Isaiah 3:5

5 People will oppress each other— man against man, neighbor against neighbor. The young will rise up against the old, the nobody against the honored.

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Isaiah 3:5 in Other Translations

KJV

5 And the people shall be oppressed, every one by another, and every one by his neighbour: the child shall behave himself proudly against the ancient, and the base against the honourable.

ESV

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

NLT

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.

MSG

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.

CSB

5 The people will oppress one another, man against man, neighbor against neighbor; the youth will act arrogantly toward the elder, and the worthless toward 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.

FOOTNOTES:

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

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Isaiah 3:5 In-Context

3 the captain of fifty and the man of rank, the counselor, skilled craftsman and clever enchanter.

4 “I will make mere youths their officials; children will rule over them.”

5 People will oppress each other— man against man, neighbor against neighbor. The young will rise up against the old, the nobody against the honored.

6 A man will seize one of his brothers in his father’s house, and say, “You have a cloak, you be our leader; take charge of this heap of ruins!”

7 But in that day he will cry out, “I have no remedy. I have no food or clothing in my house; do not make me the leader of the people.”

Cross References 1

1. Psalms 28:3; Isaiah 9:19; Jeremiah 9:8; Micah 7:2,6