Isaiah 3 · The Lantern

For, lo, the Lord, Jehovah of Hosts, Is turning aside from Jerusalem, And from Judah, stay and staff, Every stay of bread, and every stay of water.

Consider whether what follows in the prophet has not received its fulfillment: "The Lord of hosts has taken away from Judah and from Jerusalem, among other things, both the prophet and the wise craftsman"; that is, his Holy Spirit, who builds the church, which is indeed the temple, and household and city of God.… And so in this manner the law and the prophets were until John, b…

(Chapter 3, Verse 1) For behold, the Lord God of hosts will take away from Jerusalem and from Judah the mighty and strong: all the strength of bread and all the strength of water. Thus far, they think it speaks of judgment. What follows speaks of the coming captivity; some interpret it as referring to the Babylonians, others to the Romans.

97. For behold the sovereign. Here begins the second part, in which he denounces their sin as to the oppression of neighbors. And it is divided into two parts: in the first is the confutation of the oppressors; in the second, the consolation of the oppressed: and in that day seven women shall take hold of one man (ch. 4).

Hero and man of war, judge and prophet, And diviner and elder,

Head of fifty, and accepted of faces, And counsellor, and the wise of artificers, And the intelligent of charmers.

And I have made youths their heads, And sucklings rule over them.

And the people hath exacted--man upon man, Even a man on his neighbour, Enlarge themselves do the youths against the aged, And the lightly esteemed against the honoured.

When one layeth hold on his brother, Of the house of his father, by the garment, `Come, a ruler thou art to us, And this ruin is under thy hand.'

He lifteth up, in that day, saying: `I am not a binder up, And in my house is neither bread nor garment, Ye do not make me a ruler of the people.'

For stumbled hath Jerusalem, and Judah hath fallen, For their tongue and their doings are against Jehovah, To provoke the eyes of His glory.

The appearance of their faces witnessed against them, And their sin, as Sodom, they declared, They have not hidden! Woe to their soul, For they have done to themselves evil.

The climax of your sin is that you hate the righteous one whom you killed, as well as those who by his grace are godly, righteous and loving.

It is the tribes, then, that are meant by the names of the patriarchs. From the tribe of Simeon come the scribes, from that of Levi the chief priests, who brought their wickedness to completion and filled up the entire measure of their fathers' ungodliness in the passion of the Lord.

Third, from the publication of their sin, whence he says: the show of their countenance, because by their countenance they make their sin to be shown to others; has answered them, in punishment as to their bearing; and as to the commendation of their sin, he says: and they have proclaimed abroad their sin as Sodom, that is, they have praised it: you had a harlot's forehead, you…

Say ye to the righteous, that it is good, Because the fruit of their doings they eat.

The aforesaid Scribes and Pharisees therefore placed James upon the pinnacle of the temple, and cried out to him and said: 'You just one, in whom we ought all to have confidence, forasmuch as the people are led astray after Jesus, the crucified one, declare to us, what is the gate of Jesus.' And he answered with a loud voice, 'Why do you ask me concerning Jesus, the Son of Man?…

(Verses 10, 11.) Woe to their souls, for evil has been repaid to them. Speak to the righteous, for they are well, for they have eaten the fruit of their inventions. Woe to the wicked for evil, for the retribution of his hands will be upon him. According to the Hebrew and other interpreters, this is the meaning: Woe to them because they have received their own wickedness.

112. And lest the punishment be supposed to envelop everyone, to this is added the justice of God in the separation of the good from the wicked; and concerning this, he does two things.

Woe to the wicked--evil, Because the deed of his hand is done to him.

My people--its exactors are sucklings, And women have ruled over it. My people--thy eulogists are causing to err, And the way of thy paths swallowed up.

Isaiah also, filled with the Holy Spirit, cries out and chides the daughters of Zion who have been defiled by gold and raiment, and he reproves those who have an abundance of harmful riches and withdraw from God for the sake of the pleasures of time.… This, God blames; this, he brands with reproach.

Those who are zealous in the service of God, however, do not get a reward of praise, nor indeed do those who are concerned about the laws of God look for this return. For praise is often known to injure many, since it makes them less attuned and slows their pace.

113. As for my people. Here the oppression of the people is denounced, in as far as it is the sin of the man who oppresses them, and this divided into two parts: in the first, the vice of oppression is set out; in the second, the judgment of punishment is introduced, where it says, the Lord stands up to judge (Isa 3:13). Now, certain people were oppressing them in three ways.

Jehovah hath stood up to plead, And He is standing to judge the peoples.

Jehovah into judgment doth enter With elders of His people, and its heads: `And ye, ye have consumed the vineyard, Plunder of the poor is in your houses.

What--to you? ye bruise My people, And the faces of the poor ye grind.' An affirmation of the Lord, Jehovah of Hosts, And Jehovah saith:

`Because that daughters of Zion have been haughty, And they walk stretching out the neck, And deceiving with the eyes, Walking and mincing they go, And with their feet they make a tinkling,

The Lord also hath scabbed The crown of the head of daughters of Zion, And Jehovah their simplicity exposeth.

In that day doth the Lord turn aside The beauty of the tinkling ornaments, And of the embroidered works, And of the round tires like moons,

Of the drops, and the bracelets, and the mufflers,

Of the bonnets, and the ornaments of the legs, And of the bands, And of the perfume boxes, and the amulets,

Of the seals, and of the nose-rings,

Of the costly apparel, and of the mantles, And of the coverings, and of the purses,

Of the mirrors, and of the linen garments, And of the hoods, and of the vails,

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.

For instead of glory, thy men by sword do fall, And thy might in battle.

And lamented and mourned have her openings, Yea, she hath been emptied, on the earth she sitteth!

Isaiah3