Isaiah 3:6

Good News Translation

A time will come when the members of a clan will choose one of their number and say to him, "You at least have something to wear, so be our leader in this time of trouble."

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
A man will even seize his brotherin his father’s house, saying:“You have a cloak—you be our leader!This heap of rubble will be under your control.”

Hebrew Names Version
Indeed a man shall take hold of his brother in the house of his father, saying, "You have clothing, you be our ruler, And let this ruin be under your hand."

King James Version
When a man shall take hold of his brother of the house of his father, saying, Thou hast clothing, be thou our ruler, and let this ruin be under thy hand:

English Standard Version
For a man will take hold of his brother in the house of his father, saying: "You have a cloak; you shall be our leader, and this heap of ruins shall be under your rule";

New American Standard Bible
When a man lays hold of his brother in his father's house, saying, "You have a cloak, you shall be our ruler! And these ruins will be under your authority,"

New Century Version
At that time a man will grab one of his brothers from his own family and say, "You have a coat, so you will be our leader. These ruins will be under your control."

Amplified Bible
When a man takes hold of his brother in the house of his father, saying, "You have a robe, you shall be our judge and ruler, And this pile of ruins will be under your control,"

World English Bible
Indeed a man shall take hold of his brother in the house of his father, saying, "You have clothing, you be our ruler, And let this ruin be under your hand."

Geneva Bible (1587)
When euery one shall take holde of his brother of the house of his father, and say, Thou hast clothing: thou shalt bee our prince, and let this fall be vnder thine hand.

Legacy Standard Bible
When a man grasps his brother in his father's house, saying,"You have a cloak, you shall be our ruler,And these ruins will be under your hand,"

Berean Standard Bible
A man will seize his brother within his father's house: "You have a cloak-you be our leader! Take charge of this heap of rubble."

Contemporary English Version
Some of you will grab hold of a relative and say, "You still have a coat. Be our leader and rule this pile of ruins."

Complete Jewish Bible
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!"

Darby Translation
When a man shall take hold of his brother, in his father's house, [and shall say:] Thou hast clothing; be our chief, and let this ruin be under thy hand;

Easy-to-Read Version
At that time a man will grab one of his brothers from his own family and tell him, "You have a coat, so you will be our leader. You will be the leader over all these ruins."

George Lamsa Translation
When a man shall take hold of his brother in the house of his father, and say to him, You have clothing, be our ruler, and govern this ruin;

Lexham English Bible
Indeed, a man will seize his brother in the house of his father: "You have a cloak; you shall be a leader for us, and this heap of ruins shall be under your hand!"

Literal Translation
When a man shall take hold of his brother, at his father's house, saying , A cloak! Come, you be a ruler for us; let this ruin be under your hand.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Yee one shal take a frende of his owne kynred by ye bosome, and saye: thou hast clothinge, thou shalt be oure heade, for thou mayest kepe us from this fall and parell.

American Standard Version
When a man shall take hold of his brother in the house of his father, saying, Thou hast clothing, be thou our ruler, and let this ruin be under thy hand;

Bible in Basic English
When one man puts his hand on another in his father's house, and says, You have clothing, be our ruler and be responsible for us in our sad condition:

JPS Old Testament (1917)
For a man shall take hold of his brother of the house of his father: 'Thou hast a mantle, be thou our ruler, and let this ruin be under thy hand.'

King James Version (1611)
When a man shall take hold of his brother of the house of his father, saying, Thou hast clothing, be thou our ruler, and let this ruine bee vnder thy hand:

Bishop's Bible (1568)
Yea one shall take a friende of his owne kinrede by the bosome, and say: thou hast clothyng, thou shalt be our head, and stay this ruine with thy hande.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
For a man shall lay hold of his brother, as one of his father’s household, saying, Thou hast raiment, be thou our ruler, and let my meat be under thee.

English Revised Version
When a man shall take hold of his brother in the house of his father, saying, Thou hast clothing, be thou our ruler, and let this ruin be under thy hand:

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
For a man schal take his brother, the meneal of his fadir, and schal seie, A clooth is to thee, be thou oure prince; forsothe this fallyng be vndur thin hond.

Update Bible Version
When a man shall take hold of his brother in the house of his father, [saying], You have clothing, be our ruler, and let this ruin be under your hand;

Webster's Bible Translation
When a man shall take hold of his brother of the house of his father, [saying], Thou hast clothing, be thou our ruler, and [let] this ruin [be] under thy hand:

New English Translation
Indeed, a man will grab his brother right in his father's house and say, ‘You own a coat— you be our leader! This heap of ruins will be under your control.'

