Isaiah 3

Jerusalem on Its Last Legs

3The Master, GOD-of-the-Angel-Armies, is emptying Jerusalem and Judah Of all the basic necessities, plain bread and water to begin with.H113H3068H6635H5493H3389H3063H4937H4938H4937H3899H3605H4937H43252He's withdrawing police and protection, judges and courts, pastors and teachers,H1368H376H4421H8199H5030H7080H22053captains and generals, doctors and nurses, and, yes, even the repairmen and jacks-of-all-trades.H8269H2572H5375H6440H3289H2450H2791H995H39084He says, "I'll put little kids in charge of the city. Schoolboys and schoolgirls will order everyone around.H5414H5288H8269H8586H49105People will be at each other's throats, stabbing one another in the back: Neighbor against neighbor, young against old, the no-account against the well-respected.H5971H5065H376H376H376H7453H5288H7292H2205H7034H35136One brother will grab another and say, 'You look like you've got a head on your shoulders. Do something! Get us out of this mess.'H376H8610H251H1004H1H8071H7101H4384H30277And he'll say, 'Me? Not me! I don't have a clue. Don't put me in charge of anything.'H3117H5375H559H2280H1004H3899H8071H7760H7101H59718"Jerusalem's on its last legs. Judah is soon down for the count. Everything people say and do is at cross-purposes with GOD, a slap in my face.H3389H3782H3063H5307H3956H4611H3068H4784H5869H35199Brazen in their depravity, they flout their sins like degenerate Sodom. Doom to their eternal souls! They've made their bed; now they'll sleep in it.H1971H6440H6030H5046H2403H5467H3582H188H5315H1580H745110"Reassure the righteous that their good living will pay off.H559H6662H2896H398H6529H461111But doom to the wicked! Disaster! Everything they did will be done to them.H188H7563H7451H1576H3027H621312"Skinny kids terrorize my people. Silly girls bully them around. My dear people! Your leaders are taking you down a blind alley. They're sending you off on a wild goose chase."H5971H5953H5065H802H4910H5971H833H8582H1104H1870H734

A City Brought to Her Knees by Her Sorrows

13GOD enters the courtroom. He takes his place at the bench to judge his people.H3068H5324H7378H5975H1777H597114GOD calls for order in the court, hauls the leaders of his people into the dock: "You've played havoc with this country. Your houses are stuffed with what you've stolen from the poor.H3068H935H4941H2205H5971H8269H1197H3754H1500H6041H100415What is this anyway? Stomping on my people, grinding the faces of the poor into the dirt?" That's what the Master, GOD-of-the-Angel-Armies, says.H1792H5971H1792H2912H6440H6041H5002H136H3069H663516GOD says, "Zion women are stuck-up, prancing around in their high heels, Making eyes at all the men in the street, swinging their hips, Tossing their hair, gaudy and garish in cheap jewelry."H3068H559H3282H1323H6726H1361H3212H5186H1627H8265H5869H1980H2952H3212H5913H727217The Master will fix it so those Zion women will all turn bald— Scabby, bald-headed women. The Master will do it.H136H5596H6936H1323H6726H3068H6168H659618The time is coming when the Master will strip them of their fancy baubles—H3117H136H5493H8597H5914H7636H772019the dangling earrings, anklets and bracelets,H5188H8285H747920combs and mirrors and silk scarves, diamond brooches and pearl necklaces,H6287H6807H7196H5315H1004H390821the rings on their fingers and the rings on their toes,H2885H639H514122the latest fashions in hats, exotic perfumes and aphrodisiacs, gowns and capes,H4254H4595H4304H275423all the world's finest in fabrics and design.H1549H5466H6797H728924Instead of wearing seductive scents, these women are going to smell like rotting cabbages; Instead of modeling flowing gowns, they'll be sporting rags; Instead of their stylish hairdos, scruffy heads; Instead of beauty marks, scabs and scars.H1314H4716H2290H5364H4639H4748H7144H6614H4228H8242H3587H330825Your finest fighting men will be killed, your soldiers left dead on the battlefield.H4962H5307H2719H1369H442126The entrance gate to Zion will be clotted with people mourning their dead— A city stooped under the weight of her loss, brought to her knees by her sorrows.H6607H578H56H5352H3427H776