Study

a Bible passage

Click a verse to see commentary

Select a resource above

For now the Sovereign, the L ord of hosts,

is taking away from Jerusalem and from Judah

support and staff—

all support of bread,

and all support of water—

warrior and soldier,

judge and prophet,

diviner and elder,

captain of fifty

and dignitary,

counselor and skillful magician

and expert enchanter.

And I will make boys their princes,

and babes shall rule over them.

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.

Someone will even 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.”

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.”

For Jerusalem has stumbled

and Judah has fallen,

because their speech and their deeds are against the L ord,

defying his glorious presence.

The look on their faces bears witness against them;

they proclaim their sin like Sodom,

they do not hide it.

Woe to them!

For they have brought evil on themselves.

Tell the innocent how fortunate they are,

for they shall eat the fruit of their labors.

Woe to the guilty! How unfortunate they are,

for what their hands have done shall be done to them.

My people—children are their oppressors,

and women rule over them.

O my people, your leaders mislead you,

and confuse the course of your paths.

The L ord rises to argue his case;

he stands to judge the peoples.

The L ord enters into judgment

with the elders and princes of his people:

It is you who have devoured the vineyard;

the spoil of the poor is in your houses.

What do you mean by crushing my people,

by grinding the face of the poor? says the Lord G od of hosts.

The L ord said:

Because the daughters of Zion are haughty

and walk with outstretched necks,

glancing wantonly with their eyes,

mincing along as they go,

tinkling with their feet;

the Lord will afflict with scabs

the heads of the daughters of Zion,

and the L ord will lay bare their secret parts.

¹⁸ In that day the Lord will take away the finery of the anklets, the headbands, and the crescents; ¹⁹the pendants, the bracelets, and the scarfs; ²⁰the headdresses, the armlets, the sashes, the perfume boxes, and the amulets; ²¹the signet rings and nose rings; ²²the festal robes, the mantles, the cloaks, and the handbags; ²³the garments of gauze, the linen garments, the turbans, and the veils.

Instead of perfume there will be a stench;

and instead of a sash, a rope;

and instead of well-set hair, baldness;

and instead of a rich robe, a binding of sackcloth;

instead of beauty, shame.

Your men shall fall by the sword

and your warriors in battle.

And her gates shall lament and mourn;

ravaged, she shall sit upon the ground.

New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

5. The people will oppress every man his neighbor He describes the utmost confusion, which was about to overtake the Jews, when order was destroyed or relaxed; and this will happen to all nations, as soon as government is removed or falls to the ground. We know how great is the wantonness of the human mind, when every man is hurried along by ambition and, in short, how furious the lawless passions are when they are laid under no restraint. There is no reason, therefore, to wonder if, when the judgment-seats have been laid low, every man insults his neighbor, cruelty abounds, and licentiousness rages without control. If we considered this wisely, we would set a higher value on the kindness of God, when he preserves us in any tolerable condition, and does not allow us to be lamentably ruined. Hence it is evident that they who direct or apply their minds to sap the foundations of civil government are the open enemies of mankind, or rather, they are in no respect different from wild beasts.

But this confusion described by the Prophet is most disgraceful, that a child shall dare to insult an old man, that the dregs of a low and despised multitude shall rise up against nobles and men of high reputation; for it is the most preposterous of all things that modesty shall be thrown away, so that they who were worthy of veneration shall be treated with contempt. And yet this spectacle, so shameful and revolting, must unavoidably be exhibited when civil government has been overthrown. As to my rendering of the verb נגש (niggash) in an active sense, to oppress, I was forced to adopt it, for otherwise the meaning of the passage would have been imperfect.