Lectionary Calendar
Sunday, May 4th, 2025
the Third Sunday after Easter
Attention!
StudyLight.org has pledged to help build churches in Uganda. Help us with that pledge and support pastors in the heart of Africa.
Click here to join the effort!

Read the Bible

King James Version

Isaiah 3:4

And I will give children to be their princes, and babes shall rule over 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.
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.
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, behold, the Lord, the Lord of hosts, doth take away from Jerusalem and from Judah the stay and the staff, the whole stay of bread, and the whole stay of water. 2 The mighty man, and the man of war, the judge, and the prophet, and the prudent, and the ancient, 3 The captain of fifty, and the honourable man, and the counsellor, and the cunning artificer, and the eloquent orator. 4 And I will give children to be their princes, and babes shall rule over them. 5 And the people shall be oppressed, every one by another, and every one by his neighbour: the child shall behave himself proudly against the ancient, and the base against the honourable. 6 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: 7 In that day shall he swear, saying, I will not be an healer; for in my house is neither bread nor clothing: make me not a ruler of the people. 8 For Jerusalem is ruined, and Judah is fallen: because their tongue and their doings are against the Lord , to provoke the eyes 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
And the Lord God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.
Deuteronomy 29:19
And it come to pass, when he heareth the words of this curse, that he bless himself in his heart, saying, I shall have peace, though I walk in the imagination of mine heart, to add drunkenness to thirst:
2 Kings 1:4
Now therefore thus saith the Lord , Thou shalt not come down from that bed on which thou art gone up, but shalt surely die. And Elijah departed.
2 Kings 1:6
And they said unto him, There came a man up to meet us, and said unto us, Go, turn again unto the king that sent you, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord , Is it not because there is not a God in Israel, that thou sendest to enquire of Baalzebub the god of Ekron? therefore thou shalt not come down from that bed on which thou art gone up, but shalt surely die.
2 Kings 1:16
And he said unto him, Thus saith the Lord , Forasmuch as thou hast sent messengers to enquire of Baalzebub the god of Ekron, is it not because there is no God in Israel to enquire of his word? therefore thou shalt not come down off that bed on which thou art gone up, but shalt surely die.
2 Kings 8:10
And Elisha said unto him, Go, say unto him, Thou mayest certainly recover: howbeit the Lord hath shewed me that he shall surely die.
Psalms 10:11
He hath said in his heart, God hath forgotten: he hideth his face; he will never see it.
2 Corinthians 2:11
Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.
2 Corinthians 11:3
But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
1 Timothy 2:14
And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was 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.


 
adsfree-icon
Ads FreeProfile