Isaiah 3 · Verse 17

Isaiah 3:17

Therefore the Lord will smite with a scab the crown of the head of the daughters of Zion, and the Lord will discover their secret parts.
Isaiah 3:17, King James Version

Isaiah 3:17 in other translations

BSBthe Lord will bring sores on the heads of the daughters of Zion, and the LORD will make their foreheads bare.”
WEBtherefore the Lord brings sores on the crown of the head of the women of Zion, and the LORD will make their scalps bald.”
ASVtherefore the Lord will smite with a scab the crown of the head of the daughters of Zion, and Jehovah will lay bare their secret parts.
YLTThe Lord also hath scabbed The crown of the head of daughters of Zion, And Jehovah their simplicity exposeth.
DARBYtherefore the Lord will make bald the crown of the head of the daughters of Zion, and Jehovah will lay bare their secret parts.
BBEThe Lord will send disease on the heads of the daughters of Zion, and the Lord will let their secret parts be seen.
WebsterTherefore the Lord will smite with a scab the crown of the head of the daughters of Zion, and the LORD will uncover their secret parts.

What does Isaiah 3:17 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
17. smite with a scab--literally, "make bald," namely, by disease. discover--cause them to suffer the greatest indignity that can befall female captives, namely to be stripped naked, and have their persons exposed (Is 47:3; compare with Is 20:4).

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 17 The Lord will smite "Will the Lord humble" - ταπεινωσει, Septuagint; and so Syriac and Chaldee. For שפח sippach they read שפל shaphal. Instead of יהוה Yehovah, many MSS. have אדני Adonai. Will discover their secret parts "Expose their nakedness" - It was the barbarous custom of the conquerors of those times to strip their captives naked, and to make them travel in that condition, exposed to the inclemency of the weather; and the worst of all, to the intolerable heat of the sun. But this to the women was the height of cruelty and indignity; and especially to such as those here described, who had indulged themselves in all manner of delicacies of living, and all the superfluities of ornamental dress; and even whose faces had hardly ever been exposed to the sight of man. This is always mentioned as the hardest part of the lot of captives. Nahum, Nah 3:5, Nah 3:6, denouncing the fate of Nineveh, paints it in very strong colors: - "Behold, I am against thee, saith Jehovah, God of hosts: And I will discover thy skirts upon thy face; And I will expose thy nakedness to the nations; And to the kingdoms thy shame. And I will throw ordures upon thee; And I will make thee vile, and set thee as a gazing-stock."

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Isaiah 3:16-26

The prophet reproves and warns the daughters of Zion of the sufferings coming upon them. Let them know that God notices the folly and vanity of proud women, even of their dress. The punishments threatened answered the sin. Loathsome diseases often are the just punishment of pride. It is not material to ask what sort of ornaments they wore; many of these things, if they had not been in fashion, would have been…

Read the full comment on Isaiah 3:16-26 →

Isaiah 3:17 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

וְשִׂפַּ֣חve.si.Pachand he will make scabbyH5596
אֲדֹנָ֔י'a.do.Nai[the] LordH136
קָדְקֹ֖דka.de.Kodscalp ofH6936
בְּנ֣וֹתbe.Not[the] daughters ofH1323
צִיּ֑וֹןtzi.YonZionH6726
וַיהוָ֖הva.Yah.wehand YahwehH3068
פָּתְהֵ֥ןpa.te.Henforehead theirH6596
יְעָרֶֽה\׃\ \סye.'a.Rehhe will lay bareH6168

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Isaiah 3:17

  • Jeremiah 13:22

    And if thou say in thine heart, Wherefore come these things upon me? For the greatness of thine iniquity are thy skirts discovered, and thy heels made bare.

  • Revelation 16:2

    And the first went, and poured out his vial upon the earth; and there fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the mark of the beast, and upon them which worshipped his image.

  • Isaiah 20:4

    So shall the king of Assyria lead away the Egyptians prisoners, and the Ethiopians captives, young and old, naked and barefoot, even with their buttocks uncovered, to the shame of Egypt.

