Isaiah 3:4

4 "I will give children to be 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 man of war, The judge and the prophet, And the diviner and the elder;

3 The captain of fifty and the honorable man, The counselor and the skillful artisan, And the expert enchanter.

4 "I will give children to be their princes, And babes shall rule over them.

5 The people will be oppressed, Every one by another and every one by his neighbor; The child will be insolent toward the elder, And the base toward the honorable."

6 When a man takes hold of his brother In the house of his father, saying, "You have clothing; You be our ruler, And let these ruins be under your power,"