The LORD also says: "Because the daughters of Zion are haughty--walking with heads held high and wanton eyes, prancing and skipping as they go, jingling the bracelets on their ankles-- The LORD also says:This phrase introduces a direct message from God, emphasizing the authority and seriousness of the forthcoming pronouncement. In the prophetic books, such declarations often serve as a prelude to divine judgment or instruction. The use of "The LORD" (Yahweh) underscores the covenant relationship between God and His people, highlighting the gravity of their transgressions. Because the daughters of Zion are haughty—
"Daughters of Zion" refers to the women of Jerusalem, representing the people of Israel. The term "haughty" indicates pride and arrogance, which are condemned throughout Scripture (Proverbs 16:18). This pride is not just personal but reflects a broader societal decay, as seen in the context of Isaiah's prophecies against Judah and Jerusalem. The pride of the people is often linked to their spiritual unfaithfulness and neglect of God's commandments. walking with heads held high and wanton eyes,
This imagery suggests a demeanor of arrogance and flirtation. "Heads held high" symbolizes self-importance and disdain for others, while "wanton eyes" implies seductive or flirtatious glances. Such behavior reflects a departure from the modesty and humility expected of God's people (1 Peter 3:3-4). The cultural context of ancient Israel placed a high value on modesty, and this description indicates a moral and spiritual decline. prancing and skipping as they go,
The actions of "prancing and skipping" convey a sense of frivolity and carelessness. This behavior contrasts with the sober and reverent conduct expected of those who follow God. It suggests a focus on outward appearance and self-indulgence rather than inner piety and devotion. The prophets often criticized Israel for prioritizing external displays over genuine faithfulness (Amos 5:21-24). jingling the bracelets on their ankles—
The mention of "bracelets on their ankles" highlights the emphasis on adornment and external beauty. In ancient Near Eastern culture, such jewelry was often associated with wealth and status. The jingling sound draws attention to the wearer, symbolizing a desire for recognition and admiration. This focus on materialism and vanity is condemned in Scripture, as it distracts from the worship of God and the pursuit of righteousness (1 Timothy 2:9-10). Persons / Places / Events 1. The LORDThe sovereign God of Israel, who is speaking through the prophet Isaiah. 2. Daughters of ZionRefers to the women of Jerusalem, representing the people of Judah, who are being addressed for their prideful behavior. 3. IsaiahThe prophet through whom God delivers His message of judgment and correction. 4. Jerusalem/ZionThe city of God, representing the spiritual and political center of Israel. 5. JudgmentThe event of divine correction and discipline that God is pronouncing upon His people for their sinful behavior. Teaching Points The Danger of PridePride is a serious sin that leads to God's judgment. We must examine our hearts and actions to ensure we are not walking in arrogance. Modesty and HumilityOur outward appearance and behavior should reflect a heart of humility and reverence for God, rather than seeking attention or approval from others. God's Call to RepentanceWhen God points out sin, it is an opportunity for repentance and transformation. We should respond to His correction with a humble heart. The Influence of CultureThe daughters of Zion were influenced by the surrounding culture. We must be vigilant not to conform to worldly standards but to uphold biblical values. The Role of Women in ScriptureWomen are called to be examples of godliness and virtue, influencing their families and communities positively. Bible Study Questions 1. How does the behavior of the daughters of Zion reflect the condition of their hearts, and what can we learn from this about the relationship between inner attitudes and outward actions? 2. In what ways can pride manifest in our lives today, and how can we guard against it according to biblical principles? 3. How does the New Testament teaching on modesty and humility complement the message in Isaiah 3:16? 4. What are some practical steps we can take to ensure that our lives reflect God's values rather than the world's standards? 5. How can we encourage and support one another in our communities to pursue godliness and humility in our daily lives? Connections to Other Scriptures Proverbs 16:18This verse speaks about pride leading to destruction, which connects to the haughty behavior of the daughters of Zion. 1 Peter 3:3-4This passage contrasts the external adornment with the inner beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, offering a New Testament perspective on modesty and humility. Zephaniah 1:8This verse warns against the judgment on those who wear foreign apparel, linking to the idea of pride and ostentation in appearance. James 4:6This verse highlights that God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble, reinforcing the need for humility. People IsaiahPlaces Jerusalem, Sodom, ZionTopics Along, Ankles, Bangles, Daughters, Deceiving, Extended, Flirting, Foot-chains, Forth, Full, Glancing, Haughty, Heads, Held, Jingling, Making, Mincing, Moreover, Neck, Necks, Ornaments, Outstretched, Pride, Proud, Seductive, Sounding, Steps, Stretched, Stretched-forth, Stretched-out, Stretching, Tinkle, Tinkling, Trip, Tripping, Walk, Walking, Wandering, Wanton, Wantonly, Women, ZionDictionary of Bible Themes Isaiah 3:16 5170 neck
