Isaiah 3 · Verse 24

Isaiah 3:24

And it shall come to pass, that instead of sweet smell there shall be stink; and instead of a girdle a rent; and instead of well set hair baldness; and instead of a stomacher a girding of sackcloth; and burning instead of beauty.
Isaiah 3:24, King James Version

Isaiah 3:24 in other translations

BSBInstead of fragrance there will be a stench; instead of a belt, a rope; instead of styled hair, baldness; instead of fine clothing, sackcloth; instead of beauty, shame.
WEBIt shall happen that instead of sweet spices, there shall be rottenness; instead of a belt, a rope; instead of well set hair, baldness; instead of a robe, a wearing of sackcloth; and branding instead of beauty.
ASVAnd it shall come to pass, that instead of sweet spices there shall be rottenness; and instead of a girdle, a rope; and instead of well set hair, baldness; and instead of a robe, a girding of sackcloth; branding instead of beauty.
YLTAnd it hath been, instead of spice is muck, And instead of a girdle, a rope, And instead of curled work, baldness, And instead of a stomacher a girdle of sackcloth.
DARBYAnd it shall come to pass, instead of perfume there shall be rottenness; and instead of a girdle, a rope; and instead of well-set hair, baldness; and instead of a robe of display, a girding of sackcloth; brand instead of beauty.
BBEAnd in the place of sweet spices will be an evil smell, and for a fair band a thick cord; for a well-dressed head there will be the cutting-off of the hair, and for a beautiful robe there will be the clothing of sorrow; the mark of the prisoner in place of the ornaments of the free.
WebsterAnd it shall come to pass, that instead of sweet smell there shall be an offensive odor; and instead of a girdle a rent; and instead of well set hair baldness; and instead of a stomacher a girding of sackcloth; and burning instead of beauty.

What does Isaiah 3:24 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
24. stink--arising from ulcers (Zec 14:12). girdle--to gird up the loose Eastern garments, when the person walked. rent--the Septuagint, better, a "rope," an emblem of poverty; the poor have nothing else to gird up their clothes with. well-set hair--(1Pe 3:3, 4). baldness--(Is 3:17). stomacher--a broad plaited girdle. sackcloth--(2Sa 3:31). burning--a sunburnt countenance, owing to their hoods and veils being stripped off, while they had to work as captives under a scorching sun (So 1:6).

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

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 24 Instead of sweet smell "perfume" - A principal part of the delicacy of the Asiatic ladies consists in the use of baths, and of the richest oils and perfumes; an attention to which is in some degree necessary in those hot countries. Frequent mention is made of the rich ointments of the spouse in the Song of Solomon, Sol 4:10, Sol 4:11 : - "How beautiful are thy breasts, my sister, my spouse! How much more excellent than wine; And the odour of thine ointments than all perfumes! Thy lips drop as the honey-comb, my spouse! Honey and milk are under thy tongue: And the odor of thy garments is as the odour of Lebanon." The preparation for Esther's being introduced to King Ahasuerus was a course of bathing and perfuming for a whole year; "six months with oil of myrrh, and six months with sweet odours;" Est 2:12 (note). A diseased and loathsome habit of body, instead of a beautiful skin, softened and made agreeable with all that art could devise, and all that nature, so prodigal in those countries of the richest perfumes, could supply, must have been a punishment the most severe and the most mortifying to the delicacy of these haughty daughters of Sion. Burning instead of beauty "A sunburnt skin" - Gaspar Sanctius thinks the words כי תחת ki thachath an interpolation, because the Vulgate has omitted them. The clause כי תחת יפי ki thachath yophi seems to me rather to be imperfect at the end. Not to mention that כי ki, taken as a noun for adustio, burning, is without example, and very improbable. The passage ends abruptly, and seems to want a fuller conclusion. In agreement with which opinion, of the defect of the Hebrew text in this place, the Septuagint, according to MSS. Pachom. and 1 D. ii., and Marchal., which are of the best authority, express it with the same evident marks of imperfection at the end of the sentence; thus: ταυτα σοι αντι καλλωπισμου The two latter add δου. This chasm in the text, from the loss probably of three or four words, seems therefore to be of long standing. Taking כי ki in its usual sense, as a particle, and supplying לך lech from the σοι of the Septuagint, it might possibly have been originally somewhat in this form: - מראה רעת לך תהיה יפי תחת כי marah raath lech thihyeh yophi thachath ki "Yea, instead of beauty thou shalt have an illfavoured countenance." כי תחת יפי ki thachath yophi (q. יחת yachath), "for beauty shall be destroyed." Syr. חתת chathath or נחת nachath.-Dr. Durell. "May it not be כהי cohey, 'wrinkles instead of beauty?' as from יפה yaphah is formed יפי yephi, yophi; from מרה marah, מרי meri, etc.; so from כהה cahah, to be wrinkled, כהי cohey." - Dr. Jubb. The כי ki is wanting in one MS., and has been omitted by several of the ancients.

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 3:24 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.

