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Chapter 3

Judgment on Jerusalem and Judah

[a]The Lord, the Lord of hosts,
    will take away from Jerusalem and from Judah
Support and staff—
    all support of bread,
    all support of water:(A)
Hero and warrior,
    judge and prophet, diviner and elder,
The captain of fifty and the nobleman,
    counselor, skilled magician, and expert charmer.

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Footnotes

  1. 3:1–12 These verses suggest deportation, with resulting social upheaval, and thus may date to sometime after Ahaz submitted as vassal to Assyria. The deportation practiced by Assyria, as later by Babylon, exiled the leading elements of society, such as those named in vv. 2–3; cf. 2 Kgs 24:12, 14–16 for a similar list of those exiled by the Babylonians. Denuding society of its leaders opens the way to near anarchy and a situation in which leadership is seized by or thrust upon those unqualified for it (vv. 5–7). The situation has been provoked by sinfully inept leadership (vv. 4, 8–9, 12). Some suggest that vv. 4 and 12 refer to Ahaz, who may have come to the throne at an early age. Verses 10–11 form a wisdom couplet that was inserted later.