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Isaiah 3:24 Now
it will
come about that
instead of
sweet
perfume there
will be
putrefaction;
Instead of a
belt, a
rope;
Instead of
well-set
hair, a
plucked-out
scalp;
Instead of
fine
clothes, a
donning of
sackcloth and
branding
instead of
beauty.
(NASB:
Lockman) |
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English Translation of
the Greek (Septuagint): And
there shall be instead of a sweet smell, dust; and instead of a
girdle, thou shalt gird thyself with a rope; and instead of a golden
ornament for the head, thou shalt have baldness on account of thy
works; and instead of a tunic with a scarlet ground, thou shalt gird
thyself with sackcloth.
Amplified: And it shall come to pass that instead of the sweet
odor of spices there shall be the stench of rottenness; and instead of
a girdle, a rope; and instead of well-set hair, baldness; and instead
of a rich robe, a girding of sackcloth; and searing [of captives by
the scorching heat] instead of beauty.
(Amplified
Bible - Lockman)
KJV: And it shall come to pass, that instead of sweet smell
there shall be stink; and instead of a girdle a rent; and instead of
well set hair baldness; and instead of a stomacher a girding of
sackcloth; and burning instead of beauty.
NET: A putrid stench will replace the smell of spices, a
rope will replace a belt, baldness will replace braided locks of hair,
a sackcloth garment will replace a fine robe, and a prisoner's brand
will replace beauty.
(NET
Bible)
NJB: Then, instead of perfume, a stink; instead of belt, a
rope, instead of hair elaborately dressed, a shaven scalp, instead of
gorgeous clothes, sacking round the waist, and brand marks instead of
beauty. (NJB)
NLT: Instead of smelling of sweet perfume, they will stink.
They will wear ropes for sashes, and their well-set hair will fall
out. They will wear rough sackcloth instead of rich robes. Their
beauty will be gone. Only shame will be left to them.
(NLT
- Tyndale House)
Young's Literal: And it hath been, instead of spice is
muck, And instead of a girdle, a rope, And instead of curled work,
baldness, And instead of a stomacher a girdle of sackcloth. |
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Now it will come about that
instead
of sweet perfume there will be putrefaction;
Instead
of a
belt, a rope; Instead
of well-set hair, a plucked-out scalp;
Instead
of fine clothes, a donning of sackcloth; and branding
instead
of beauty: (instead - Is 57:9; Pr 7:17) (Plucked out - Is
22:12; Ezek 7:18; Mic 1:16 ) (Donning - Is 15:3; 32:9, 10, 11; Job
16:15; Je 4:8; 6:26; 48:37; 49:3; La 2:10; Ezek
27:31; Joel 1:8 Amos 8:10; Re 11:3) (burning - Is 4:4;
Lv 26:16; Dt 28:22; 32:24; Re 16:9; 18:9)
Divine judgment will bring about a
radical contrast in the fashion and appearance of these proud women as
exemplified by five "exchanges".
Instead (08478)
(tahat) means in place of and serves here as a marker of a
changed relation. Instead is used 5 times in this one verse!
This repetition emphasizes that God's hand of judgment will bring
about a complete reversal of the fortunes of these women.
Instead of sweet perfume
there will be putrefaction - The KJV puts it bluntly
"instead of sweet smell there shall be stink"! And this a result of
the hand of God's judgment!
The NET Bible notes
that...
The nouns for “spices” and “stench”
are right next to each other in the Masoretic Text for emphatic
contrast.
Calvin asks...
What may be expected to happen in
those places where they are abundant? That they will excite lust and
promote luxury is beyond all doubt He means, therefore, that ointments
and sweet smells were abused by them in a variety of ways; for the
sinful desires of men are ingenious in their contrivances, and can
never be satisfied.
Putrefaction (04716)(maq)
means a stench, a bad odor or a stink. Putrefaction describes the
decomposition of organic matter, producing a rotting mass with an
offensive smell.
