TRV
Translation
Young's Literal Translation
Jehovah hath stood up to plead, And He is standing to judge the peoples.
In the KJVVerse 17,721 of 31,102
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Commentary on Isaiah 3 verses 9–15
9 ¶ The shew of their countenance doth witness against them; and they declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not. Woe unto their soul! for they have rewarded evil unto themselves.
10 Say ye to the righteous, that it shall be well with him: for they shall eat the fruit of their doings.
11 Woe unto the wicked! it shall be ill with him: for the reward of his hands shall be given him.
12 As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, they which lead thee cause thee to err, and destroy the way of thy paths.
13 The LORD standeth up to plead, and standeth to judge the people.
14 The LORD will enter into judgment with the ancients of his people, and the princes thereof: for ye have eaten up the vineyard; the spoil of the poor is in your houses.
15 What mean ye that ye beat my people to pieces, and grind the faces of the poor? saith the Lord GOD of hosts.
Here God proceeds in his controversy with his people. Observe,
I. The ground of his controversy. It was for sin that God contended with them; if they vex themselves, let them look a little further and they will see that they must thank themselves: Woe unto their souls! For they have rewarded evil unto themselves. Alas for their souls! (so it may be read, in a way of lamentation), for they have procured evil to themselves, Isa 3:9. Note, The condition of sinners is woeful and very deplorable. Note, also, It is the soul that is damaged and endangered by sin. Sinners may prosper in their outward estates, and yet at the same time there may be a woe to their souls. Note, further, Whatever evils befals sinners it is of their own procuring, Jer 2:19. That which is here charged upon then is, 1. That the shame which should have restrained them from their sins was quite thrown off and they had grown impudent, Isa 3:9. This hardens men against repentance, and ripens them for ruin, as much as anything: The show of their countenance doth witness against them that their minds are vain, and lewd, and malicious; their eyes declare plainly that they cannot cease from sin, Pe2 2:14. One may look them in the face and guess at the desperate wickedness that there is in their hearts: They declare their sin as Sodom, so impetuous, so imperious, are their lusts, and so impatient of the least check, and so perfectly are all the remaining sparks of virtue extinguished in them. The Sodomites declared their sin, not only by the exceeding greatness of it (Gen 13:13), so that it cried to heaven (Gen 18:20), but by their shameless owning of that which was most shameful (Gen 19:5); and thus Judah and Jerusalem did: they were so far from hiding it that they gloried in it, in the bold attempts they made upon virtue, and the victory they gained over their own convictions. They had a whore's forehead (Jer 3:3) and could not blush, Jer 6:15. Note, Those that have grown impudent in sin are ripe for ruin. Those that are past shame (we say) are past grace, and then past hope. 2. That their guides, who should direct them in the right way, put them out of the way (Isa 3:12): "Those who lead thee (the princes, priests, and prophets) mislead thee; they cause thee to err." Either they preached to them that which was false and corrupt, or, if they preached that which was true and good, they contradicted it by their practices, and the people would soon follow a bad example than a good exhortation. Thus they destroyed the ways of their paths, pulling down with one hand what they built up with the other. Que te beatificant - Those that call thee blessed cause thee to err; so some read it. Their priests applauded them, as if nothing were amiss among them, cried Peace, peace, to them, as if they were in no danger; and thus they caused them to go on in their errors. 3. That their judges, who should have patronized and protected the oppressed, were themselves the greatest oppressors, Isa 3:14, Isa 3:15. The elders of the people, and the princes, who had learning and could not but know better things, who had great estates and were not under the temptation of necessity to encroach upon those about them, and who were men of honour and should have scorned to do a base thing, yet they have eaten up the vineyard. God's vineyard, which they were appointed to be the dressers and keepers of, they burnt (so the word signifies); they did as ill by it as its worst enemies could do, Psa 80:16. Or the vineyards of the poor they wrested out of their possession, as Jezebel did Naboth's, or devoured the fruits of them, fed their lusts with that which should have been the necessary food of indigent families; the spoil of the poor was hoarded up in their houses; when God came to search for stolen goods there he found it, and it was a witness against them. It was to be had, and they might have made restitution, but would not. God reasons with these great men (Isa 3:15): "What mean you, that you beat my people into pieces? What cause have you for it? What good does it do you?" Or, "What hurt have they done you? Do you think you had power given you for such a purpose as this?" Note, There is nothing more unaccountable, and yet nothing which must more certainly be accounted for, than the injuries and abuses that are done to God's people by their persecutors and oppressors. "You grind the faces of the poor; you put them to as much pain and terror as if they were ground in a mill, and as certainly reduce them to dust by one act of oppression after another." Or, "Their faces are bruised and crushed with the blows you have given them; you have not only ruined their estates, but have given them personal abuses." Our Lord Jesus was smitten on the face, Mat 26:67.
