Isaiah 3:15

New Century Version

What gives you the right to crush my people and grind the faces of the poor into the dirt?" The Lord God All-Powerful says this.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Why do you crush my peopleand grind the faces of the poor?”

Hebrew Names Version
What do you mean that you crush my people, And grind the face of the poor?" says the Lord, the LORD of Hosts.

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

English Standard Version
What do you mean by crushing my people, by grinding the face of the poor?" declares the Lord God of hosts.

New American Standard Bible
"What do you mean by crushing My people And oppressing the face of the poor?" Declares the Lord GOD of armies.

Amplified Bible
"What do you mean by crushing My people And grinding the face of the poor?" Declares 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 Hosts.

Geneva Bible (1587)
What haue ye to do, that ye beate my people to pieces, and grinde the faces of the poore, saith the Lord, euen tho Lord of hostes?

Legacy Standard Bible
What do you mean by crushing My peopleAnd grinding the face of the afflicted?"Declares Lord Yahweh of hosts.

Berean Standard Bible
Why do you crush My people and grind the faces of the poor?" declares the Lord GOD of Hosts.

Contemporary English Version
The Lord All-Powerful says, "You have crushed my people and rubbed in the dirt the faces of the poor."

Complete Jewish Bible
What do you mean by crushing my people and grinding down the faces of the poor?" says Adonai Elohim -Tzva'ot.

Darby Translation
What mean ye that ye crush my people, and grind the faces of the afflicted? saith the Lord, Jehovah of hosts.

Easy-to-Read Version
What gives you the right to hurt my people? What gives you the right to push the faces of the poor into the dirt?" The Lord God All-Powerful said this.

George Lamsa Translation
Why did you sting my people, and shame the faces of the poor? says the LORD of hosts.

Good News Translation
You have no right to crush my people and take advantage of the poor. I, the Sovereign Lord Almighty, have spoken."

Lexham English Bible
Why do you crush my people and grind the face of the poor?" declares the Lord Yahweh of hosts.

Literal Translation
What do you mean that you crush My people, and grind the faces of the poor, says the Lord, Jehovah of Hosts?

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Wherfore do ye oppresse my people, and marre ye faces of the innocentes? thus shal the God of hoostes reuyle them.

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

Bible in Basic English
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.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
What mean ye that ye crush My people, and grind the face of the poor?' saith the Lord, the GOD of hosts.

King James Version (1611)
What meane yee that yee beat my people to pieces, and grinde the faces of the poore, saith the Lord God of hosts?

Bishop's Bible (1568)
What meane ye that ye bray [as in a morter] my people, and grinde the faces of the poore? saith the Lorde God of hoastes.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
Why do ye wrong my people, and shame the face of the poor?

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

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Whi al to-breken ye my puple, and grynden togidere the faces of pore men? seith the Lord God of oostis.

Update Bible Version
what do you mean that you crush my people, and grind the face of the poor? says the Lord, Yahweh of hosts.

Webster's Bible Translation
What mean ye [that] ye beat my people to pieces, and grind the faces of the poor? saith the Lord GOD of hosts.

New English Translation
Why do you crush my people and grind the faces of the poor?" The sovereign Lord who commands armies has spoken.

New King James Version
What do you mean by crushing My people And grinding the faces of the poor?" Says the Lord GOD of hosts.

New Living Translation
How dare you crush my people, grinding the faces of the poor into the dust?" demands the Lord, the Lord of Heaven's Armies.

New Life Bible
What do you mean by crushing My people, and grinding the faces of the poor?" says the Lord God of All.

New Revised Standard
What do you mean by crushing my people, by grinding the face of the poor? says the Lord God of hosts.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
What right have ye to crush my people, And the faces of the oppressed, to grind? Demandeth My Lord Yahweh of hosts - And Yahweh saith -

Douay-Rheims Bible
Why do you consume my people, and grind the faces of the poor? saith the Lord the God of hosts.

