Isaiah 3:15

15 What mean ye that ye crush my people, and grind the faces of the afflicted? saith the Lord, Jehovah of hosts.

Isaiah 3:15 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 3:15

What mean ye, [that] ye beat my people to pieces
Reduce them to the utmost poverty; so the Targum,

``wherefore do ye impoverish my people?''

as they did by exacting tithes of all that they possessed; by requiring large sums for their long prayers; and by various traditions they enjoined them to observe: and grind the faces of the poor?
either by smiting them on the cheek, as Christ, who became poor for our sakes, was smitten by them; or by bringing them into such low circumstances, by their exorbitant demands, that they had not sufficiency of food to eat; by which means their faces became pale, thin, and meagre: saith the Lord God of Hosts:
who saw all their actions, and was able to plead his people's cause, and take vengeance on their oppressors.

Isaiah 3:15 In-Context

13 Jehovah setteth himself to plead, and standeth to judge the peoples.

14 Jehovah will enter into judgment with the elders of his people and their princes, [saying:] It is ye that have eaten up the vineyard: the spoil of the poor is in your houses.

15 What mean ye that ye crush my people, and grind the faces of the afflicted? saith the Lord, Jehovah of hosts.

16 And Jehovah said, Because the daughters of Zion are haughty, and walk with stretched-out neck and wanton eyes, and go along mincing, and making a tinkling with their feet;

17 therefore the Lord will make bald the crown of the head of the daughters of Zion, and Jehovah will lay bare their secret parts.