וְהָיָה֩ve.ha.Yahand it will beH1961
תַ֨חַתTa.chatin place ofH8478
בֹּ֜שֶׂםBo.semperfumeH1314
מַ֣קmakrottennessH4716
יִֽהְיֶ֗הyih.Yehit will beH1961
וְתַ֨חַתve.Ta.chatand in place ofH8478
חֲגוֹרָ֤הcha.go.Raha beltH2290
נִקְפָּה֙nik.Paha ropeH5364
וְתַ֨חַתve.Ta.chatand in place ofH8478
מַעֲשֶׂ֤הma.'a.Seha workH4639
מִקְשֶׁה֙mik.Shehwell-set hairH4748
קָרְחָ֔הka.re.ChahbaldnessH7144
וְתַ֥חַתve.Ta.chatand in place ofH8478
פְּתִיגִ֖ילpe.ti.Gila robeH6614
מַחֲגֹ֣רֶתma.cha.Go.reta girding ofH4228
שָׂ֑קSaksackclothH8242
כִּי\־ki-brandingH3587
תַ֖חַתTa.chatin place ofH8478
יֹֽפִי\׃Yo.fibeautyH3308

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

Cross references for Isaiah 3:24

  • Ezekiel 27:31

    And they shall make themselves utterly bald for thee, and gird them with sackcloth, and they shall weep for thee with bitterness of heart and bitter wailing.

  • Lamentations 2:10

    The elders of the daughter of Zion sit upon the ground, and keep silence: they have cast up dust upon their heads; they have girded themselves with sackcloth: the virgins of Jerusalem hang down their heads to the ground.

  • Isaiah 15:3

    In their streets they shall gird themselves with sackcloth: on the tops of their houses, and in their streets, every one shall howl, weeping abundantly.

  • 1 Peter 3:3

    Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel;

  • Micah 1:16

    Make thee bald, and poll thee for thy delicate children; enlarge thy baldness as the eagle; for they are gone into captivity from thee.

  • Isaiah 22:12

    And in that day did the Lord God of hosts call to weeping, and to mourning, and to baldness, and to girding with sackcloth:

  • Amos 8:10

    And I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation; and I will bring up sackcloth upon all loins, and baldness upon every head; and I will make it as the mourning of an only son, and the end thereof as a bitter day.

  • Leviticus 26:16

    I also will do this unto you; I will even appoint over you terror, consumption, and the burning ague, that shall consume the eyes, and cause sorrow of heart: and ye shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it.

  • Isaiah 32:9-11

    Rise up, ye women that are at ease; hear my voice, ye careless daughters; give ear unto my speech. Many days and years shall ye be troubled, ye careless women: for the vintage shall fail, the gathering shall not come. Tremble, ye women that are at ease; be troubled, ye careless ones: strip you, and make you bare, and gird sackcloth upon your loins.

  • Esther 2:12

    Now when every maid’s turn was come to go in to king Ahasuerus, after that she had been twelve months, according to the manner of the women, (for so were the days of their purifications accomplished, to wit, six months with oil of myrrh, and six months with sweet odours, and with other things for the purifying of the women;)

  • Revelation 18:9

    And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning,

  • Deuteronomy 28:22

    The Lord shall smite thee with a consumption, and with a fever, and with an inflammation, and with an extreme burning, and with the sword, and with blasting, and with mildew; and they shall pursue thee until thou perish.

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

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
instead.
57:9; Pr 7:17
baldness.
22:12; Eze 7:18; Mic 1:16
a girding.
15:3; 32:9-11; Job 16:15; Jer 4:8; 6:26; 48:37; 49:3; La 2:10
Eze 27:31; Joe 1:8; Am 8:10; Re 11:3
burning.
4:4; Le 26:16; De 28:22; 32:24; Re 16:9; 18:9

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

Context

  • Isaiah 3:23

    The glasses, and the fine linen, and the hoods, and the vails.

  • Isaiah 3:24

    And it shall come to pass, that instead of sweet smell there shall be stink; and instead of a girdle a rent; and instead of well set hair baldness; and instead of a stomacher a girding of sackcloth; and burning instead of beauty.

  • Isaiah 3:25

    Thy men shall fall by the sword, and thy mighty in the war.

Read all of Isaiah 3

Isaiah 3:24 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		Y será que en lugar de los perfumes aromáticos vendrá hediondez; y desgarrón en lugar de cinta; y calvez en lugar de la compostura del cabello; y en lugar de faja ceñimiento de saco; y quemadura en vez de hermosura.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		Et il arrivera qu’au lieu de parfum il y aura pourriture; et au lieu de ceinture, une corde; et au lieu de cheveux artistement tressés, une tête chauve; et au lieu d’une robe d’apparat, un sarrau de toile à sac; flétrissure, au lieu de beauté. –
German
Elberfelder 1871		Und es wird geschehen, statt des Wohlgeruchs wird Moder sein, und statt des Gürtels ein Strick, und statt des Lockenwerks eine Glatze, und statt des Prunkgewandes ein Kittel von Sacktuch, Brandmal statt Schönheit.
Latin
Clementine Vulgate		Et erit pro suavi odore fœtor, et pro zona funiculus, et pro crispanti crine calvitium, et pro fascia pectorali cilicium.