Text -- Isaiah 3:24-26 (NET)

3:24 A putrid stench will replace the smell of spices, a rope will replace a belt, baldness will replace braided locks of hair, a sackcloth garment will replace a fine robe, and a prisoner’s brand will replace beauty. 3:25 Your men will fall by the sword, your strong men will die in battle. 3:26 Her gates will mourn and lament; deprived of her people, she will sit on the ground.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Isa 3:24

¹ tn Heb “and it will be in place of spices there will be a stench.” The nouns for “spices” and “stench” are right next to each other in the MT for emphatic contrast. The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.

NET Notes: Isa 3:25

¹ tn The pronoun is feminine singular, suggesting personified Zion, as representative of its women, is the addressee. The reference to “her gates’ in v. 26 makes this identification almost certain.

² tn Heb “your strength in battle.” The verb in the first clause provides the verbal idea for the second clause.

NET Notes: Isa 3:26

¹ tn Heb “she will be empty, on the ground she will sit.” Jerusalem is personified as a destitute woman who sits mourning the empty city.