Isaiah 3:5

5 And the people shall fall down, a man to a man, each man to his neighbour; a child shall make noise against an eld man, and an unnoble man against a noble man. (And the people shall fall down, one by one, each by his neighbour; a child shall not respect an old man, and an ignoble man shall not respect a noble man.)

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 a prince over fifty men, and a worshipful man in cheer (a leader of fifty men, and an honourable man), and a counsellor, and a wise man of principal craftsmen, and a prudent man of mystic, either ghostly, speech.

4 And I shall give children to be the princes of them, and men of women's conditions shall be lords of them. (And I shall make children to be their leaders, and young boys to be their lords and masters.)

5 And the people shall fall down, a man to a man, each man to his neighbour; a child shall make noise against an eld man, and an unnoble man against a noble man. (And the people shall fall down, one by one, each by his neighbour; a child shall not respect an old man, and an ignoble man shall not respect a noble man.)

6 For a man shall take his brother, the menial of his father, and shall say, A cloth is to thee, be thou our prince; forsooth this falling be under thine hand. (And a man shall take hold of his brother, in the house of his father, and shall say, Thou hath a cloak, so thou be our leader; and then this time of trouble shall be under thy hand.)

7 And he shall answer in that day, and say, I am no leech, and neither bread, neither cloth is in mine house; do not ye make me prince of the people. (And he shall answer on that day, and say, I am no physician, and there is no bread, or cloak, in my house; do not ye make me to be the leader of the people.)