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Tuesday, August 5th, 2025
the Week of Proper 13 / Ordinary 18
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Read the Bible

Complete Jewish Bible

Isaiah 3:4

I will put children in authority; capriciousness will govern them.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Famine;   Jerusalem;   Sin;   Thompson Chain Reference - Humbled, Israel;   Israel;   Israel-The Jews;  

Dictionaries:

- Charles Buck Theological Dictionary - Infinity;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Babe;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Isaiah;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Babe;   Delusion;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Day of the Lord;  

Devotionals:

- Every Day Light - Devotion for August 17;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
“I will make youths their leaders,and unstable rulers will govern them.”
Hebrew Names Version
I will give boys to be their princes, And children shall rule over them.
King James Version
And I will give children to be their princes, and babes shall rule over them.
English Standard Version
And I will make boys their princes, and infants shall rule over them.
New American Standard Bible
And I will make mere boys their leaders, And mischievous children will rule over them,
New Century Version
The Lord says, "I will cause young boys to be your leaders, and foolish children will rule over you.
Amplified Bible
And I will make mere boys their princes, And capricious (impulsive, unpredictable) children will rule over them.
World English Bible
I will give boys to be their princes, And children shall rule over them.
Geneva Bible (1587)
And I will appoint children to bee their princes, and babes shall rule ouer them.
Legacy Standard Bible
And I will make young men their princes,And capricious children will rule over them,
Berean Standard Bible
"I will make mere lads their leaders, and children will rule over them."
Contemporary English Version
He will let children and babies become your rulers.
Darby Translation
And I will appoint youths as their princes, and children shall rule over them.
Easy-to-Read Version
He says, "I will put young boys in charge of you. They will be your leaders.
George Lamsa Translation
And I will appoint young men to be their princes, and mockers shall rule over them.
Good News Translation
The Lord will let the people be governed by immature boys.
Lexham English Bible
And I will make boys their princes, and children shall rule over them.
Literal Translation
And I will give young boys to be their rulers, and caprices shall rule over them.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
And I shal geue you children to be youre prynces (saieth the LORDE) and babes shall haue the rule of you.
American Standard Version
And I will give children to be their princes, and babes shall rule over them.
Bible in Basic English
And I will make children their chiefs, and foolish ones will have rule over them.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
And I will give children to be their princes, and babes shall rule over them.
King James Version (1611)
And I will giue children to bee their Princes, and babes shall rule ouer them.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
And I shall geue children to be their princes, and babes shall rule ouer them.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And I will make youths their princes, and mockers shall have dominion over them.
English Revised Version
And I will give children to be their princes, and babes shall rule over them.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And Y schal yyue children the princes of hem, and men of wymmens condiciouns schulen be lordis of hem.
Update Bible Version
And I will give children to be their princes, and babes shall rule over them.
Webster's Bible Translation
And I will give children [to be] their princes, and babes shall rule over them.
New English Translation
The Lord says, "I will make youths their officials; malicious young men will rule over them.
New King James Version
"I will give children to be their princes, And babes shall rule over them.
New Living Translation
I will make boys their leaders, and toddlers their rulers.
New Life Bible
I will make boys their rulers. Foolish children will rule over them.
New Revised Standard
And I will make boys their princes, and babes shall rule over them.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
And I will appoint boys to be their princes, - And, petulant children, shall rule over them,
Douay-Rheims Bible
And I will give children to be their princes, and the effeminate shall rule over them.
Revised Standard Version
And I will make boys their princes, and babes shall rule over them.
Young's Literal Translation
And I have made youths their heads, And sucklings rule over them.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
And I will make mere lads their princes, And capricious children will rule over them,

Contextual Overview

1 For see! The Lord, Adonai -Tzva'ot, will remove from Yerushalayim and Y'hudah every kind of support — all reserves of food and water; 2 heroes and warriors, judges and prophets, diviners and leaders, 3 captains of fifty, men of rank and advisers, skillful magicians and expert enchanters. 4 I will put children in authority; capriciousness will govern them. 5 People will oppress each other — everyone his friend, everyone his neighbor. The young will be insolent toward their elders, the insignificant arrogant toward the respected. 6 A man will take hold of his brother in his father's house and say, "You have a coat, so rule us! Take charge of this ruin!" 7 But on that day, he will protest, "I don't have a remedy, I lack food and clothing for my own house; don't put me in charge of people!" 8 For Yerushalayim is ruined, and Y'hudah has fallen; because their words and deeds defy Adonai , in open provocation of his glory.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

children: 1 Kings 3:7-9, 2 Chronicles 33:1, 2 Chronicles 34:1, 2 Chronicles 36:2, 2 Chronicles 36:5, 2 Chronicles 36:9, 2 Chronicles 36:11, Ecclesiastes 10:16

Reciprocal: 2 Kings 22:1 - eight years old 2 Chronicles 13:7 - young Proverbs 30:22 - a servant Isaiah 3:12 - children Isaiah 51:18 - none Jeremiah 52:3 - through

Cross-References

Genesis 3:13
Adonai , God, said to the woman, "What is this you have done?" The woman answered, "The serpent tricked me, so I ate."
Deuteronomy 29:19
But Adonai will not forgive him. Rather, the anger and jealousy of Adonai will blaze up against that person. Every curse written in this book will be upon him. Adonai will blot out his name from under heaven.
2 Kings 1:4
Therefore Adonai says, "You will never leave the bed you are lying on; you will certainly die."'" Then Eliyahu left.
2 Kings 1:6
They answered him, "A man came to meet us. He told us to go and return to the king who sent us, and tell him, ‘Here is what Adonai says: "Is it because there's no God in Isra'el that you're sending to consult Ba‘al-Z'vuv the god of ‘Ekron? Therefore you will never leave the bed you are lying on; you will certainly die."'"
2 Kings 1:16
Eliyahu said to the king, "Here is what Adonai says: ‘You sent messengers to consult Ba‘al-Z'vuv the god of ‘Ekron. Is it because there's no God in Isra'el you can consult? Therefore, you will never leave the bed you are lying on; you will certainly die.'"
2 Kings 8:10
Elisha answered, "Go and say to him, ‘You will surely recover' — even though Adonai has shown me that he will surely die."
Psalms 10:11
He says in his heart, "God forgets, he hides his face, he will never see."
2 Corinthians 2:11
so that we will not be taken advantage of by the Adversary — for we are quite aware of his schemes!
2 Corinthians 11:3
and I fear that somehow your minds may be seduced away from simple and pure devotion to the Messiah, just as Havah was deceived by the serpent and his craftiness.
1 Timothy 2:14
Also it was not Adam who was deceived, but the woman who, on being deceived, became involved in the transgression.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

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".

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

And I will give children - Not children in respect to age so much as in regard to talent for governing. I will commit the land to the government of weak and imbecile princes. This would naturally occur when the wise and great were removed; compare Ecclesiastes 10:16 : ‘Wo to thee, O land, when thy king is a child;’ compare Isaiah 3:12.

And babes shall rule ... - That is, babes in experience and knowledge. This was fully accomplished in the succession of weak and wicked princes that succeeded Isaiah, until the time of Zedekiah, the last of them, when the temple was taken by Nebuchadnezzar. - “Lowth.”

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Isaiah 3:4. I will give children to be their princes - "I will make boys their princes"] This also was fully accomplished in the succession of weak and wicked princes, from the death of Josiah to the destruction of the city and temple, and the taking of Zedekiah, the last of them, by Nebuchadnezzar.

Babes shall rule over them.Dymennysche men schul lordschopen to hem. - Old MS. Bible.


 
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