II. The management of this controversy. 1. God himself is the prosecutor (Isa 3:13): The Lord stands up to plead, or he sets himself to debate the matter, and he stands to judge the people, to judge for those that were oppressed and abused; and he will enter into judgment with the princes, Isa 3:14. Note, The greatest of men cannot exempt or secure themselves from the scrutiny and sentence of God's judgment, nor demur to the jurisdiction of the court of heaven. 2. The indictment is proved by the notorious evidence of the fact: "Look upon the oppressors, and the show of their countenance witnesses against them (Isa 3:9); look upon the oppressed, and you see how their faces are battered and abused," Isa 3:15. 3. The controversy is already begun in the change of the ministry. To punish those that had abused their power to bad purposes God sets those over them that had not sense to use their power to any good purposes: Children are their oppressors, and women rule over them (Isa 3:12), men that have as weak judgments and strong passions as women and children: this was their sin, that their rulers were such, and it became a judgment upon them.
III. The distinction that shall be made between particular persons, in the prosecution of this controversy (Isa 3:10, Isa 3:11): Say to the righteous, It shall be well with thee. Woe to the wicked; it shall be ill with him. He had said (Isa 3:9), they have rewarded evil to themselves, in proof of which he here shows that God will render to every man according to his works. Had they been righteous, it would have been well with them; but, if it be ill with them, it is because they are wicked and will be so. Thus God stated the matter to Cain, to convince him that he had no reason to be angry, Gen 4:7. Or it may be taken thus: God is threatening national judgments, which will ruin the public interests. Now, 1. Some good people might fear that they should be involved in that ruin, and therefore God bids the prophets comfort them against those fears: "Whatever becomes of the unrighteous nation, let the righteous man know that he shall not be lost in the crowd of sinners; the Judge of all the earth will not slay the righteous with the wicked (Gen 18:25); no, assure him, in God's name, that it shall be well with him. The property of the trouble shall be altered to him, and he shall be hidden in the day of the Lord's anger. He shall have divine supports and comforts, which shall abound as afflictions abound, and so it shall be well with him." When the whole stay of bread is taken away, yet in the day of famine the righteous shall be satisfied; they shall eat the fruit of their doings - they shall have the testimony of their consciences for them that they kept themselves pure from the common iniquity, and therefore the common calamity is not the same thing to them that it is to others; they brought no fuel to the flame, and therefore are not themselves fuel for it. 2. Some wicked people might hope that they should escape that ruin, and therefore God bids the prophets shake their vain hopes: "Woe to the wicked; it shall be ill with him, Isa 3:11. To him the judgments shall have sting, and there shall be wormwood and gall in the affliction and misery." There is a woe to wicked people, and, though they may think to shelter themselves from public judgments, yet it shall be ill with them; it will grow worse and worse with them if they repent not, and the worst of all will be at last; for the reward of their hands shall be given them, in the day when every man shall receive according to the things done in the body.
Matthew Henry (1662–1714) — Commentary on the Whole Bible. This section covers verses 9–15. Public domain.
