Isaiah 3:21

Legacy Standard Bible

finger rings, nose rings,

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
signet rings, nose rings,

Hebrew Names Version
the signet rings, the nose rings,

King James Version
The rings, and nose jewels,

English Standard Version
the signet rings and nose rings;

New American Standard Bible
finger rings, nose rings,

New Century Version
their signet rings, nose rings,

Amplified Bible
signet [finger] rings, nose rings,

World English Bible
the signet rings, the nose rings,

Geneva Bible (1587)
The rings and the mufflers,

Berean Standard Bible
their signet rings and nose rings,

Complete Jewish Bible
rings and nose-jewels;

Darby Translation
the finger-rings, and the nose-rings;

Easy-to-Read Version
the signet rings, and the nose rings,

George Lamsa Translation
And the ornaments of their legs and their bracelets and nose rings,

Good News Translation
the rings they wear on their fingers and in their noses;

Lexham English Bible
the signet rings and the nose rings,

Literal Translation
the rings and nose jewels;

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
rynges and garlades,

American Standard Version
the rings, and the nose-jewels;

Bible in Basic English
The rings, and the nose-jewels,

JPS Old Testament (1917)
the rings, and the nose-jewels;

King James Version (1611)
The rings, and nose-iewels,

Bishop's Bible (1568)
And rynges, and nose iewels:

English Revised Version
the rings, and the nose jewels;

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
and eere ryngis, and ryngis, and preciouse stoonys hangynge in the forheed,

Update Bible Version
the rings, and the nose-jewels;

Webster's Bible Translation
The rings, and nose-jewels,

New English Translation
rings, nose rings,

New King James Version
and the rings; The nose jewels,

New Living Translation
rings, jewels,

New Life Bible
finger rings, nose rings,

New Revised Standard
the signet rings and nose rings;

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
the rings and the nose-jewels;

Douay-Rheims Bible
And rings, and jewels hanging on the forehead,

Revised Standard Version
the signet rings and nose rings;

Young's Literal Translation
Of the seals, and of the nose-rings,

New American Standard Bible (1995)
finger rings, nose rings,

Contextual Overview

¹⁶Moreover, Yahweh said, "Because the daughters of Zion are haughtyAnd walk with outstretched necks and seductive eyes,And go along with mincing stepsAnd tinkle the bangles on their feet, ¹⁷Therefore the Lord will smite the skull of the daughters of Zion with scabs,And Yahweh will make their foreheads bare." ¹⁸In that day the Lord will remove the beauty of their anklets, headbands, crescent ornaments, ¹⁹dangling earrings, bracelets, veils, ²⁰headdresses, ankle chains, sashes, perfume boxes, enchanted charms, ²¹finger rings, nose rings, ²²festal robes, outer tunics, cloaks, money purses, ²³hand mirrors, undergarments, turbans, and shawls. ²⁴Now it will be that instead of sweet perfume there will be the smell of rot;Instead of a belt, a rope;Instead of well‑set hair, a plucked‑out scalp;Instead of fine clothes, a donning of sackcloth;And branding instead of beauty. ²⁵Your men will fall by the swordAnd your mighty ones in battle.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

rings: Genesis 41:42, Esther 8:12, Song of Solomon 5:14, Luke 15:22, James 2:2

nose jewels: Genesis 24:47, 1 Timothy 2:9, 1 Timothy 2:10, 1 Peter 3:3, 1 Peter 3:4

Reciprocal: Ezekiel 16:11 - forehead

Cross-References

Genesis 3:2
And the woman said to the serpent, "From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat;

Genesis 3:3
but from the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God said, ‘You shall not eat from it, and you shall not touch it, lest you die.'"

Genesis 3:7
And the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings.

Isaiah 61:10
I will rejoice greatly in Yahweh;My soul will rejoice in my God,For He has clothed me with garments of salvation,He has wrapped me with a robe of righteousness,As a bridegroom decks himself with a headdress,And as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.

