Isaiah 3:25 - Printer Friendly

ESV: Your men shall fall by the sword and your mighty men in battle.

NIV: Your men will fall by the sword, your warriors in battle.

NASB: Your men will fall by the sword And your mighty ones in battle.

CSB: Your men will fall by the sword, your warriors in battle.

NLT: The men of the city will be killed with the sword, and her warriors will die in battle.

KJV: Thy men shall fall by the sword, and thy mighty in the war.

NKJV: Your men shall fall by the sword, And your mighty in the war.

Isaiah has described how the wealthy, proud women of his era would have all the material wealth and expensive adornments taken from them (Isaiah 3:18–23). He has described the time of God's coming judgment in the form of foreign invaders who will brand God's people and lead them away dressed in sackcloth (Isaiah 3:24).

Now he adds that the men will die by the sword in battle. Every man worth attracting with their expensively maintained beauty will be dead. Husbands and sons will be dead. They will have nothing left. While all of that is true, Isaiah seems to have turned from speaking of the prideful women of Judah to also speaking of Jerusalem as a woman. Her mighty men will all be killed in battle. She, the glorious city of David, will be decimated by the hand of the Lord.

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).

Accessed 5/7/2024 4:47:55 PM