Isaiah 3:4

4 He says, "I'll put little kids in charge of the city. Schoolboys and schoolgirls will order everyone around.

Isaiah 3:4 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 3:4

And I will give children [to be] their princes
Either in age, or in understanding, who are really so, or act like such; and in either sense, when this is the case, it is an unhappiness to a nation, ( Ecclesiastes 10:16 ) : and babes shall rule over them;
which is the same as before. The Targum is,

``the weak shall rule over them;''

such who are weak in their intellectuals, or are of mean pusillanimous spirits, "effeminate", as the Vulgate Latin version renders it; and so as "children" are opposed to the "ancient", that should be taken away, these are opposed to "men of might" and courage, who would now be wanting: or "men of illusions", as in the margin; such as were subtle as foxes, and should deceive them, and impose upon them, and were audacious and impudent, and would mock at them, and despise them. So Jarchi and Abarbinel; and according to this sense of the word the Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic versions, render it, "mockers shall rule over them".

Isaiah 3:4 In-Context

2 He's withdrawing police and protection, judges and courts, pastors and teachers,

3 captains and generals, doctors and nurses, and, yes, even the repairmen and jacks-of-all-trades.

4 He says, "I'll put little kids in charge of the city. Schoolboys and schoolgirls will order everyone around.

5 People will be at each other's throats, stabbing one another in the back: Neighbor against neighbor, young against old, the no-account against the well-respected.

6 One brother will grab another and say, 'You look like you've got a head on your shoulders. Do something! Get us out of this mess.'