5915 ornaments
5961 superiority Isaiah 3:13-17 5270 court Isaiah 3:16-4:1 5745 women Isaiah 3:16-17 8805 pride, results Isaiah 3:16-24 5476 property
8308 modesty Library A Paradox of Selling and Buying
'Ye have sold yourselves for nought; and ye shall be redeemed without money.'--ISAIAH iii. 3. THE first reference of these words is of course to the Captivity. They come in the midst of a grand prophecy of freedom, all full of leaping gladness and buoyant hope. The Seer speaks to the captives; they had 'sold themselves for nought.' What had they gained by their departure from God?--bondage. What had they won in exchange for their freedom?-- only the hard service of Babylon. As Deuteronomy puts it: …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy ScriptureMarching Orders
'Depart ye, depart ye, go ye out from thence, touch no unclean thing; go ye out of the midst of her; be ye clean, that bear the vessels of the Lord. 12. For ye shall not go out with haste, nor go by flight: for the Lord will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your reward.'--ISAIAH iii. 11, 12. These ringing notes are parts of a highly poetic picture of that great deliverance which inspired this prophet's most exalted strains. It is described with constant allusion to the first Exodus, …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture The Christian view of Sorrow
"A man of sorrow, and acquainted with grief" Is. Iii. 3. There is one great distinction between the productions of Heathen and of Christian art. While the first exhibits the perfection of physical form and of intellectual beauty, the latter expresses, also, the majesty of sorrow, the grandeur of endurance, the idea of triumph refined from agony. In all those shapes of old there is nothing like the glory of the martyr; the sublimity of patience and resignation; the dignity of the thorn-crowned Jesus. …
E. H. Chapin—The Crown of Thorns The Personal History of Herod - the Two Worlds in Jerusalem.
It is an intensely painful history, [581] in the course of which Herod made his way to the throne. We look back nearly two and a half centuries to where, with the empire of Alexander, Palestine fell to his successors. For nearly a century and a half it continued the battle-field of the Egyptian and Syrian kings (the Ptolemies and the Seleucidæ). At last it was a corrupt High-Priesthood - with which virtually the government of the land had all along lain - that betrayed Israel's precious trust. …
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah How those are to be Admonished who Praise the Unlawful Things of which they are Conscious, and those who While Condemning Them, in no Wise Guard
(Admonition 32.) Differently to be admonished are they who even praise the unlawful things which they do, and those who censure what is wrong, and yet avoid it not. For they who even praise the unlawful things which they do are to be admonished to consider how for the most part they offend more by the mouth than by deeds. For by deeds they perpetrate wrong things in their own persons only; but with the mouth they bring out wickedness in the persons of as many as there are souls of hearers, to …
Leo the Great—Writings of Leo the Great "But Whereunto Shall I Liken this Generation?"
Matth. xi. 16.--"But whereunto shall I liken this generation?" When our Lord Jesus, who had the tongue of the learned, and spoke as never man spake, did now and then find a difficulty to express the matter herein contained. "What shall we do?" The matter indeed is of great importance, a soul matter, and therefore of great moment, a mystery, and therefore not easily expressed. No doubt he knows how to paint out this to the life, that we might rather behold it with our eyes, than hear it with our …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning Brief Memoir of Thomas Watson
Compiled by C. H. Spurgeon Thomas Watson's Body of Practical Divinity is one of the most precious of the peerless works of the Puritans; and those best acquainted with it prize it most. Watson was one of the most concise, racy, illustrative, and suggestive of those eminent divines who made the Puritan age the Augustan period of evangelical literature. There is a happy union of sound doctrine, heart-searching experience and practical wisdom throughout all his works, and his Body of Divinity is, beyond …
Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity Of Civil Government.
