Isaiah 3:15

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.

Parallel Translations

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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."

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.

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.

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?

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.

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?

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."

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.

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?

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.

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?

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:

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.

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.

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.

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

Contextual Overview

⁹ The look on their countenance witnesses against them, And they declare their sin as Sodom; They do not hide it. Woe to their soul! For they have brought evil upon themselves. ¹⁰ "Say to the righteous that it shall be well with them, For they shall eat the fruit of their doings. ¹¹ Woe to the wicked! It shall be ill with him, For the reward of his hands shall be given him. ¹² As for My people, children are their oppressors, And women rule over them. O My people! Those who lead you cause you to err, And destroy the way of your paths." ¹³ The LORD stands up to plead, And stands to judge the people. ¹⁴ The LORD will enter into judgment With the elders of His people And His princes: "For you have eaten up the vineyard; The plunder of the poor is in your houses. ¹⁵ What do you mean by crushing My people And grinding the faces of the poor?" Says the Lord GOD of hosts.

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
Romans 5:12-21">[xr] Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, "Has God indeed said, "You shall not eat of every tree of the garden'?"

Genesis 3:3
but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, "You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die."'

Genesis 3:4
Then the serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die.

Genesis 3:6
So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.

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

Genesis 3:8
And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.

Genesis 3:10
So he said, "I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself."

Genesis 3:13
And the LORD God said to the woman, "What is this you have done?" The woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate."

Genesis 3:14
So the LORD God said to the serpent: "Because you have done this, You are cursed more than all cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly you shall go, And you shall eat dust All the days of your life.

Genesis 3:15
And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise 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.