Isaiah 3:4

4 And I will make boys their princes, and babes shall rule over them.

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 the mighty man and the soldier, the judge and the prophet, the diviner and the elder,

3 the captain of fifty and the man of rank, the counselor and the skilful magician and the expert in charms.

4 And I will make boys their princes, and babes shall rule over them.

5 And the people will oppress one another, every man his fellow and every man his neighbor; the youth will be insolent to the elder, and the base fellow to the honorable.

6 When a man takes hold of his brother in the house of his father, saying: "You have a mantle; you shall be our leader, and this heap of ruins shall be under your rule";