New King James Version
When a man takes hold of his brotherIn the house of his father, saying,"You have clothing;You be our ruler,And let these ruins be under your power," [fn]

New Living Translation
In those days a man will say to his brother, "Since you have a coat, you be our leader! Take charge of this heap of ruins!"

New Life Bible
A man will take hold of his brother in his father's house, saying, "You have a coat. You will be our ruler. This destroyed city will be under your rule."

New Revised Standard
Someone will even seize a relative, a member of the clan, saying, "You have a cloak; you shall be our leader, and this heap of ruins shall be under your rule."

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
When a man shall lay hold, on his brother of the house of his father, saying - Clothing, hast thou, Become thou our, ruler, This downfall, be under thy hand,

Douay-Rheims Bible
For a man shall take hold of his brother, one of the house of his father, saying: Thou hast a garment, be thou our ruler, and let this ruin be under thy hand.

Revised Standard Version
When a man takes hold of his brother in the house of his father, saying: "You have a mantle; you shall be our leader, and this heap of ruins shall be under your rule";

Young's Literal Translation
When one layeth hold on his brother, [Of] the house of his father, [by] the garment, `Come, a ruler thou art to us, And this ruin [is] under thy hand.'

New American Standard Bible (1995)
When a man lays hold of his brother in his father's house, saying, "You have a cloak, you shall be our ruler, And these ruins will be under your charge,"

Contextual Overview

¹ Now the Lord, the Almighty Lord , is about to take away from Jerusalem and Judah everything and everyone that the people depend on. He is going to take away their food and their water, ² their heroes and their soldiers, their judges and their prophets, their fortunetellers and their statesmen, ³ their military and civilian leaders, their politicians and everyone who uses magic to control events. ⁴ The Lord will let the people be governed by immature boys. ⁵ Everyone will take advantage of everyone else. Young people will not respect their elders, and worthless people will not respect their superiors. ⁶ A time will come when the members of a clan will choose one of their number and say to him, "You at least have something to wear, so be our leader in this time of trouble." ⁷ But he will answer, "Not me! I can't help you. I don't have any food or clothes either. Don't make me your leader!" ⁸ Yes, Jerusalem is doomed! Judah is collapsing! Everything they say and do is against the Lord ; they openly insult God himself.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

a man: Isaiah 4:1, Judges 11:6-8, John 6:15

Reciprocal: Numbers 4:33 - under the hand 1 Samuel 21:3 - under thine 1 Chronicles 25:2 - under the hands Isaiah 34:12 - call Micah 6:14 - and thou Zechariah 8:23 - take

Cross-References

Genesis 3:1
Now the snake was the most cunning animal that the Lord God had made. The snake asked the woman, "Did God really tell you not to eat fruit from any tree in the garden?"

Genesis 3:2
"We may eat the fruit of any tree in the garden," the woman answered,

Genesis 3:12
The man answered, "The woman you put here with me gave me the fruit, and I ate it."

Genesis 3:14
Then the Lord God said to the snake, "You will be punished for this; you alone of all the animals must bear this curse: From now on you will crawl on your belly, and you will have to eat dust as long as you live.

Genesis 3:15
I will make you and the woman hate each other; her offspring and yours will always be enemies. Her offspring will crush your head, and you will bite her offspring's heel."

Genesis 3:17
And he said to the man, "You listened to your wife and ate the fruit which I told you not to eat. Because of what you have done, the ground will be under a curse. You will have to work hard all your life to make it produce enough food for you.

Genesis 3:19
You will have to work hard and sweat to make the soil produce anything, until you go back to the soil from which you were formed. You were made from soil, and you will become soil again."

Genesis 6:2
some of the heavenly beings saw that these young women were beautiful, so they took the ones they liked.

Genesis 39:7
and after a while his master's wife began to desire Joseph and asked him to go to bed with her.

Joshua 7:21
Among the things we seized I saw a beautiful Babylonian cloak, about five pounds of silver, and a bar of gold weighing over one pound. I wanted them so much that I took them. You will find them buried inside my tent, with the silver at the bottom."

