Isaiah 3:17 - Printer Friendly

ESV: therefore the Lord will strike with a scab the heads of the daughters of Zion, and the LORD will lay bare their secret parts.

NIV: Therefore the Lord will bring sores on the heads of the women of Zion; the LORD will make their scalps bald.'

NASB: The Lord will afflict the scalp of the daughters of Zion with scabs, And the Lord will make their foreheads bare.'

CSB: the Lord will put scabs on the heads of the daughters of Zion, and the Lord will shave their foreheads bare.

NLT: So the Lord will send scabs on her head; the Lord will make beautiful Zion bald.'

KJV: Therefore the Lord will smite with a scab the crown of the head of the daughters of Zion, and the LORD will discover their secret parts.

NKJV: Therefore the Lord will strike with a scab The crown of the head of the daughters of Zion, And the Lord will uncover their secret parts.”

The outward appearance and inner attitudes of wealthy women in Jerusalem and Judah during Isaiah's day were both flawed. They are haughty and arrogant, walking around with expensive clothing and jewels to call attention to their bodies and their riches (Isaiah 3:16). They do all this instead of humbling themselves before the Lord and trusting Him to provide what they need.

Throughout this book, Isaiah has been describing the systematic way in which the Lord will remove everything His people have been trusting in. They assume idols and material goods will bring them security and meaning, instead of God. Now the Lord will do the same to these women who are seeking their own glory instead of His. He will take away that which they wrongly trust.

He will start by removing the glory of their hair. The text may be describing a disease causing sores to develop on their heads and scab over. This would require the shaving of some or all their heads. Or the reference may be to the aftermath of the coming invasions, in which the women will shave their own heads. In the ancient world, this was an act of grief and mourning over the loss of their men and everything they have held dear.

The text also references the shame associated with nakedness: being exposed and uncovered (Isaiah 47:3; Jeremiah 13:22; Ezekiel 16:37). This refers both to a loss of their fine clothing and the humiliation of being embarrassed and ashamed.

Isaiah 3:16–4:1 describes the wealthy women of Jerusalem and Judah from the Lord's perspective. He describes them as conceited, casting seductive looks all around. Because of their open rebellion, the Lord will take away all their adornments, from their moon-god crescent ornaments to their veils. When the judgment comes, their perfume will be replaced by stench and their styled hair with baldness. They will wear sackcloth with rope belts. They will be destitute and lonely enough to beg any living man to simply say he is their husband. Jerusalem's men will fall in battle, leaving the city exposed. Jerusalem will sit empty and in mourning.

Isaiah reveals that the Lord will take away all the qualified men from Judah and Jerusalem in His judgment. This includes military, political, and spiritual leaders. After they're gone, the people will turn on each other to survive, trying to convince anyone with the slightest advantage to be their leader. The Lord makes his case against Judah's leaders for taking from the poor instead of providing for them. The Lord will take away from Judah's women all the adornments they displayed in public in their arrogance and immorality. Jerusalem's men will fall, and she will be left empty.

Isaiah 3 picks up where the last verse in Isaiah 2 left off (Isaiah 2:22). There Isaiah warned the people not to trust in mere men and now he proclaims that the Lord will remove all the qualified men from Jerusalem. Those left behind will turn on each other. The Lord will bring charges against Jerusalem's current leaders for mistreating the poor. Because the wealthy women of Jerusalem and Judah are arrogant and immoral, the Lord will take away all their adornments, replacing hair with baldness and beauty with enemy brands. Jerusalem's men will die, leaving her broken and empty. This likely refers to the eventual invasion of Jerusalem and the capture of her people (2 Kings 24:14).

Isaiah is among the most important prophetic books in the entire Bible. The first segment details God's impending judgment against ancient peoples for sin and idolatry (Isaiah 1—35). The second part of Isaiah briefly explains a failed assault on Jerusalem during the rule of Hezekiah (Isaiah 36—39). The final chapters predict Israel's rescue from Babylonian captivity (Isaiah 40—48), the promised Messiah (Isaiah 49—57), and the final glory of Jerusalem and God's people (Isaiah 58—66).