Isaiah 3:4

Wycliffe Bible

And Y schal yyue children the princes of hem, and men of wymmens condiciouns schulen be lordis of hem.

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.

Complete Jewish Bible
I will put children in authority; capriciousness will govern them.

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.

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 lo! the lordli gouernour, the Lord of oostis, schal take awei fro Jerusalem and fro Juda a myyti man, and strong, and al the strengthe of breed, and al the strengthe of watir; ² a strong man, and a man a werriour, and a domesman, and a profete, and a false dyuynour in auteris, and an elde man, ³ a prince ouer fifti men, and a worschipful man in cheer, and a counselour, and a wijs man of principal crafti men, and a prudent man of mystik, ethir goostli, speche. ⁴ And Y schal yyue children the princes of hem, and men of wymmens condiciouns schulen be lordis of hem. ⁵ And the puple schal falle doun, a man to a man, ech man to his neiybore; a child schal make noyse ayens an eld man, and an vnnoble man ayens a noble man. ⁶ 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. ⁷ And he schal answere in that dai, and seie, Y am no leche, and nether breed, nether cloth is in myn hous; nyle ye make me prince of the puple. ⁸ For whi Jerusalem felle doun, and Juda felle doun togidere; for the tunge of hem, and the fyndingis of hem weren ayens the Lord, for to terre to wraththe the iyen of his mageste.

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
And the Lord seide to the womman, Whi didist thou this thing? Which answerde, The serpent disseyued me, and Y eet.

Deuteronomy 29:19
and whanne he hath herd the wordis of this ooth, he blesse hym silf in his herte, and seie, Pees schal be to me, and Y schal go in the schrewidnesse of myn herte; and lest the drunkun take the thirsti,

2 Kings 1:4
For which thing the Lord seith these thingis, Thou schalt not go doun of the bed, on which thou stiedist.

2 Kings 1:6
And thei answeriden to hym, A man mette vs, and seide to vs, Go ye, turne ye ayen to the kyng, that sente you; and ye schulen seie to him, The Lord seith these thingis, Whether for God was not in Israel, thou sendist, that Belzebub, god of Acharon, be counselid? Therfor thou schalt not go doun of the bed, on which thou stiedist, but thou schalt die bi deeth.

2 Kings 1:16
and he spak to the kyng, The Lord seith thes thingis, For thou sentist messangeris to counsele Belzebub, god of Acharon, as if no God were in Israel, of whom thow myytist axe a word; therfor thou schalt not go doun of the bed, on which thou stiedist, but thou schalt die bi deeth.

2 Kings 8:10
And Elisee seide, Go thou, and seye to hym, Thou schalt be heelid; forsothe the Lord schewide to me that he schal die bi deth.

Psalms 10:11
For he seide in his herte, God hath foryete; he hath turned awei his face, that he se not in to the ende.

2 Corinthians 2:11
that we be not disseyued of Sathanas; for we knowen hise thouytis.

2 Corinthians 11:3
But Y drede, lest as the serpent disseyuede Eue with his sutil fraude, so youre wittis ben corrupt, and fallen doun fro the symplenesse that is in Crist.

1 Timothy 2:14
and Adam was not disseyued, but the womman was disseyued, in breking of the lawe.

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.