It shall happen that instead of sweet spices, there shall be rottenness; instead of a belt, a rope; instead of well set hair, baldness; instead of a robe, a wearing of sackcloth; and branding instead of beauty.
Parallel Translations
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It shall happen that instead of sweet spices, there shall be rottenness; instead of a belt, a rope; instead of well set hair, baldness; instead of a robe, a wearing of sackcloth; and branding instead of beauty.
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And it shall come to pass, that instead of sweet smell there shall be stink; and instead of a girdle a rent; and instead of well set hair baldness; and instead of a stomacher a girding of sackcloth; and burning instead of beauty.
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And it shall come to pass, that instead of sweet spices there shall be rottenness; and instead of a girdle rags; and instead of curled hair baldness; and instead of a stomacher a girding of sackcloth; branding instead of beauty.
Cross-references (26)
Passages linked to Isaiah 3:24 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Lamentations 2:10 The elders of the daughter of Zion sit on the ground. They keep silence. They have cast up dust on their heads. They have clothed themselves with sackcloth. The virgins of Jerusalem hang down their heads to the ground.
- Ezekiel 27:31 They will make themselves bald for you, and clothe themselves with sackcloth. They will weep for you in bitterness of soul, with bitter mourning.
- Isaiah 15:3 In their streets, they clothe themselves in sackcloth. In their streets and on their housetops, everyone wails, weeping abundantly.
- Isaiah 22:12 In that day, the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, called to weeping, to mourning, to baldness, and to dressing in sackcloth;
- Micah 1:16 Shave your heads, and cut off your hair for the children of your delight. Enlarge your baldness like the vulture; for they have gone into captivity from you!
- 1 Peter 3:3 Let your beauty be not just the outward adorning of braiding the hair, and of wearing jewels of gold, or of putting on fine clothing;
- Leviticus 26:16 I also will do this to you: I will appoint terror over you, even consumption and fever, that shall consume the eyes, and make the soul to pine away. You will sow your seed in vain, for your enemies will eat it.
- Esther 2:12 Each young woman’s turn came to go in to King Ahasuerus after her purification for twelve months (for so were the days of their purification accomplished, six months with oil of myrrh, and six months with sweet fragrances and with preparations for beautifying women).
- Isaiah 32:9-11 Rise up, you women who are at ease! Hear my voice! You careless daughters, give ear to my speech! For days beyond a year you will be troubled, you careless women; for the vintage will fail. The harvest won’t come. Tremble, you women who are at ease! Be troubled, you careless ones! Strip yourselves, make yourselves naked, and put sackcloth on your waist.
- Amos 8:10 I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation; and I will make you wear sackcloth on all your bodies, and baldness on every head. I will make it like the mourning for an only son, and its end like a bitter day.
- Revelation 18:9 The kings of the earth who committed sexual immorality and lived wantonly with her will weep and wail over her, when they look at the smoke of her burning,
- Deuteronomy 28:22 Yahweh will strike you with consumption, with fever, with inflammation, with fiery heat, with the sword, with blight, and with mildew. They will pursue you until you perish.
- Deuteronomy 32:24 They shall be wasted with hunger, and devoured with burning heat and bitter destruction. I will send the teeth of animals on them, with the venom of vipers that glide in the dust.
- Job 16:15 I have sewed sackcloth on my skin, and have thrust my horn in the dust.
- Proverbs 7:17 I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.
- Proverbs 31:24 She makes linen garments and sells them, and delivers sashes to the merchant.
- Isaiah 57:9 You went to the king with oil, increased your perfumes, sent your ambassadors far off, and degraded yourself even to Sheol.
- Jeremiah 4:8 For this, clothe yourself with sackcloth, lament and wail; for the fierce anger of Yahweh hasn’t turned back from us.
- Jeremiah 6:26 Daughter of my people, clothe yourself with sackcloth, and wallow in ashes! Mourn, as for an only son, most bitter lamentation, for the destroyer will suddenly come on us.
