Isaiah 3:5

5 And the people shall be oppressed one by the other, and each by his neighbour; the child will be insolent against the elder, and the base against the honourable.

Isaiah 3:5 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 3:5

And the people shall be oppressed, everyone by another,
and everyone by his neighbour
There being no governors, or such as were unfit for government, no decorum was kept and observed, but a mere anarchy; and so everyone did as he pleased, as when there was no king in Israel; and everyone rushed into the house of his neighbour, and plundered his goods; this was the case of Jerusalem, at the time of the siege, it abounding with robbers and spoilers: the child shall behave himself proudly against the ancient;
show no respect to them, nor honour them, as the law requires in ( Leviticus 19:32 ) but behave insolently towards them; and so the Jews say ^F4, that when the son of David is come, as he now would be, young men shall make ashamed the faces of old men, and old men shall stand before young men: and the base against the honourable;
persons of a mean birth and extract would rise up against and insult such as were men of families and fortune, of noble birth and of high degree.

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FOOTNOTES:

F4 T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 97. 1.

Isaiah 3:5 In-Context

3 the captain of fifty, and the honourable man, and the counsellor, and the clever among artificers, and the one versed in enchantments.

4 And I will appoint youths as their princes, and children shall rule over them.

5 And the people shall be oppressed one by the other, and each by his neighbour; the child will be insolent against the elder, and the base against the honourable.

6 When a man shall take hold of his brother, in his father's house, [and shall say:] Thou hast clothing; be our chief, and let this ruin be under thy hand;

7 he will lift up [his hand] in that day, saying, I cannot be a healer, and in my house there is neither bread nor clothing; ye shall not make me a chief of the people.