Gill's Notes on the Bible

When a man shall take hold of his brother of the house of his father,.... One of the same country, kindred, and family; for only one of their brethren, and not a stranger, might rule over them,

Deuteronomy 17:15 this taking hold of him may design not so much a literal taking hold of his person, his hand or garment, much less using any forcible measures with him; though indeed the Jews would have took Christ by force, who was one of their brethren, and would have made him a temporal king, which he refused, as this man did here spoken of, John 6:15 but rather an importunate desire and entreaty, urging him, as follows,

[saying], thou hast clothing, be thou our ruler; that is, he had good and rich clothing, fit for a ruler or civil magistrate to appear in, which everyone had not, and some scarce any in those troublesome times:

and [let] this ruin be under thy hand; that is, let thy care, concern, and business, be to raise up the almost ruined state of the city and nation; and let thy hand be under it, to support and maintain it. The Targum is,

"and this power shall be under thy hand;''

thou shalt have power and government over the nation, and the honour and greatness which belong unto it, and all shall be subject unto thee. The Septuagint renders it, "let my meat be under thee", or "from thee", as the Arabic version.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

When a man shall take hold ... - In this verse, and the following verses, the prophet continues to describe the calamitous and ruined state that would come upon the Jews; when there would be such a want of wealth and people, that they would seize upon anyone that they thought able to defend them. The act of “taking hold” here denotes “supplication” and “entreaty,” as when one in danger or distress clings to that which is near, or which may be likely to aid him; compare Isa 4:1; 1 Samuel 15:27,

His brother - His kinsman, or one of the same tribe and family - claiming protection because they belonged to the same family.

Of the house of his father - Descended from the same paternal ancestors as himself. Probably this refers to one of an ancient and opulent family - a man who had kept himself from the civil broils and tumults of the nation, and who had retained his property safe in the midst of the surrounding desolation. In the previous verse, the prophet had said that one characteristic of the times would be a want of respect for “the aged” and “the honorable.” He here says that such would be the distress, that a man would be “compelled” to show respect to rank; he would look to the ancient and wealthy families for protection.

Thou hast clothing - In ancient times wealth consisted very much in changes of garments; and the expression, ‘thou hast clothing,’ is the same as ‘you are rich, you are able to assist us;’ see Exodus 12:34; Exodus 20:26; Gen 45:22; 2 Kings 5:5.

And let this ruin ... - This is an expression of entreaty. ‘Give us assistance, or defense. We commit our ruined and dilapidated affairs to thee, and implore thy help.’ The Septuagint reads this, ‘and let my food,’ that is, my support, ‘be under thee’ - do thou furnish me food. There are some other unimportant variations in the ancient versions, but the sense is substantially given in our translation. It is expressive of great distress and anarchy - when there would be no ruler, and every man would seek one for himself. The whole deportment evinced here by the suppliant is one of submission, distress, and humility.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Isaiah 3:6. Of the house of his father - "Of his father's house"] For בית beith, the house, the ancient interpreters seem to have read מבית mibbeith, from the house; του οικειου του πατρος αυτου, Septuagint; domesticum patris sui, Vulgate; which gives no good sense. But the Septuagint MS. I. D. II. for οικειου has οικου. And, his brother, of his father's house, is little better than a tautology. The case seems to require that the man should apply to a person of some sort of rank and eminence; one that was the head of his father's house, (see Joshua 12:14,) whether of the house of him who applies to him, or of any other; ראש בית אביו rosh beith abaiu, the chief, or head of his father's house. I cannot help suspecting, therefore, that the word ראש rosh, head, chief, has been lost out of the text.

Saying — Before שמלה simlah, garment, two MSS., one ancient, and the Babylonish Talmud have the word לאמר lemor, saying; and so the Septuagint, Vulgate, Syriac, and Chaldee. I place it with Houbigant, after שמלה simlah.

Thou hast clothing - "Take by the garment"] That is, shall entreat him in an humble and supplicating manner. "Ten men shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, Let us go with you; for we have heard that God is with you," Zechariah 8:23. And so in Isaiah 4:1, the same gesture is used to express earnest and humble entreaty. The behaviour of Saul towards Samuel was of the same kind, when he laid hold on the skirt of his raiment, 1 Samuel 15:27. The preceding and following verses show, that his whole deportment, in regard to the prophet, was full of submission and humility.

And let this ruin be under thy hand - "And let thy hand support"] Before תחת ידך tachath yadecha, a MS. adds תהיה tihyeh, "let it be; " another MS. adds in the same place, תקח בידך takach beyadecha, which latter seems to be a various reading of the two preceding words, making a very good sense: "Take into thy hand our ruinous state." Twenty-one MSS. of Kennicott's, thirteen of De Rossi's, one of my own, ancient, and three editions of the Babylonish Talmud have ידיך yadeycha, plural, "thy hands."