Isaiah 3:15

Translations

King James Version (KJV)

What mean you that you beat my people to pieces, and grind the faces of the poor? said the Lord GOD of hosts.

American King James Version (AKJV)

What mean you that you beat my people to pieces, and grind the faces of the poor? said the Lord GOD of hosts.

American Standard Version (ASV)

what mean ye that ye crush my people, and grind the face of the poor? saith the Lord, Jehovah of hosts.

Basic English Translation (BBE)

By what right are you crushing my people, and putting a bitter yoke on the necks of the poor? This is the word of the Lord, the Lord of armies.

Webster's Revision

What mean ye that ye beat my people to pieces, and grind the faces of the poor? saith the Lord GOD of hosts.

World English Bible

What do you mean that you crush my people, and grind the face of the poor?" says the Lord, Yahweh of Armies.

English Revised Version (ERV)

what mean ye that ye crush my people, and grind the face of the poor? saith the Lord, the LORD of hosts.

Definitions for Isaiah 3:15

Mean - Common.
Mean - Obscure; insignificant.

Clarke's Isaiah 3:15 Bible Commentary

And grind the faces - The expression and the image is strong, to denote grievous oppression but is exceeded by the prophet Micah, Micah 3:1-3 : -

"Hear, I pray you, ye chiefs of Jacob,

And ye princes of the house of Israel:

Is it not yours to know what is right?

Ye that hate good and love evil:

Who tear their skins from off them,

And their flesh from off their bones;

Who devour the flesh of my people;

And flay from off them their skin;

And their bones they dash in pieces;

And chop them asunder, as morsels for the pot:

And as flesh thrown into the midst of the caldron."

In the last line but one, for כאשר keasher, read, by the transposition of a letter, כשאר kisher, with the Septuagint and Chaldee.

Barnes's Isaiah 3:15 Bible Commentary

What mean ye - What is your object? Or, What advantage is it to you? Or, By what right or pretence do you do this?

Beat my people to pieces - That is, that you trample on them; or cruelly oppress them; Psalm 94:5.

And grind the faces of the poor - This is an expression also denoting great oppression. It is taken from the act of grinding a substance on a stone until it is worn away and nothing is left. So, by their cruel exactions, by their injustice to the poor, they exhausted their little property until nothing was left. The word "faces" here is synonymous with "persons" - or with the poor themselves. The word "face" is often used in the sense of "person;" Exodus 33:14; 2 Samuel 18:11. A similar description, though in still stronger language, is found in Micah 3:2-3 :

Who pluck off their skin from off them,

And their flesh from off their bones;

Who also eat the flesh of my people,

And flay their skin from off them;

And they break their bones, and chop them in pieces,

As for the pot, and as flesh within the caldron.

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