Introduction to Isaiah 3

Structure and Formatting

This chapter presents the third, fourth, and fifth oracles in the second series of oracles about Judah. (The fifth oracle extends into the first verse of chapter 4.) 1. The next three oracles in the second series of six oracles about Judah 1. Judah will lose its leaders (1–7) 2. Yahweh will judge people for what they have done (8–15) 3. Judgment against the women of Judah (16–26)

Translation Issues in This Chapter

Litanies

In 3:1–3 and 3:18–24, Isaiah presents litanies, lists of the various components of a thing in series of very similar statements. See the discussion of litanies in the introduction to Isaiah to decide how you will present these litanies in your translation.

Wordplay[JB1.1]

As the Hebrew prophets did on many occasions, in this chapter Isaiah emphasizes a point by using words together that have very similar sounds. The words translated as “supply” and “support” in verse 1 differ in just one letter. It is often difficult to reproduce this kind of wordplay in another language, but if your language does have similar terms that you can use in this instance, as the ULT does, it would be appropriate to do that in your translation. If not, you could show the emphasis in another way, such as by saying “all support.”