- Jeremiah 48:37 For every head is bald, and every beard clipped. There are cuttings on all the hands, and sackcloth on the waist.
- Ezekiel 7:18 They will also clothe themselves with sackcloth, and horror will cover them. Shame will be on all faces, and baldness on all their heads.
- Joel 1:8 Mourn like a virgin dressed in sackcloth for the husband of her youth!
- Revelation 11:3 I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy one thousand two hundred sixty days, clothed in sackcloth.”
- Revelation 16:9 People were scorched with great heat, and people blasphemed the name of God who has the power over these plagues. They didn’t repent and give him glory.
- Isaiah 4:4 when the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from within it, by the spirit of justice and by the spirit of burning.
- Jeremiah 49:3 “Wail, Heshbon, for Ai is laid waste! Cry, you daughters of Rabbah! Clothe yourself in sackcloth. Lament, and run back and forth among the fences; for Malcam will go into captivity, his priests and his princes together.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (13 sources)
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Isa 3:24 And it shall come to pass, [that]…
Isa 3:24 And it shall come to pass, [that] instead of sweet smell there shall be stink; and instead of a girdle a rent; and instead of well set hair baldness; and instead of a stomacher a girding of sackcloth; [and] burning instead of beauty.
Ver. 24. And there shall be instead of sweet smell, stink.] Ex illuvie et sordibus captivitatis et carceris. Martial and Marcellinus tell us of a natural stench the Jews have, such as made the Emperor Aurelius, coming among some of them, and annoyed with their ill savour, to cry out, O Marcomanni, O Quadi, O Sarmatae, &c., O Marcomans, Quades, and Sarmatians, at length I have met with those that are more nasty and loathsome than you are. {a} These dainty dames are threatened with dirty doings in captivity and prison, such as should render them odious.
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And instead of a girdle, a rent.] Or, Rags; or, a beating. The Vulgate rendereth it a cord.
And instead of well set hair.] Heb., Work of even or smooth setting, or trimming, Tριχολασται, or hair trimmers, were anciently noted for effeminate. Pompey is taxed in history for that he did unico digitulo caput scalpere, scratch his well set hair with his little finger only.
Baldness.] Pro crispanti crine calvitium, et pro fascia pectorali cilicium. Pride is so hateful to God that such as are guilty of it seldom escape his visible vengeance.
And burning instead of beauty.] Burning; that is, sun burning.
{a} Ammian. lib. ii.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Instead of sweet smell, those perfumes mentioned Isa 3:20,
Instead of sweet smell, those perfumes mentioned Isa 3:20,
there shall be stink, from their scabs, mentioned Isa 3:17, or from other ill usages of their enemies.
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Instead of a girdle, which were fine and costly, and useful to gird their garments about them,
a rent; either the rending of their garments for grief; or torn and tattered garments, not sufficient to cover their bodies.
Burning, by the heat of the sun, to which they are now commonly exposed, from which they used formerly to guard themselves with great care.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain And it shall come to pass, that instead of…
And it shall come to pass, that instead of sweet smell there shall be a stink,.... Instead of "spice", or in the place where they put spices, carried musk, or had their smelling bottles, of precious and aromatic ointment, balsam, and myrrh, and such like things (g), namely, in their bosoms, there should be a "stink" or putrefaction, arising from ulcers and diseases of the body, Zac 14:12 the Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic versions, render it "dust"; or this may refer to the anointing of their hair with ointment of myrrh and other things, which gave an agreeable scent; but instead of this there would be a scab, giving an ill scent, Isa 3:17.
