3:16 The Lord says,
“The women 1 of Zion are proud.
They walk with their heads high 2
and flirt with their eyes.
They skip along 3
and the jewelry on their ankles jingles. 4
3:17 So 5 the sovereign master 6 will afflict the foreheads of Zion’s women 7 with skin diseases, 8
the Lord will make the front of their heads bald.” 9
3:18 10 At that time 11 the sovereign master will remove their beautiful ankle jewelry, 12 neck ornaments, crescent shaped ornaments, 3:19 earrings, bracelets, veils, 3:20 headdresses, ankle ornaments, sashes, sachets, 13 amulets, 3:21 rings, nose rings, 3:22 festive dresses, robes, shawls, purses, 3:23 garments, vests, head coverings, and gowns. 14
3:24 A putrid stench will replace the smell of spices, 15
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 16 men will fall by the sword,
your strong men will die in battle. 17
3:26 Her gates will mourn and lament;
deprived of her people, she will sit on the ground. 18
4:1 Seven women will grab hold of
one man at that time. 19
They will say, “We will provide 20 our own food,
we will provide 21 our own clothes;
but let us belong to you 22 –
take away our shame!” 23
32:9 You complacent 24 women,
get up and listen to me!
You carefree 25 daughters,
pay attention to what I say!
32:10 In a year’s time 26
you carefree ones will shake with fear,
for the grape 27 harvest will fail,
and the fruit harvest will not arrive.
32:11 Tremble, you complacent ones!
Shake with fear, you carefree ones!
Strip off your clothes and expose yourselves –
put sackcloth on your waist! 28
32:12 Mourn over the field, 29
over the delightful fields
and the fruitful vine!
32:13 Mourn 30 over the land of my people,
which is overgrown with thorns and briers,
and over all the once-happy houses 31
in the city filled with revelry. 32
1 tn Heb “daughters” (so KJV, NAB, NRSV).
2 tn Heb “with an outstretched neck.” They proudly hold their heads high so that others can see the jewelry around their necks.
3 tn Heb “walking and skipping, they walk.”
4 tn Heb “and with their feet they jingle.”
5 tn In the Hebrew text vv. 16-17 and one long sentence, “Because the daughters of Zion are proud and walk…, the sovereign master will afflict….” In v. 17 the Lord refers to himself in the third person.
6 tn The Hebrew term translated “sovereign master” here and in v. 18 is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).
7 tn Heb “the daughters of Zion.”
8 tn Or “a scab” (KJV, ASV); NIV, NCV, CEV “sores.”
9 tn The precise meaning of this line is unclear because of the presence of the rare word פֹּת (pot). Since the verb in the line means “lay bare, make naked,” some take פֹּת as a reference to the genitals (cf. KJV, ASV, NRSV, CEV). (In 1 Kgs 7:50 a noun פֹּת appears, with the apparent meaning “socket.”) J. N. Oswalt (Isaiah [NICOT], 1:139, n. 2), basing his argument on alleged Akkadian evidence and the parallelism of the verse, takes פֹּת as “forehead.”
10 sn The translation assumes that the direct quotation ends with v. 17. The introductory formula “in that day” and the shift from a poetic to prosaic style indicate that a new speech unit begins in v. 18.
11 tn Or “in that day” (KJV).
12 tn Or “the beauty of [their] ankle jewelry.”
13 tn Heb “houses of breath.” HALOT 124 s.v. בַּיִת defines them as “scent-bottles”; cf. NAB, NRSV “perfume boxes.”
14 tn The precise meaning of many of the words in this list is uncertain.
15 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.
16 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.
17 tn Heb “your strength in battle.” The verb in the first clause provides the verbal idea for the second clause.
18 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.
19 tn Or “in that day” (ASV).
20 tn Heb “eat” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV); CEV “buy.”
21 tn Heb “wear” (so NASB, NRSV); NCV “make.”
22 tn Heb “only let your name be called over us.” The Hebrew idiom “call the name over” indicates ownership. See 2 Sam 12:28, and BDB 896 s.v. I ָקרָא Niph. 2.d.(4). The language reflects the cultural reality of ancient Israel, where women were legally the property of their husbands.
23 sn This refers to the humiliation of being unmarried and childless. The women’s words reflect the cultural standards of ancient Israel, where a woman’s primary duties were to be a wife and mother.
24 tn Or “self-assured”; NASB, NRSV “who are at ease.”
25 tn Or “self-confident”; NAB “overconfident.”
26 tn Heb “days upon a year.”
27 tn Or perhaps, “olive.” See 24:13.
28 tn The imperatival forms in v. 11 are problematic. The first (חִרְדוּ, khirdu, “tremble”) is masculine plural in form, though spoken to a feminine plural addressee (שַׁאֲנַנּוֹת, sha’anannot, “complacent ones”). The four imperatival forms that follow (רְגָזָה, rÿgazah, “shake with fear”; פְּשֹׁטָה, pÿshotah, “strip off your clothes”; עֹרָה, ’orah, “expose yourselves”; and חֲגוֹרָה, khagorah, “put on”) all appear to be lengthened (so-called “emphatic”) masculine singular forms, even though they too appear to be spoken to a feminine plural addressee. GKC 131-32 §48.i suggests emending חִרְדוּ (khirdu) to חֲרָדָה (kharadah) and understanding all five imperatives as feminine plural “aramaized” forms.
29 tc The Hebrew text has “over mourning breasts.” The reference to “breasts” would make sense in light of v. 11, which refers to the practice of women baring their breasts as a sign of sorrow (see J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah [NICOT], 1:585). However, one expects the preposition עַל (’al) to introduce the source or reason for mourning (see vv. 12b-13a) and the participle סֹפְדִים (sofedim, “mourning”) seems odd modifying “breasts.” The translation above assumes a twofold emendation: (1) שָׁדַיִם (shadayim, “breasts”) is emended to [ם]שָׂדַי (saday[m], “field,” a term that also appears in Isa 56:9). The final mem (ם) would be enclitic in this case, not a plural indicator. (The Hebrew noun שָׂדֶה (sadeh, “field”) forms its plural with an וֹת- [-ot] ending). (2) The plural participle סֹפְדִים is emended to סְפֹדָה (sÿfodah), a lengthened imperatival form, meaning “mourn.” For an overview of various suggestions that have been made for this difficult line, see Oswalt, 586, n. 12).
30 tn “Mourn” is supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons. In the Hebrew text vv. 12-13 are one long sentence.
31 tn Heb “indeed, over all the houses of joy.” It is not certain if this refers to individual homes or to places where parties and celebrations were held.
32 sn This same phrase is used in 22:2.
33 sn The background of these women is disputed. Are they “official” mourners of Jesus’ death, appointed by custom to mourn death? If so, the mourning here would be more pro forma. However, the text seems to treat the mourning as sincere, so their tears and lamenting would have been genuine.
34 tn Or “who were beating their breasts,” implying a ritualized form of mourning employed in Jewish funerals. See the note on the term “women” earlier in this verse.
35 sn The title Daughters of Jerusalem portrays these women mourning as representatives of the nation.
36 sn Do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves. Judgment now comes on the nation (see Luke 19:41-44) for this judgment of Jesus. Ironically, they mourn the wrong person – they should be mourning for themselves.
37 tn Grk “For behold.”
38 tn Grk “Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that have not borne, and the breasts that have not nursed!”
39 sn The figure of crying out to the mountains ‘Fall on us!’ (appealing to creation itself to hide them from God’s wrath), means that a time will come when people will feel they are better off dead (Hos 10:8).
40 sn An allusion to Hos 10:8 (cf. Rev 6:16).