Isaiah 3:5

5 People will oppress each other— man against man, neighbor against neighbor. Young people will insult their elders, and vulgar people will sneer at the honorable.

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 army officers and high officials, advisers, skilled sorcerers, and astrologers.

4 I will make boys their leaders, and toddlers their rulers.

5 People will oppress each other— man against man, neighbor against neighbor. Young people will insult their elders, and vulgar people will sneer at the honorable.

6 In those days a man will say to his brother, “Since you have a coat, you be our leader! Take charge of this heap of ruins!”

7 But he will reply, “No! I can’t help. I don’t have any extra food or clothes. Don’t put me in charge!”