and instead of a girdle a rent; such as is made in times of mourning and distress, or by the enemy. The Septuagint and Arabic versions render it, a "rope"; instead of fine curious girdles, wrought with gold and silver, they should have nothing but a rope about their loins. The Targum is,
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"in the place where they bind the girdles, shall be marks of smiting;''
stripes, cuts, see Isa 10:34 as either by blows from the enemy, by whom they should be taken, or by the hand of God, being smitten with sores and ulcers, so that they should not be able to bear girdles upon them; or "holes", in their clothes or skin:
and instead of well set hair baldness; instead of plaited hair, and curled locks, kept in order, there would be scabs, ulcers, leprosy, or such diseases as would cause the hair to fall off, and leave a baldness. The Septuagint and Arabic versions render it, "instead of the golden ornament of the head, thou shall have baldness for thy works"; and the Syriac version, "instead of gems, incisions":
and instead of a stomacher a girding of sackcloth; the word for a "stomacher" is only used in this place; according to Kimchi, it signifies a very broad girdle; but Aben Ezra says it was a thin garment embroidered, which was put over all the rest of the clothes; perhaps something like a "mantelet". The Septuagint version renders it, "instead of the garment worked with purple"; and so the Syriac version, "instead of their hyacinths, or purples"; and the Arabic version, "instead of thy silken garment thou shall be girt with sackcloth"; which was usually done in times of distress and mourning:
and burning instead of beauty; either through the scorching beams of the sun, being stripped of their hoods and veils; or rather this is to be understood of carbuncles, and such like hot burning ulcers in their faces, which once were beautiful, and they prided themselves in; though the Hebrew word seems rather to be a preposition than a noun; so Jarchi, whose note is,
"for this is fit to be unto them instead of beauty, with which they have prided themselves,''
or have lifted up themselves; and so in his gloss upon the Talmud (h), where this clause, with the context, is cited and paraphrased,
"for all these things shall come unto thee instead of thy beauty;''
and this clause may be read in connection with the following, "because of beauty", or "instead of beauty, thy men shall fall", &c. and so the Targum,
"this vengeance shall be taken on them, because they have committed fornication in their beauty; thy beautiful men shall be killed by the sword.''
The Syriac version is, "because their beauty shall be corrupted", and those versions which seem to have left out this clause, yet retain something of it in the beginning of the next verse Isa 3:25. The Vulgate Latin version is, "thy most beautiful men also shall fall by the sword". The Septuagint and Arabic versions begin it thus, "and thy beautiful son, whom thou lovest, shall fall by the sword".
(g) Misn. Sabbat, c. 6. sect. 3. (h) T. Bab. Sabbat, fol. 62. 2.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Girdle - Which were fine and costly, and useful…
Girdle - Which were fine and costly, and useful to gird their garments about them. A rent - Torn and tattered garments. Burning - By the heat of the sun, to which they are now commonly exposed, from which they used formerly to guard themselves with the utmost care.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 24. Instead of sweet smell - "perfume."] A…
Verse 24. Instead of sweet smell - "perfume."] A principal part of the delicacy of the Asiatic ladies consists in the use of baths, and of the richest oils and perfumes; an attention to which is in some degree necessary in those hot countries. Frequent mention is made of the rich ointments of the spouse in the Song of Solomon, Son 4:10-11: -
"How beautiful are thy breasts, my sister, my spouse!
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How much more excellent than wine;
And the odour of thine ointments than all perfumes!
Thy lips drop as the honey-comb, my spouse!
Honey and milk are under thy tongue:
And the odour of thy garments is as the odour of Lebanon."
The preparation for Esther's being introduced to King Ahasuerus was a course of bathing and perfuming for a whole year; "six months with oil of myrrh, and six months with sweet odours;" Es 2:12. See the notes on this place. See Clarke on Es 2:12. A diseased and loathsome habit of body, instead of a beautiful skin, softened and made agreeable with all that art could devise, and all that nature, so prodigal in those countries of the richest perfumes, could supply, must have been a punishment the most severe and the most mortifying to the delicacy of these haughty daughters of Sion.