Instead of a belt, a rope
- A rope brings to mind the picture of slaves being led away into
captivity (cp Dt 28:36, 2Chr 29:9).
Sackcloth - This
describes a coarse cloth of goat or camel’s hair or of flax, hemp, or
cotton. It was often worn as a sign of bitterness or mourning which
would occur when their husbands fell by the sword as described in Is
3:25. See also Ge. 37:34; 1Ki 21:27; Neh 9:1; Esther 4:1; Is 15:3;
22:12; 32:11; 37:1,2; La 2:10; Ezek 27:31; Da 9:3.
Branding (03587)(kiy)
as with a branding iron which produces a a physical stigma on
the skin as sign of ownership by another.
Walter L Wilson writes
that baldness...
is a sign that GOD had forsaken His
people and left them to the will of their enemies. (See also Je 47:5;
Is 15:2; Ezek 7:18). (Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types) |
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Isaiah 3:25 Your
men will
fall by the
sword and your
mighty
ones in
battle.
(NASB:
Lockman) |
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English Translation of
the Greek (Septuagint):
And thy most beautiful son whom thou lovest shall fall by the sword;
and your mighty men shall fall by the sword, and shall be brought low.
Amplified: Your men shall fall by the sword, and your mighty
men in battle.
(Amplified
Bible - Lockman)
KJV: Thy men shall fall by the sword, and thy mighty in
the war.
NET: Your men will fall by the sword, your strong men will
die in battle.
(NET
Bible)
NJB: Your men will fall by the sword, your warriors in battle, (NJB)
NLT: Instead of smelling of sweet perfume, they will stink.
They will wear ropes for sashes, and their well-set hair will fall
out. They will wear rough sackcloth instead of rich robes. Their
beauty will be gone. Only shame will be left to them
(NLT
- Tyndale House)
Young's Literal: And it hath been, instead of spice is
muck, And instead of a girdle, a rope, And instead of curled work,
baldness, And instead of a stomacher a girdle of sackcloth. |
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Your men will fall by the
sword and your mighty ones in battle : (2Chr 29:9;
Je 11:22; 14:18; 18:21; 19:7; 21:9; La 2:21; Amos
9:10) Your men - At
first one might presume Isaiah is still addressing the haughty women,
but the connection with the following verse supports the premise that
he is now addressing the city of Jerusalem.
NET Bible Notes observes
that...
The pronoun is feminine singular,
suggesting personified Zion, as representative of its women, is the
addressee. The reference to “her gates’ in Is 3:26 makes this
identification almost certain.
Your men will fall - God
prophesies defeat at the hands of her enemies, a prophecy that was
fulfilled in 586BC with the third and final siege of Jerusalem by the
Babylonians.
Ed Young remarks that...
When the male population is
destroyed, then the strength of the city will be gone, for a nation’s
strength consisted in her fighting army. (Young,
Ed: The Book of Isaiah - 3 Volume Commentary. Eerdmans Pub.
1992-hardcopy or
Logos
or
Wordsearch) |
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Isaiah 3:26 And
her
gates will
lament and
mourn, and
deserted she
will
sit on the
ground.
(NASB:
Lockman) |
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English Translation of
the Greek (Septuagint): And
the stores of your ornaments shall mourn, and thou shalt be left
alone, and shalt be levelled with the ground.
Amplified: And [Jerusalem’s] gates shall lament and mourn [as
those who wail for the dead]; and she, being ruined and desolate,
shall sit upon the ground.
(Amplified
Bible - Lockman)
KJV: And her gates shall lament and mourn; and she being
desolate shall sit upon the ground.
NET: Her gates will mourn and lament; deprived of her
people, she will sit on the ground.
(NET
Bible)
NJB: and her gates will moan and mourn; she will sit on the
ground, deserted. (NJB)
NLT: The gates of Jerusalem will weep and mourn. The city will
be like a ravaged woman, huddled on the ground.
