Yeshayah 3:4

4 And I will make ne’arim (lads) to be their sarim, and babes shall rule over them.

Yeshayah 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".

Yeshayah 3:4 In-Context

2 The Gibbor, and the Ish Milchamah, the Shofet, and the Navi, the Diviner, and the Zaken,

3 The sar chamishim, the men of rank and yo’etz (counselor), and masters in art, and the expert enchanter.

4 And I will make ne’arim (lads) to be their sarim, and babes shall rule over them.

5 And HaAm shall be oppressed, every one by another, and every one by his re’a; the na’ar shall behave himself proudly against the zaken, and the base against the honorable.

6 When an ish shall take hold of his brother of his bais avi, saying, Thou hast clothing, be thou our katzin, and let this ruin be under thy yad;