Burning instead of beauty - "A sunburnt skin."] Gaspar Sanctius thinks the words כי תחת ki thachath an interpolation, because the Vulgate has omitted them. The clause כי תחת יפי ki thachath yophi seems to me rather to be imperfect at the end. Not to mention that כי ki, taken as a noun for adustio, burning, is without example, and very improbable. The passage ends abruptly, and seems to want a fuller conclusion.
In agreement with which opinion, of the defect of the Hebrew text in this place, the Septuagint, according to MSS. Pachom. and 1 D. ii., and Marchal., which are of the best authority, express it with the same evident marks of imperfection at the end of the sentence; thus: ταυτα σοι αντι καλλωπισμου - The two latter add δου. This chasm in the text, from the loss probably of three or four words, seems therefore to be of long standing.
Taking כי ki in its usual sense, as a particle, and supplying לך lech from the σοι of the Septuagint, it might possibly have been originally somewhat in this form: -
מראה רעת לך תהיה יפי תחת כי marah raath lech thihyeh yophi thachath ki "Yea, instead of beauty thou shalt have an ill-favoured countenance."
כי תחת יפי ki thachath yophi (q. יחת yachath,) "for beauty shall be destroyed." Syr. חתת chathath or נחת nachath. - Dr. DURELL.
"May it not be כהי cohey, 'wrinkles instead of beauty?' as from יפה yaphah is formed יפי yephi, yophi; from מרה marah, מרי meri, c. so from כהה cahah, to be wrinkled, כהי cohey." - Dr. JUBB. The כי ki is wanting in one MS., and has been omitted by several of the ancients.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain And it shall come to pass - The prophet…
And it shall come to pass - The prophet proceeds to denounce the “judgment” or “punishment” that would come upon them for their pride and vanity. In the calamities that would befall the nation, all their ornaments of pride and vainglory would be stripped off; and instead of them, they would exhibit the marks, and wear the badges of calamity and grief.
Instead of sweet smell - Hebrew בשׂם bôs'em, aromatics, perfumes, spicy fragrance; such as they used on their garments and persons. ‘No one ever enters a company without being well perfumed; and in addition to various scents and oils, they are adorned with numerous garlands, made of the most odoriferous flowers.’ - “Roberts.” ‘The persons of the Assyrian ladies are elegantly clothed and scented with the richest oils and perfumes. When a queen was to be chosen to the king of Persia, instead of Vashti, the virgins collected at Susana, the capital, underwent a purification of twelve months’ duration, to wit: “six months with oil of myrrh, and six months with sweet odors.” The general use of such precious oil and fragrant perfumes among the ancient Roamns, particularly among the ladies of rank and fashion, may be inferred from these words of Virgil:
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Arabrosiaeque comae divinum vertice odorem Spiravere:
AEn. i. 403.
“From her head the ambrosial locks breathed divine fragrance.”
Paxton.
A stink - This word properly means the fetor or offensive smell which attends the decomposition of a deceased body. It means that the bodies which they so carefully adorned, and which they so assiduously endeavored to preserve in beauty by unguents and perfumes, would die and turn to corruption.
And instead of a girdle - Girdles were an indispensable part of an Oriental dress. Their garments were loose and flowing, and it became necessary to gird them up when they ran, or danced, or labored.
A rent - There has been a great variety of opinion about the meaning of this word. The most probable signification is that which is derived from a verb meaning “to go around, encompass;” and hence, that it denotes “a cord.” Instead of the beautiful girdle with which they girded themselves, there shall be “a cord” - an emblem of poverty, as the poor had nothing else with which to gird up their clothes; a humiliating description of the calamities which were to come upon proud and vain females of the court.
And instead of well-set hair - Hair that was curiously braided and adorned. ‘No ladies pay more attention to the dressing of the hair than these (the dancing girls of India), for as they never wear caps, they take great delight in this their natural ornament.’ - “Roberts.” Miss Pardoe, in ‘The City of the Sultan,’ says, that after taking a bath, the slaves who attended her spent an hour and a half in dressing and adorning her hair; compare 1Pe 3:3.