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JeromeAD 420
Commentary on Isaiah
(Ver. 13, 14.) The Lord stands to judge: and he stands to judge the people. The Lord will come to judgment with the elders of his people, and with his princes. The people, who were deceived because of their simplicity and lack of knowledge, are still called the people of God: and therefore they are judged, that they may be saved. The Lord does not sit in the attire of a judge, as we read in Daniel: Thrones were set up, and books were opened (Dan. VII, 9): but he stands to judge, and he stands to judge the people, desiring them to stand, whose way had been scattered. But against the leaders and elders of his own people he comes to judgment, not to judge, but to be judged equally, granting them a place of defense if they are able to have a response, according to what is said in the fiftieth psalm: That you may be justified in your words and prevail when you are judged (Verse 6). In the prophet Micah also, we read something similar (Chapter 6), which we have interpreted in its proper place. Therefore, this passage is understood to be directed against the Pharisees and the Second Law scholars. But I think that this existed among the old people between the elders and the leaders, which now exists between the priests and the bishops.
For you have devoured my vineyard; the plunder of the poor is in your houses. Why do you crush my people, and grind the faces of the poor? Thus did the LXX interpret, confuse. He keeps the prophetic custom, to suddenly change faces. For the Lord himself had said: My people, those who bless you deceive you. And later the Prophet added: The Lord stands to judge; the Lord will come to judge. Therefore, after the prophet, the Lord himself, who had come for judgment with the elders of his people and its princes, speaks to them and rebukes the wrongdoers: Why are you grazing my vineyard? about which it is written: You have transplanted a vineyard from Egypt (Ps. LXXIX, 9). And in this same prophet: The vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel (Isai. V, 7). The Lord also placed this vineyard in the Gospel in the hands of wicked farmers who killed the son of the householder that was sent to them (Matthew XXVIII). He says: Robbery of the poor in your houses. Receive the poor or the needy simply, who is in need of alms; or certainly the poor in spirit, of whom it is written: Blessed is he who understands the poor and the needy (Ps. 40:1). And the Apostle Paul: Only, he says, that we should be mindful of the poor (Gal. 2:10). And what follows: Why do you trample on my people and crush the faces of the poor, or confuse them, it is clearly said to the leaders of the Jews. But it can also be referred to our leaders, if they crush the subjected plebs, and publicly accuse and embarrass the poor delinquents, but do not dare to even touch the wealthier sinners. And the plunder of the poor is in their own homes, when they fill their treasuries, and they misuse the resources of the Church for their pleasure, and they either keep for themselves or distribute to their relatives the public funds that were given for the support of the poor, thus making the poverty of others their own wealth.
JeromeAD 420
Commentary on Isaiah
(Verse 13) My people, who call you blessed, themselves deceive you, and they scatter or disturb the path of your steps. He had called the scribes and Pharisees tax collectors, not teachers; and above them, the mockers, who, because of gifts that blind even the wise, not only did not correct sinners in the people, but praised them for their wealth and gain: calling them blessed, and pillars of the house of God, and other things that flatterers usually say. He is therefore the Ecclesiastical doctor who provokes tears, not laughter, who rebukes sinners, who says that no one is blessed, no one is happy: nor does he preempt the judgment of his own sentence, as the Holy Scripture says (Eccl. II, 30): Do not call any man blessed before his death. But also in another place we read (Prov. XXVII, 14): He who blesses his friend loudly in the morning is no different from a slanderer. Therefore, despising the judgments of men, let us not boast in their praises, nor be saddened by their criticisms: but let us enter the right way, and the well-trodden paths of the holy prophets: let us hear Jeremiah the prophet saying: Stand in the ways, and see: and ask for the eternal paths of the Lord, which is the good way: and walk in it (Jer. VI, 16). But if at any time we have wandered and, like perverse men, have proceeded along a wrong path, let us await the promises of the Lord through Ezekiel, saying: I will give them another way, and a different heart (Ezek. 36). However, the corruptors and disturbers have perverted the way of the Lord, so that, having the key of knowledge, neither did they enter themselves, nor did they allow the people to enter; but they caused them to lose the way of truth, which speaks in the Gospel: I am the way, and the life, and the truth (John XIV, 6).
