Barnes' Notes on Isaiah 3:17

A historical reference excerpt for this verse. Read it alongside the biblical text and other available sources.

Notes on the Whole Bible
Albert Barnes (1798–1870) · 19th-century historical commentary
Source: BibleWord.ai's local reference edition of this named work.

Therefore the Lord will smite with a scab - There is some diversity of rendering to this expression. The Septuagint reads it: ‘The Lord will humble the principal daughters of Zion’ - those who belong to the court, or to the families of the princes. The Chaldee, ‘The Lord will prostrate the glory of the daughters of Zion.’ The Syriac is the same. The Hebrew word שׂפח s'ı̂phach, translated ‘will smite with a scab,’ means to “make bald,” particularly to make the hair fall off by sickness. Our translation conveys the idea essentially, that is, that God would visit them with disease that would remove the hair which they regarded as so great an ornament, and on which they so much prided themselves. Few things would be so degrading and humiliating as being thus made bald. The description in this verse means, that God would humble and punish them; that they who so adorned themselves, and who were so proud of their ornaments, would be divested of their joyful attire, and be borne naked into captivity in a foreign land. return to 'Top of Page'

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