Isaiah 3:15

15 {Why} do you crush my people and grind [the] face of [the] poor?" {declares} the Lord Yahweh 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 Yahweh takes his stand to conduct a legal case and takes his stand to judge [the] peoples.

14 Yahweh enters into judgment with the elders of his people and its princes. "And you! You have devoured the vineyard; the spoil of the poor [is] in your houses!

15 {Why} do you crush my people and grind [the] face of [the] poor?" {declares} the Lord Yahweh of hosts.

16 And Yahweh said: "Because the daughters of Zion are haughty, and they walk [with] outstretched neck, and they give flirting glances [with their] eyes, {mincing along as they go}, and {with their feet they rattle their bangles},

17 the Lord will make the heads of the daughters of Zion scabby, and Yahweh will lay their foreheads bare."

Footnotes

• [a]. Literally "What to you"