory.
9 The look on their countenance witnesses against them,
And they declare their sin as Sodom;
They do not hide it.
Woe to their soul!
For they have brought evil upon themselves.
10 “Say to the righteous that it shall be well with them,
For they shall eat the fruit of their doings.
11 Woe to the wicked! It shall be ill with him,
For the reward of his hands shall be given him.
12 As for My people, children are their oppressors,
And women rule over them.
O My people! Those who lead you cause you to err,
And destroy the way of your paths.”
Oppression and Luxury Condemned
13 The Lord stands up to plead,
And stands to judge the people.
14 The Lord will enter into judgment
With the elders of His people
And His princes:
“For you have eaten up the vineyard;
The plunder of the poor is in your houses.
15 What do you mean by crushing My people
And grinding the faces of the poor?”
Says the Lord God of hosts.
16 Moreover the Lord says:
“Because the daughters of Zion are haughty,
And walk with outstretched necks
And wanton eyes,
Walking and mincing as they go,
Making a jingling with their feet,
17 Therefore the Lord will strike with a scab
The crown of the head of the daughters of Zion,
And the Lord will uncover their secret parts.”
18 In that day the Lord will take away the finery:
The jingling anklets, the scarves, and the crescents;
19 The pendants, the bracelets, and the veils;
20 The headdresses, the leg ornaments, and the headbands;
The perfume boxes, the charms,
21 and the rings;
The nose jewels,
22 the festal apparel, and the mantles;
The outer garments, the purses,
23 and the mirrors;
The fine linen, the turbans, and the robes.
24 And so it shall be:
Instead of a sweet smell there will be a stench;
Instead of a sash, a rope;
Instead of well-set hair, baldness;
Instead of a rich robe, a girding of sackcloth;
And branding instead of beauty.
25 Your men shall fall by the sword,
And your mighty in the war.
26 Her gates shall lament and mourn,
And she being desolate shall sit on the ground.
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