Source: Quotations drawn from early Church Fathers and historical Christian theologians (AD 100–1500). Some quotes address the surrounding passage context rather than this verse alone.
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SUMMARY
Isaiah 3:13 presents a solemn and powerful image of the Lord rising to engage in a divine legal proceeding against His people, Judah and Jerusalem. This verse marks a pivotal moment in Isaiah's prophecy, shifting from a detailed description of societal decay and moral corruption to the direct declaration of God's active intervention. He assumes the dual roles of both prosecutor, presenting His case against their injustice and rebellion, and ultimate judge, poised to deliver a righteous verdict and administer the consequences of their widespread sin and covenant infidelity.
CONTEXT
Literary Context: Isaiah 3:13 serves as a climactic statement within Isaiah's scathing indictment of Judah and Jerusalem. The preceding verses (Isaiah 3:1-7) detail the removal of all forms of leadership and stability, leaving the nation in chaos and vulnerability. This is followed by a stark portrayal of widespread moral depravity, where the people's sin is openly displayed, and they oppress the poor and needy (Isaiah 3:8-12). The specific targets of God's judgment are identified as the elders and leaders who have "devoured the vineyard" and "crushed the faces of the poor" (Isaiah 3:14-15). Thus, verse 13 sets the stage for God's direct, judicial response to the profound societal injustice and spiritual rebellion described throughout the chapter, signaling an imminent divine reckoning.
Historical & Cultural Context: The prophecy of Isaiah is set during the tumultuous 8th century BCE, a period marked by political instability and moral decline in both the Northern Kingdom of Israel and the Southern Kingdom of Judah. Judah, under kings like Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, experienced periods of prosperity but also significant social injustice and widespread idolatry. Isaiah's message is addressed to a society that had strayed far from the covenant obligations established with Yahweh at Sinai. The cultural norms of the time included a hierarchical society where the powerful often exploited the vulnerable, and religious practices were frequently superficial, failing to produce genuine righteousness. God's "standing up" to plead and judge would have resonated deeply with the familiar legal systems of the ancient Near East, where disputes were brought before a judge or elder, emphasizing the divine King's direct and personal engagement with His people's actions.
Key Themes: This verse powerfully articulates several core themes central to Isaiah's prophetic message and the broader biblical narrative. Firstly, it underscores Divine Justice and Accountability, portraying God not as a distant observer but as an active participant who intervenes to address human wickedness. This highlights the principle that all nations and individuals are ultimately accountable to God's righteous standards, as seen in passages like Romans 14:12. Secondly, it emphasizes God as Prosecutor and Judge, illustrating His comprehensive role in upholding His moral law. He first "pleads" His case, laying out the charges against His people's covenant infidelity and social injustice, much like a divine advocate, before assuming the role of the ultimate Judge to deliver a righteous verdict. This sequence underscores His fairness and righteousness, as He does not judge arbitrarily. Finally, the verse highlights the Consequences of Societal Sin, serving as a potent reminder that widespread injustice, corruption, and disregard for the vulnerable will inevitably invite God's intervention and judgment, a truth echoed in Micah 6:8 and Amos 5:24.
EXPOSITION AND ANALYSIS
Key Word Analysis
Verse Breakdown
Literary Devices
Isaiah 3:13 is rich in literary devices that enhance its impact and convey its profound theological message. The most prominent device is Anthropomorphism, where God is described using human characteristics and actions ("standeth up"). This makes the abstract concept of divine judgment more relatable and immediate, portraying God as actively engaged in the affairs of humanity rather than being a distant, impassive deity. Closely related is the pervasive use of Legal Metaphor or Judicial Imagery. The terms "plead" and "judge" directly invoke the setting of a courtroom, casting God in the dual role of prosecutor and judge. This framework emphasizes the fairness, order, and righteousness of God's actions; He is not acting arbitrarily but according to established principles of justice and covenant law. Furthermore, the verse employs Parallelism through the repetition of "standeth" in both clauses ("standeth up to plead, and standeth to judge"). This structural repetition creates a sense of emphasis and solemnity, reinforcing the certainty and dual nature of God's decisive intervention.