Instead of a stomacher - It is not certainly known what is meant by this, but it probably means some sort of “girdle,” or a platted or stiffened ornament worn on the breast. ‘I once saw a dress beautifully plaited and stiffened for the front, but I do not think it common.’ - “Roberts.”
A girding of sackcloth - This is a coarse cloth that was commonly worn in times of affliction, as emblematic of grief; 2Sa 3:31; 1Ki 20:31; 1Ki 21:27; Job 16:15; Isa 32:11.
And burning - The word used here does not occur elsewhere. It seems to denote “a brand, a mark burnt in, a stigma;” perhaps a sun-burned countenance, indicating exposure in the long and wearisome journey of a captivity over burning sands and beneath a scorching sun.
Instead of beauty - Instead of a fair and delicate complexion, cherished and nourished with care. Some of the articles of dress shown in the book exhibit several varieties of the costume of an Oriental female. To what “particular” time the prophet refers in this chapter is not known, perhaps, however, to the captivity at Babylon. To whatever he refers, it is one of the most striking reproofs of vanity and pride, especially the pride of female ornament, any where to be found. And although he had “particular” reference to the Jewish females, yet there is no impropriety in regarding it as applicable to all such ornaments wherever they may be found. They indicate the same state of the heart, and they must meet substantially the same rebuke from God. The body, however delicately pampered and adorned, must become the prey of corruption. ‘The worm shall feed sweetly on it, and the earth-worm shall be its covering;’ compare Isa 14:2; Job 24:20. The single thought that the body must die - that it must lie and moulder in the grave - should check the love of frivolous adorning, and turn the mind to a far more important matter - the salvation of the soul, which cannot die; to ‘the ornament of a weak and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price;’ 1Pe 3:4.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Stench. The Jews are noted on this account, as…
Stench. The Jews are noted on this account, as if in consequence of this curse, or of their being confined to prisons, &c. Fœtentium Judæorum et tumultuantium sæpe tædio percitus. --- M. Aurelius "was often weary of the stinking and seditious Jews." (Marcellin ii.)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain stink--arising from ulcers (Zac 14:12).
stink--arising from ulcers (Zac 14:12).
girdle--to gird up the loose Eastern garments, when the person walked.
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rent--the Septuagint, better, a "rope," an emblem of poverty; the poor have nothing else to gird up their clothes with.
well-set hair-- (Pe1 3:3-4).
baldness-- (Isa 3:17).
stomacher--a broad plaited girdle.
sackcloth-- (Sa2 3:31).
burning--a sunburnt countenance, owing to their hoods and veils being stripped off, while they had to work as captives under a scorching sun (Sol 1:6).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 24. It shall come to pass — The divine…
24. It shall come to pass — The divine judgment against this luxurious finery is, that in place of sweet smell — aromatics, spicy fragrance, and the like, upon the garments of the person, (Roberts says, “No one ever enters a company without being perfumed,”) there shall be stink — a stench from dead bodies.
Instead of a girdle — An ornament for the waist; used, also, to hold up the gathers of the long outer robe when engaged in active employment.
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A rent — Better, a rope; either an emblem of poverty or of captivity: in the latter case the proud females being thereby hauled along in the train of conquerors.
Well set hair — Hair curiously braided and adorned.
Baldness — In this connexion made so by the razor, the hair being shaved off; as conquerors of old time resorted to the last degree of humiliations upon their captives.
Stomacher — It is matter of uncertainty what is meant by this. Most concur in its being a plaited or stiffened ornament worn on the breast, or a broad plaited girdle for the breast.
A girding of sackcloth — The material only changed. “Sackcloth” was of the coarsest material, and worn only in affliction.