OF CIVIL GOVERNMENT. This chapter consists of two principal heads,--I. General discourse on the necessity, dignity, and use of Civil Government, in opposition to the frantic proceedings of the Anabaptists, sec. 1-3. II. A special exposition of the three leading parts of which Civil Government consists, sec. 4-32. The first part treats of the function of Magistrates, whose authority and calling is proved, sec. 4-7. Next, the three Forms of civil government are added, sec. 8. Thirdly, Consideration …
John Calvin—The Institutes of the Christian Religion Letter Li to the virgin Sophia
To the Virgin Sophia He praises her for having despised the glory of the world: and, setting forth the praises, privileges, and rewards of Religious Virgins, exhorts her to persevere. Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux, to the Virgin Sophia, that she may keep the title of virginity and attain its reward. I. Favour is deceitful and beauty is vain; but a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised (Prov. xxxi. 31). I rejoice with you, my daughter, in the glory of your virtue, whereby, as I hear, you …
Saint Bernard of Clairvaux—Some Letters of Saint Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux "All Our Righteousnesses are as Filthy Rags, and we all do Fade as a Leaf, and Our Iniquities, Like the Wind, have Taken us Away. "
Isaiah lxiv. 6, 7.--"All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags, and we all do fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away." Not only are the direct breaches of the command uncleanness, and men originally and actually unclean, but even our holy actions, our commanded duties. Take a man's civility, religion, and all his universal inherent righteousness,--all are filthy rags. And here the church confesseth nothing but what God accuseth her of, Isa. lxvi. 8, and chap. i. ver. …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning "Thou Shalt Honor Thy Father and Thy Mother. "
From this Commandment we learn that after the excellent works of the first three Commandments there are no better works than to obey and serve all those who are set over us as superiors. For this reason also disobedience is a greater sin than murder, unchastity, theft and dishonesty, and all that these may include. For we can in no better way learn how to distinguish between greater and lesser sins than by noting the order of the Commandments of God, although there are distinctions also within the …
Dr. Martin Luther—A Treatise on Good Works Concerning Salutations and Recreations, &C.
Concerning Salutations and Recreations, &c. [1273] Seeing the chief end of all religion is to redeem men from the spirit and vain conversation of this world and to lead into inward communion with God, before whom if we fear always we are accounted happy; therefore all the vain customs and habits thereof, both in word and deed, are to be rejected and forsaken by those who come to this fear; such as taking off the hat to a man, the bowings and cringings of the body, and such other salutations of that …
Robert Barclay—Theses Theologicae and An Apology for the True Christian Divinity A Sermon on Isaiah xxvi. By John Knox.
[In the Prospectus of our Publication it was stated, that one discourse, at least, would be given in each number. A strict adherence to this arrangement, however, it is found, would exclude from our pages some of the most talented discourses of our early Divines; and it is therefore deemed expedient to depart from it as occasion may require. The following Sermon will occupy two numbers, and we hope, that from its intrinsic value, its historical interest, and the illustrious name of its author, it …
John Knox—The Pulpit Of The Reformation, Nos. 1, 2 and 3. The Prophet Micah.
PRELIMINARY REMARKS. Micah signifies: "Who is like Jehovah;" and by this name, the prophet is consecrated to the incomparable God, just as Hosea was to the helping God, and Nahum to the comforting God. He prophesied, according to the inscription, under Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. We are not, however, entitled, on this account, to dissever his prophecies, and to assign particular discourses to the reign of each of these kings. On the contrary, the entire collection forms only one whole. At …
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament Isaiah
CHAPTERS I-XXXIX Isaiah is the most regal of the prophets. His words and thoughts are those of a man whose eyes had seen the King, vi. 5. The times in which he lived were big with political problems, which he met as a statesman who saw the large meaning of events, and as a prophet who read a divine purpose in history. Unlike his younger contemporary Micah, he was, in all probability, an aristocrat; and during his long ministry (740-701 B.C., possibly, but not probably later) he bore testimony, as …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament Links Isaiah 3:16 NIVIsaiah 3:16 NLTIsaiah 3:16 ESVIsaiah 3:16 NASBIsaiah 3:16 KJV
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