(NLT
- Tyndale House)
Young's Literal: And lamented and mourned have her
openings, Yea, she hath been emptied, on the earth she sitteth! |
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And her gates will lament
and mourn, and deserted she will sit on the ground: (her
gates - Je 14:2; La 1:4) (Deserted - Is 47:1; Job
2:8,13; La 2:10; Ezek 26:16; Lk 19:44)
Her gates - Jerusalem is
personified as a destitute woman who sits mourning the empty city
whose male population has been slaughtered. When the glory of the Lord
departed the gates of the cities (cp Ezek 10:19-note;
see
Departure of the Glory of Jehovah),
these same gates which were once sites of song and rejoicing, will
become scenes of great groaning and mourning.
Lament (0578)
('anah) to mourn aloud or groan out of sorrow which emphasizes
the emotional distress of the situation. Webster says to lament means
to mourn aloud, to wail to express sorrow or dee[ regret.
The only other use of 'anah
in the OT is...
And the fishermen will lament
('anah; Lxx = stenazo = sigh, groan, involuntary expression in
face of undesirable circumstances), And all those who cast a line into
the Nile will mourn, And those who spread nets on the waters will pine
away. (Is 19:8)
Walter L Wilson writes
that gates which lament...
represent the utter desolation of
Jerusalem. She was to, be destroyed by her enemies and the gates
burned with fire. (Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types)
Mourn (056)
(abal) means to bewail and describes mourning rites for the
dead but is often used figuratively as in this verse and in Isaiah
24:4 where "The land mourns".
The
Septuagint (LXX)
translates abal with
pentheo
(see
word study)
which speaks of grieving
"with a grief which so takes
possession of the whole being that it cannot be hid." (Trench)
Abal - 38v in the OT -
Gen. 37:34; Exod. 33:4; Num. 14:39; 1 Sam. 6:19; 15:35; 16:1; 2 Sam.
13:37; 14:2; 19:1; 1 Chr. 7:22; 2 Chr. 35:24; Ezr. 10:6; Neh. 1:4;
8:9; Job 14:22; Isa. 3:26; 19:8; 24:4, 7; 33:9; 66:10; Jer. 4:28;
12:4, 11; 14:2; 23:10; Lam. 2:8; Ezek. 7:12, 27; 31:15; Dan. 10:2;
Hos. 4:3; 10:5; Joel 1:9f; Amos 1:2; 8:8; 9:5 and is rendered in the
NAS as -- caused lamentations(1), grieve(1), grieved(1),
lament(1), mourn(13), mourned(7), mourning(3), mourns(10), pretend to
be a mourner(1), went into mourning(1).
Clarke notes that...
Sitting on the ground was a posture
that denoted mourning and deep distress.
In Lamentations Jeremiah
describes a fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy...
The elders of the daughter of Zion
sit on the ground, they are silent. They have thrown dust on
their heads; They have girded themselves with sackcloth. The virgins
of Jerusalem have bowed their heads to the ground. (La 2:10)
Deserted she will sit -
The Hebrew literally reads "she will be empty, on the ground she will
sit.”
Deserted (05352)
(naqah) conveys the sense of to be emptied and so to be poured
out, in this case referring to Jerusalem which has become emptied of
people.
The
Septuagint (LXX)
uses hedaphizo
meaning to be leveled or razed to the ground and so completely
destroyed (which would explain why she is deserted).
Ed Young writes
that...
There is extant a coin from [the
time of the Roman emperor] Vespasian which pictures the conquered
Jerusalem as a dejected woman sitting under a palm tree, a soldier
standing before her, and which bears the inscription Judaea capta, or
devicta. Jerusalem alone.
Clarke describing such a
coin writes that on one side was...
tall palm tree, emblem of the land
of Palestine, the emperor standing on the left, close to the tree,
with a trophy behind him; on the right, Judea under the figure of a
female captive sitting on the ground, with her head resting on her
hand, the elbow on her knee, weeping. |
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