Romans 3:22
even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction;

2 Corinthians 5:21
He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

The rings,.... On their finger, as Aben Ezra observes:

and nose jewels; the same with the jewels on the forehead or nose,

Ezekiel 16:12 not that they hung upon the nose, but were fastened upon the forehead, and hung down to the nose, see Genesis 24:22; an allusion to this is in Proverbs 11:22 though Austin says it was a custom of the women of Mauritania to put jewels in their nose; and which is still kept in Persia, Arabia, and other countries, as travellers affirm.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The rings - Usually worn on the fingers.

And nose-jewels - The custom of wearing jewels in the “nose” has generally prevailed in savage tribes, and was common, and is still, in Eastern nations - among the Arabians, Persians, etc. Sir John Chardin says, ‘It is the custom in almost all the East for the women to wear rings in their noses, in the left nostril, which is bored low down in the middle. These rings are of gold, and have commonly two pearls and one ruby between, placed in the ring. I never saw a girl or young woman in Arabia, or in all Persia, who did not wear a ring in this manner in her nostrils.’ - Harmer’s “Obs.,” iv., p. 318. The picture in the book illustrates the usual form of this ornament in the East.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Isaiah 3:21. Nose-jewels - "The jewels of the nostril."] נזמי האף nizmey haaph. Schroederus explains this, as many others do, of jewels, or strings of pearl hanging from the forehead, and reaching to the upper part of the nose; than which nothing can be more ridiculous, as such are seldom seen on an Asiatic face. But it appears from many passages of Holy Scripture that the phrase is to be literally and properly understood of nose-jewels, rings set with jewels hanging from the nostrils, as ear-rings from the ears, by holes bored to receive them.

Ezekiel, enumerating the common ornaments of women of the first rank, has not omitted this particular, and is to be understood in the same manner, Ezekiel 16:11-12. See also Genesis 24:47: -

"And I decked thee with ornaments;

And I put bracelets upon thine hands,

And a chain on thy neck:

And I put a jewel on thy nose,

And ear-rings on thine ears,

And a splendid crown upon thine head."

And in an elegant proverb of Solomon, Proverbs 11:22, there is a manifest allusion to this kind of ornament, which shows it to have been used in his time: -

"As a jewel of gold in the snout of a swine;

So is a woman beautiful, but wanting discretion."

This fashion, however strange it may appear to us, was formerly and is still common in many parts of the East, among women of all ranks. Paul Lucas, speaking of a village or clan of wandering people, a little on this side of the Euphrates, says, (2d Voyage du Levant, tom. i., art. 24,) "The women, almost all of them, travel on foot; I saw none handsome among them. They have almost all of them the nose bored; and wear in it a great ring, which makes them still more deformed." But in regard to this custom, better authority cannot be produced than that of Pietro della Valle, in the account which he gives of the lady before mentioned, Signora Maani Gioerida, his own wife. The description of her dress, as to the ornamental parts of it, with which he introduces the mention of this particular, will give us some notion of the taste of the Eastern ladies for finery. "The ornaments of gold and of jewels for the head, for the neck, for the arms, for the legs, and for the feet (for they wear rings even on their toes) are indeed, unlike those of the Turks, carried to great excess, but not of great value: for in Bagdad jewels of high price are either not to be had, or are not used; and they wear such only as are of little value, as turquoises, small rubies, emeralds, carbuncles, garnets, pearls, and the like. My spouse dresses herself with all of them according to their fashion; with exception, however, of certain ugly rings of very large size, set with jewels, which, in truth, very absurdly, it is the custom to wear fastened to one of their nostrils, like buffaloes: an ancient custom, however, in the East, which, as we find in the Holy Scriptures, prevailed among the Hebrew ladies even in the time of Solomon, Proverbs 11:22. These nose-rings, in complaisance to me, she has left off, but I have not yet been able to prevail with her cousin and her sisters to do the same; so fond are they of an old custom, be it ever so absurd, who have been long habituated to it." Viaggi, Tom. i., Let. 17.

It is the left nostril that is bored and ornamented with rings and jewels. More than one hundred drawings from life of Eastern ladies lie now before me, and scarcely one is without the nose-jewel: both the arms and wrists are covered with bracelets, arm-circles, c., as also their legs and feet the soles of their feet and palms of their hands coloured beautifully red with henna, and their hair plaited and ornamented superbly. These beautiful drawings are a fine comment on this chapter.