Burning — A sunburnt face, from the exposures of captivity and slavery. This, instead of the fair complexion and the well adorned person in a highly civilized and luxurious life.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 24. A description of the degradation of the high-born…
24. A description of the degradation of the high-born women of Jerusalem, reduced to beggary and slavery. The verse would appear to connect better with Isa_3:17 than with 18–23.
instead of … stink] R.V. instead of sweet spices (lit. “balsam”) there shall be rottenness. a rent] Render with R.V. a rope.
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well set hair] artificial curls (Cheyne), lit. “turner’s work.”
baldness] the result of disease, Isa_3:17, or, possibly, a sign of mourning.
a stomacher] an obscure word; perhaps mantle.
branding instead of beauty; branding the symbol of slavery.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (24) And it shall come to pass.—Now comes the…
(24) And it shall come to pass.—Now comes the terrible contrast of the day of destruction that is coming on all this refined luxury. Instead of the balmy perfume of the scent-bottles, there shall be the stench of squalor and pestilence; instead of the embroidered girdle (Isa_11:5), not a “rent,” but the rope by which they would be dragged in the march of their conquerors; instead of the plaited hair (1Pe_3:3; 1Ti_2:9), natural or artificial, the baldness of those who were cropped as slaves were cropped (comp. 1Co_11:5-6); instead of the “stomacher” (better, cloak, or mantle), the scanty tunic of the coarsest sackcloth; instead of the elaborate beauty in which they had exulted, the burning, or brand, stamped on their flesh, often in the barbarism of the East on the forehead, to mark them as the slaves of their captors.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Instead of sweet smell; literally, spice. (comp. 1Ki_10:10, etc.)…
Instead of sweet smell; literally, spice. (comp. 1Ki_10:10, etc.) Stink; rather, rottenness, as translated in Isa_5:24. (compare the cognate verb in Lev_26:39) Instead of a girdle a rent. So Lowth and Kay; but most moderns prefer the meaning given by the Septuagint and Vulgate, "instead of a girdle, a rope." The word used occurs only in this place. Instead of well-set hair baldness (compare above, ver. 17). By "well-set hair" seems to be meant "hair arranged with such exactness and order as to look like a work of art." The exact arrangement of the hair is very remarkable, both in the Egyptian and the Assyrian sculptures. Instead of such elaborate attempts to improve their looks, the daughters of Jerusalem would soon pluck their hair out by the roots, or shave it off, in mourning. A girding of sackcloth. (comp. Gen_37:34 2Sa_3:31, etc.; and for the adoption of the custom by women, see 2Sa_21:10 Joe_1:8) Burning instead of beauty. This meaning is now generally acknowledged, the sense of "burning" being borne out by the cognate verb used in Pro_6:28 Isa_43:2, and the cognate noun used in Exo_21:25. The" burning" intended is probably branding by a barbarous enemy (see Herod., 7:233; "Hist. Tamerlau.," p. 320).
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 a piece of cloth that people wear around the…
sash
a piece of cloth that people wear around the waist or across the chest. See how you translated this in Isaiah 3:20.
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a rope
This may refer to a rope that enemies would tie on the people of Judah when they captured them. Or it might mean that Jerusalem's women would have nothing to wear but rough clothing secured with ropes.
well-arranged hair, baldness
"pretty hair, their heads will be bald"
Your men will fall by the sword, and your strong men will fall in war
Falling represents being killed, and the sword represents battle. AT: "Your men will be killed in battle, and your strong men will be killed in war" or "Enemies will kill your soldiers in battle" (See: Metonymy)
Jerusalem's gates will lament and mourn
Here the city gates represent the people who sit at the public places near the city gates. AT: "The people of Jerusalem will sit at the city gates and cry and mourn" (See:- Metonymy)
she will be alone and sit upon the ground
Isaiah speaks of the people of Jerusalem, whom no one will save from their enemies, as if they were the city itself and as if they were a woman who sits on the ground because all her friends have deserted her. (See: Personification and Metonymy)
translationWords
robe
sackcloth
sword
lament
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.