Isaiah 3:4-8

3:4 The Lord says, ¹  “I will make youths their officials;

malicious young men ²  will rule over them.

3:5 The people will treat each other harshly;

men will oppose each other;

neighbors will fight. ³ 

Youths will proudly defy the elderly

and riffraff will challenge those who were once respected. ⁴ 

3:6 Indeed, a man will grab his brother

right in his father’s house ⁵  and say, ⁶ 

‘You own a coat –

you be our leader!

This heap of ruins will be under your control.’ ⁷ 

3:7 At that time ⁸  the brother will shout, ⁹ 

‘I am no doctor, ¹⁰ 

I have no food or coat in my house;

don’t make me a leader of the people!’”

3:8 Jerusalem certainly stumbles,

Judah falls,

for their words and their actions offend the Lord; ¹¹ 

they rebel against his royal authority. ¹² 

Isaiah 49:21

49:21 Then you will think to yourself, ¹³ 

‘Who bore these children for me?

I was bereaved and barren,

dismissed and divorced. ¹⁴ 

Who raised these children?

Look, I was left all alone;

where did these children come from?’”

Psalms 88:18

88:18 You cause my friends and neighbors to keep their distance; ¹⁵ 

those who know me leave me alone in the darkness. ¹⁶ 

Psalms 142:4

142:4 Look to the right and see!

No one cares about me. ¹⁷ 

I have nowhere to run; ¹⁸ 

no one is concerned about my life. ¹⁹ 

Matthew 9:36

9:36 When ²⁰  he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them because they were bewildered and helpless, ²¹  like sheep without a shepherd.

Matthew 15:14

15:14 Leave them! They are blind guides. ²²  If someone who is blind leads another who is blind, ²³  both will fall into a pit.”

¹ tn The words “the Lord says” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The prophet speaks in vv. 1-3 (note the third person reference to the Lord in v. 1), but here the Lord himself announces that he will intervene in judgment. It is unclear where the Lord’s words end and the prophet’s pick up again. The prophet is apparently speaking again by v. 8, where the Lord is referred to in the third person. Since vv. 4-7 comprise a thematic unity, the quotation probably extends through v. 7.

² tn תַעֲלוּלִים (ta’alulim) is often understood as an abstract plural meaning “wantonness, cruelty” (cf. NLT). In this case the chief characteristic of these leaders is substituted for the leaders themselves. However, several translations make the parallelism tighter by emending the form to עוֹלְלִים (’olÿlim, “children”; cf. ESV, NASB, NCV, NIV, NKJV, NRSV). This emendation is unnecessary for at least two reasons. The word in the MT highlights the cruelty or malice of the “leaders” who are left behind in the wake of God’s judgment. The immediate context makes clear the fact that they are mere youths. The coming judgment will sweep away the leaders, leaving a vacuum which will be filled by incompetent, inexperienced youths.

³ tn Heb “man against man, and a man against his neighbor.”

⁴ tn Heb “and those lightly esteemed those who are respected.” The verb רָהַב (rahav) does double duty in the parallelism.

⁵ tn Heb “[in] the house of his father” (so ASV); NIV “at his father’s home.”

⁶ tn The words “and say” are supplied for stylistic reasons.

⁷ tn Heb “your hand”; NASB “under your charge.”

⁸ tn Or “in that day” (KJV).

⁹ tn Heb “he will lift up [his voice].”

¹⁰ tn Heb “wrapper [of wounds]”; KJV, ASV, NRSV “healer.”

¹¹ tn Heb “for their tongue and their deeds [are] to the Lord.”

¹² tn Heb “to rebel [against] the eyes of his majesty.” The word כָּבוֹד (kavod) frequently refers to the Lord’s royal splendor that is an outward manifestation of his authority as king.

¹³ tn Heb “and you will say in your heart.”

¹⁴ tn Or “exiled and thrust away”; NIV “exiled and rejected.”

¹⁵ tn Heb “you cause to be far from me friend and neighbor.”

¹⁶ tn Heb “those known by me, darkness.”

¹⁷ tn Heb “there is no one who recognizes me.”

¹⁸ tn Heb “ a place of refuge perishes from me.”

¹⁹ tn Heb “there is no one who seeks for the sake of my life.”

²⁰ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

²¹ tn Or “because they had been bewildered and helpless.” The translational issue is whether the perfect participles are predicate (as in the text) or are pluperfect periphrastic (the alternate translation). If the latter, the implication would seem to be that the crowds had been in such a state until the Great Shepherd arrived.

²² tc ‡ Most mss, some of which are significant, read “They are blind guides of the blind” (א¹ C L W Z Θ Ë^1,13 33 Ï lat). The shorter reading is read by א*^,2 B D 0237 Epiph. There is a distinct possibility of omission due to homoioarcton in א*; this manuscript has a word order variation which puts the word τυφλοί (tufloi, “blind”) right before the word τυφλῶν (tuflwn, “of the blind”). This does not explain the shorter reading, however, in the other witnesses, of which B and D are quite weighty. Internal considerations suggest that the shorter reading is original: “of the blind” was likely added by scribes to balance this phrase with Jesus’ following statement about the blind leading the blind, which clearly has two groups in view. A decision is difficult, but internal considerations here along with the strength of the witnesses argue that the shorter reading is more likely original. NA²⁷ places τυφλῶν in brackets, indicating doubts as to its authenticity.

²³ tn Grk “If blind leads blind.”