Revised Standard Version
What do you mean by crushing my people, by grinding the face of the poor?" says the Lord GOD of hosts.

Young's Literal Translation
What -- to you? ye bruise My people, And the faces of the poor ye grind.' An affirmation of the Lord, Jehovah of Hosts, And Jehovah saith:

New American Standard Bible (1995)
"What do you mean by crushing My people And grinding the face of the poor?" Declares the Lord GOD of hosts.

Contextual Overview

⁹ The look on their faces shows they are guilty; like the people of Sodom, they are proud of their sin. They don't care who sees it. How terrible it will be for them, because they have brought much trouble on themselves. ¹⁰ Tell those who do what is right that things will go well for them, because they will receive a reward for what they do. ¹¹ But how terrible it will be for the wicked! They will be punished for all the wrong they have done. ¹² Children treat my people cruelly, and women rule over them. My people, your guides lead you in the wrong way and turn you away from what is right. ¹³ The Lord takes his place in court and stands to judge the people. ¹⁴ The Lord presents his case against the elders and other leaders of his people: "You have burned the vineyard. Your houses are full of what you took from the poor. ¹⁵ What gives you the right to crush my people and grind the faces of the poor into the dirt?" The Lord God All-Powerful says this.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

What mean: Ezekiel 18:2, Jonah 1:6

ye beat: Isaiah 58:4, Exodus 5:14, Amos 2:6, Amos 2:7, Amos 8:4-6, Micah 3:2, Micah 3:3

Reciprocal: Deuteronomy 24:17 - pervert Job 22:4 - will he enter Psalms 10:9 - when Psalms 94:5 - break Ecclesiastes 5:8 - regardeth Ezekiel 16:49 - neither Acts 21:13 - What Acts 21:32 - beating James 2:6 - Do

Cross-References

Genesis 3:1
Now the snake was the most clever of all the wild animals the Lord God had made. One day the snake said to the woman, "Did God really say that you must not eat fruit from any tree in the garden?"

Genesis 3:3
But God told us, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden. You must not even touch it, or you will die.'"

Genesis 3:4
But the snake said to the woman, "You will not die.

Genesis 3:6
The woman saw that the tree was beautiful, that its fruit was good to eat, and that it would make her wise. So she took some of its fruit and ate it. She also gave some of the fruit to her husband who was with her, and he ate it.

Genesis 3:7
Then, it was as if their eyes were opened. They realized they were naked, so they sewed fig leaves together and made something to cover themselves.

Genesis 3:8
Then they heard the Lord God walking in the garden during the cool part of the day, and the man and his wife hid from the Lord God among the trees in the garden.

Genesis 3:10
The man answered, "I heard you walking in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid."

Genesis 3:13
Then the Lord God said to the woman, "How could you have done such a thing?" She answered, "The snake tricked me, so I ate the fruit."

Genesis 3:14
The Lord God said to the snake, "Because you did this, a curse will be put on you. You will be cursed as no other animal, tame or wild, will ever be. You will crawl on your stomach, and you will eat dust all the days of your life.

Genesis 3:15
I will make you and the woman enemies to each other. Your descendants and her descendants will be enemies. One of her descendants will crush your head, and you will bite his heel."

Gill's Notes on the Bible

What mean ye, [that] ye beat my people to pieces,.... Reduce them to the utmost poverty; so the Targum,

"wherefore do ye impoverish my people?''

as they did by exacting tithes of all that they possessed; by requiring large sums for their long prayers; and by various traditions they enjoined them to observe:

and grind the faces of the poor? either by smiting them on the cheek, as Christ, who became poor for our sakes, was smitten by them; or by bringing them into such low circumstances, by their exorbitant demands, that they had not sufficiency of food to eat; by which means their faces became pale, thin, and meagre:

saith the Lord God of Hosts: who saw all their actions, and was able to plead his people's cause, and take vengeance on their oppressors.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

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; Psalms 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.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Isaiah 3:15. 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.