Isaiah 3
1BEHOLD, now the sovereign Lord of Hosts will remove from Jerusalem and from Judea all stay and support of every kind—the stay of bread and the stay of water;
2the giant and mighty man and warrior; judge and prophet; instructor and elder;
3the captain of fifty, and honourable counsellor; the skilful architect and intelligent scholar:
4And I will make boys their princes; and scorners shall rule over them.
5And upon one another the people will fall foul, and jostle every man against his neighbour—the boy against the elder and the base against the honourable, [saith the Lord].
6Because a man will take hold of his brother, or the head of the house of his father, saying: Thou hast clothing be thou our leader, and let me be supplied with food under thee.
7Therefore on that day he will answer and say, I will not be thy leader, for in my house there is neither bread nor raiment, I will not be the leader of this people.
8Because Jerusalem is forsaken and Judea is fallen therefore their tongues concur with their transgression. They disbelieve the things relating to the Lord.
9Because their glory is now humbled; and the shame of their countenance is risen up against them: their sin therefore, like the Sodomites, they proclaimed and openly avowed. Alas for their souls! Because they have counselled an evil counsel against themselves,
10saying, Let us bind the just one, for he is disagreeable to us; let them therefore eat the fruits of their deeds.
11Alas for the wicked! according to the works of his hands evils shall befall him.
12O my people! your taskmasters glean you; and exactors tyrannise over you. O my people! They who call you happy lead you astray; and disturb the path of your feet.
13But the Lord will now arise to plead His cause; and He will arraign His people.
14The Lord will Himself come to a trial with the elders of the people and with their chiefs: Why have you burned up My vineyard? And why is the plunder of the poor in your houses?
15Why do you injure My people; and cover with shame the face of the poor.
16Thus saith the Lord: Because the daughters of Sion are haughty and have walked with outstretched neck and wanton eyes, trailing with them in their gait flowing robes, and moving in set pace with their feet;
17therefore God will humble the princely daughters of Sion and the Lord will expose their form to view.
18On that day the Lord will take away the finery of their attire, the cauls and the curls and the crescents,
19the solitaire and the ornament of the brow,
20and the gorgeous wreathed tiara, and the necklaces and the bracelets, and the zone and the rings for the fingers, and the ornaments for the right arms,
21and the earrings and the robes with purple borders, and those the middle of which is purple, and the dresses worn at home, and the Laconian gauzes and cotton robes, and those of purple and scarlet and cotton, embroidered with gold and purple; and the summer sofas.
24And instead of perfumes there shall be ashes; and instead of a girdle thou shalt be girded with rushes; and instead of a golden headdress thou shalt have baldness, on the account of thy doings; and instead of the purple robe thou shalt gird on sackcloth.
25And thy son the most beautiful whom thou lovest shall fall by the sword; and your mighty men shall fall by the sword and be laid low;
26and your wardrobes shall mourn; and thou shalt be left solitary and shalt sit on the ground.