THEOLOGICAL AND THEMATIC CONNECTIONS
Isaiah 3:13 profoundly reveals God's intrinsic nature as a God of justice and righteousness, deeply concerned with the moral order of His creation and the conduct of His covenant people. It underscores that divine patience has limits, and persistent sin, particularly social injustice and oppression, will inevitably provoke God's direct intervention. This verse establishes a universal principle of accountability, reminding humanity that there is a divine standard by which all actions, both individual and collective, will ultimately be measured. It highlights that God's judgment is not arbitrary but is rooted in His perfect character and His covenant faithfulness, serving as a solemn warning and a call to repentance for those who have strayed from His righteous path.
REFLECTION AND APPLICATION
Isaiah 3:13 serves as a timeless and urgent reminder that God is actively engaged with the moral landscape of human society. It challenges us to confront the reality that our actions, especially how we treat the vulnerable and uphold justice, are not unseen or unjudged by the Almighty. For believers today, this verse calls for a deep introspection into our own lives and the systems we participate in. Are we contributing to injustice or actively working against it? Do we reflect God's heart for righteousness in our communities, or are we complacent in the face of oppression? This passage compels us to pursue justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with our God, understanding that true worship extends beyond ritual to encompass ethical living. It also offers profound comfort to the oppressed, assuring them that God is not indifferent to their suffering but is their ultimate advocate and judge against those who exploit them, promising that true justice will ultimately prevail.
Questions for Reflection
FAQ
What does it mean for God to "plead" in this context?
Answer: When Isaiah 3:13 states that "The LORD standeth up to plead," it uses a legal metaphor to describe God's action. The Hebrew word for "plead" (rîyb) signifies to engage in a legal dispute or controversy. In this context, it means God is acting as a divine prosecutor, bringing a formal lawsuit against His people, Judah and Jerusalem. He is presenting His case, articulating His grievances, and laying out the charges against them for their covenant infidelity, idolatry, and pervasive social injustice, particularly their oppression of the poor and vulnerable, as detailed in Isaiah 3:1-12. This demonstrates God's righteousness and His commitment to holding His people accountable to the standards of His covenant.
Is God always judgmental, or does this verse represent a specific type of divine action?
Answer: While Isaiah 3:13 portrays God in a judicial role, emphasizing His judgment, it's crucial to understand this within the broader biblical narrative. God is fundamentally characterized by love, mercy, and patience (Exodus 34:6-7). However, His love is not divorced from His righteousness. This verse represents a specific type of divine action: a righteous response to persistent, unrepentant sin and systemic injustice within His covenant people. It's not a picture of arbitrary judgment, but a necessary consequence of their rebellion and their failure to uphold the covenant. It highlights that divine patience has limits and that God will ultimately intervene to uphold justice and His holy character, as seen in other prophetic warnings throughout the Old Testament, such as those found in Amos 5:24.
CHRIST-CENTERED FULFILLMENT
Isaiah 3:13, with its depiction of the Lord rising to plead and judge His people, finds its ultimate fulfillment and profound reinterpretation in the person and work of Jesus Christ. While this Old Testament passage speaks of God's judgment on sin and injustice, the New Testament reveals how God's justice and mercy perfectly converge in Christ. Jesus is presented as the one to whom all judgment has been committed by the Father (John 5:22). He is not only the ultimate Judge who will return to administer perfect justice (Revelation 19:11), but He also uniquely fulfilled the "pleading" aspect of this verse. On the cross, Christ became the ultimate Advocate for humanity, taking upon Himself the very judgment that Isaiah 3:13 describes as coming upon a sinful people. He absorbed the righteous wrath of God against sin, becoming sin for us so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21). Thus, the divine court described in Isaiah finds its resolution in the gospel: God's justice is satisfied through Christ's sacrifice, and through faith in Him, those who were once under condemnation are now offered reconciliation and eternal life, awaiting His return not as a terrifying judge, but as their glorious King and Savior.