Book of Isaiah Chapter 3 Summary

Kiddie Kings

  • Now, says Isaiah, God is going to remove all the supporting and sustaining things from his people: food and water, for starters, but also the warriors and judges and elders (and magicians and enchanters too). (What, haven't you been supported by a magician at some point in your life?)
  • God's going to appoint excessively young and inexperienced princes to rule over Judah, as well. Everyone will be acting hostile towards everyone else, and the young people will mock their elders and disrespect them.
  • They'll try to make a relative, a member of their clan, their leader—but even he's going to refuse. It'll be social chaos, all because Judah and Jerusalem couldn't live up to God's rules.
  • The wicked people can't hide their guilt: they simply look really guilty, when you see them walking around. The innocent people are going to prosper, but the wicked are headed for a fall.
  • He says that, not only children will oppress Judah, but women will rule over them too. (Yeah, maybe that's a good thing, Mr. Isaiah?)
  • But God's going to punish the wicked and unjust elders and princes, mainly for oppressing the poor.

Hand Bags and Glad Rags

  • Now, God attacks the women of Zion for being haughty and lustful. God's going to—in a rather un-P.C. manner—inflict their heads with scabs (ew). Oh, and he'll also "lay bare their secret parts." Yikes.
  • The anti-woman attack continues, as Isaiah says the Lord is going to get rid of all their finery and jewels: the hand-bags and the glad-rags, the nose rings, the bracelets, the anklets, etc. (They'll be no accessorizing in ancient Judah, basically.)
  • Their perfumes will be replaced with horrible smells, they'll go bald, they'll need to wear sack-cloth and rope, and all their beauty will be taken away from them.
  • Oh, and all the warriors are going to get killed, and the women will have nothing better to do than sit around and mourn. Bad times.