Isaiah 3:1-26

3:1 | Behold introduces a prophetic threat: God will remove bread and water, which represent all that is essential to the nation’s survival.

3:9-11 | Here Isaiah pronounces two “woes.” The word, which was used to lament the death of a relative, signifies impending doom and indicates that the objects of God’s judgment are as good as dead (Ps. 11:6).

3:10 | Even when a society is overrun by sinners, God encourages the righteous few who have remained faithful to Him.

3:14 | The elders served as advisors to the king and often as a local court of justices at the city gates. In Isaiah’s day, the elders used their legal and political powers to line their pockets.

3:16-23 | Because the haughty women delighted in immodest exposure, God would give them over to it, uncovering their secret parts (Jer. 13:22). Twenty-one items are listed (in Hebrew thought, 7x3 is a full measure), highlighting the women’s excess and evidencing the pride and opulence achieved through the unjust and oppressive measures of their husbands.