Isaiah 3:15
in Isaiah 3Why do you crush My people and grind the faces of the poor?” declares the Lord GOD of Hosts.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
what mean ye that ye crush my people, and grind the face of the poor? saith the Lord, Jehovah of hosts.
KJV
What mean ye that ye beat my people to pieces, and grind the faces of the poor? saith the Lord God of hosts.
⋯
This verse in Isaiah 3
Commentary
11 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
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; Psa 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.
This site's exposition
The LORD arises to contend
on Isaiah 3:13-15
Verse 13 resumes the courtroom scene of chapter 1. Verse 14 names the accused, the elders and leaders, and the charge, "You have devoured the vineyard," leaders meant to tend it stripping it. The question of verse 15, why they "grind the faces of the poor," makes the oppression concrete.
This site's exposition
grind the faces of the poor
The elders and leaders of verse 14 crush the people who belong to the LORD, and they "grind the faces of the poor." Micah, prophesying in the same years, gave a harsher picture at Micah 3:1 to 3. Adam Clarke set the two side by side.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
Second, the rebuke of the judge is set out, when he says: why do you consume my people, afflicting them, and grind the faces of the poor, weakening them by hunger? You that oppress the needy, and crush the poor (Amos 4:1). For God himself …
The Puritans and the Awakening4 voices
Or the vineyards of the poor they wrested out of their possession, as Jezebel did Naboth's, or devoured the fruits of them, fed their lusts with that which should have been the necessary food of indigent families; the spoil of the poor was hoarded up in their houses; when God came to search for stolen goods there he found it, and it was a witness against them.
The controversy is already begun in the change of the ministry. To punish those that had abused their power to bad purposes God sets those over them that had not sense to use their power to any good purposes: Children are their oppressors, and women rule over them (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
) that they might maintain the pride and luxury of their families. The punishments threatened for this sin; and they answer the sin as face answers to face in a glass,
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
The ancient - Whose wisdom was increased by long experience. Oppressed - By thy command or permission of such childish rulers. Thou hast - We are utterly undone, and have neither food nor raiment; but thou hast something left to support the dignity which we offer to thee.
3 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
What mean ye, that ye beat my people to pieces,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
What right have ye to beat, &c. Mic 3:2, 3). grind--by exactions, so as to leave them nothing. faces--persons; with the additional idea of it being openly and palpably done. "Presence," equivalent to "face" (Hebrew).
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
And grind the faces - The expression and the image is strong, to denote grievous oppression but is exceeded by the prophet Micah, Mic 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.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
The Lord will enter into judgment with the elders of His people For they should have protested (Shabbath 55a), and to the nations He says, And you have ravaged My vineyard. I became slightly incensed [against them,] and you helped to do harm.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 3 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
10 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| מַה־לָּכֶם֙ | mah-lakhem | what-[is] to you? | H4100 → | 752 times |
| תְּדַכְּא֣וּ | tedakeu | you crush | H1792 → | 18 times |
| עַמִּ֔י | ʾami | people my | H5971 → | 1873 times |
| וּפְנֵ֥י | ufenei | and [the] faces of | H6440 → | 2123 times |
| עֲנִיִּ֖ים | ʾaniyim | poor [people] | H6041 → | 73 times |
| תִּטְחָ֑נוּ | titchanu | you grind | H2912 → | |
| נְאֻם־ | neum- | [the] utterance of | H5002 → | 376 times |
| אֲדֹנָ֥י | ʾadonai | [the] Lord | H136 → | 440 times |
| יְהוִ֖ה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3069 → | 306 times |
| צְבָאֽוֹת׃ ס | tzevaot | of hosts | H6635 → | 485 times |
מַה־לָּכֶם֙what-[is] to you?
mah-lakhemH4100 →752 times
תְּדַכְּא֣וּyou crush
tedakeuH1792 →18 times
עַמִּ֔יpeople my
ʾamiH5971 →1873 times
וּפְנֵ֥יand [the] faces of
ufeneiH6440 →2123 times
עֲנִיִּ֖יםpoor [people]
ʾaniyimH6041 →73 times
תִּטְחָ֑נוּyou grind
titchanuH2912 →
נְאֻם־[the] utterance of
neum-H5002 →376 times
אֲדֹנָ֥י[the] Lord
ʾadonaiH136 →440 times
יְהוִ֖הYahweh
yahwehH3069 →306 times
צְבָאֽוֹת׃ סof hosts
tzevaotH6635 →485 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Ezekiel 18:2“What do you people mean by quoting this proverb about the land of Israel: ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the teeth of the children are set on edge’?
it leads to
- Jeremiah 31:29–30
“In those days, it will no longer be said: ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the teeth of the children are set on edge.’
- Lamentations 5:7
Our fathers sinned and are no more, but we bear their punishment.
- Ezekiel 37:11
Then He said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Look, they are saying, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope has perished; we are cut off.’
- Ezekiel 37:19
you are to tell them that this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel associated with…
- Ezekiel 37:25
They will live in the land that I gave to My servant Jacob, where your fathers lived. They will live there forever with their children and grandchildren, and My servant David will be their…
- Jeremiah 31:29–30
Through
Psalms 94:5They crush Your people, O LORD; they oppress Your heritage.
it leads to
- Psalms 79:2–3
They have given the corpses of Your servants as food to the birds of the air, the flesh of Your saints to the beasts of the earth.
- Psalms 44:22
Yet for Your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.
- Revelation 11:3
And I will empower my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.”
- Psalms 79:2–3
About Isaiah
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Albert Barnes, Notes on the Book of Isaiah; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Isaiah.