  • Leviticus 13:43-44

    Then the priest shall look upon it: and, behold, if the rising of the sore be white reddish in his bald head, or in his bald forehead, as the leprosy appeareth in the skin of the flesh; He is a leprous man, he is unclean: the priest shall pronounce him utterly unclean; his plague is in his head.

  • Micah 1:11

    Pass ye away, thou inhabitant of Saphir, having thy shame naked: the inhabitant of Zaanan came not forth in the mourning of Beth–ezel; he shall receive of you his standing.

  • Leviticus 13:29-30

    If a man or woman have a plague upon the head or the beard; Then the priest shall see the plague: and, behold, if it be in sight deeper than the skin; and there be in it a yellow thin hair; then the priest shall pronounce him unclean: it is a dry scall, even a leprosy upon the head or beard.

  • Ezekiel 16:36-37

    Thus saith the Lord God; Because thy filthiness was poured out, and thy nakedness discovered through thy whoredoms with thy lovers, and with all the idols of thy abominations, and by the blood of thy children, which thou didst give unto them; Behold, therefore I will gather all thy lovers, with whom thou hast taken pleasure, and all them that thou hast loved, with all them that thou hast hated; I will even gather them round about against thee, and will discover thy nakedness unto them, that they may see all thy nakedness.

  • Isaiah 47:2-3

    Take the millstones, and grind meal: uncover thy locks, make bare the leg, uncover the thigh, pass over the rivers. Thy nakedness shall be uncovered, yea, thy shame shall be seen: I will take vengeance, and I will not meet thee as a man.

  • Nahum 3:5

    Behold, I am against thee, saith the Lord of hosts; and I will discover thy skirts upon thy face, and I will shew the nations thy nakedness, and the kingdoms thy shame.

  • Ezekiel 23:25-29

    And I will set my jealousy against thee, and they shall deal furiously with thee: they shall take away thy nose and thine ears; and thy remnant shall fall by the sword: they shall take thy sons and thy daughters; and thy residue shall be devoured by the fire. They shall also strip thee out of thy clothes, and take away thy fair jewels. Thus will I make thy lewdness to cease from thee, and thy whoredom brought from the land of Egypt: so that thou shalt not lift up thine eyes unto them, nor remember Egypt any more. For thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will deliver thee into the hand of them whom thou hatest, into the hand of them from whom thy mind is alienated: …

  • Deuteronomy 28:27

    The Lord will smite thee with the botch of Egypt, and with the emerods, and with the scab, and with the itch, whereof thou canst not be healed.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
smite.
Le 13:29,30,43,44; De 28:27; Re 16:2
discover. Heb. made naked.
20:4; 47:2,3; Jer 13:22; Eze 16:36,37; 23:25-29; Mic 1:11; Na 3:5

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • Isaiah 3:16

    Moreover the Lord saith, Because the daughters of Zion are haughty, and walk with stretched forth necks and wanton eyes, walking and mincing as they go, and making a tinkling with their feet:

  • Isaiah 3:17

    Therefore the Lord will smite with a scab the crown of the head of the daughters of Zion, and the Lord will discover their secret parts.

  • Isaiah 3:18

    In that day the Lord will take away the bravery of their tinkling ornaments about their feet, and their cauls, and their round tires like the moon,

Read all of Isaiah 3

Isaiah 3:17 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909
Por tanto, pelará el Señor la mollera de las hijas de Sión, y Jehová descubrirá sus vergüenzas.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885
le Seigneur rendra chauve le sommet de la tête des filles de Sion, et l’ Éternel exposera leur nudité.
German
Elberfelder 1871
so wird der Herr den Scheitel der Töchter Zions kahl machen, und Jehova ihre Scham entblößen.
Latin
Clementine Vulgate
decalvabit Dominus verticem filiarum Sion, et Dominus crinem earum nudabit.