Bible Strands
Isaiah 3:15
Why do you crush My people and grind the faces of the poor?” declares the Lord GOD of Hosts.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The Lord GOD of Hosts speaks to the elders and leaders of Israel, delivering this charge immediately after condemning their plunder of the poor and before pronouncing judgment on the haughty daughters of Zion.
The words — The verbs תְּדַכְּא֣וּ (te.da.ke.'U) and תִּטְחָ֑נוּ (tit.Cha.nu) literally mean "you crush" and "you grind," depicting the systematic oppression of the people and the poor.
The thread — The motif of crushing God's people appears in Psalms 94:5, Micah 3:2, and Amos 2:6, where oppressors are condemned for destroying the vulnerable and violating divine justice.
Why it lands — The text demands that readers recognize the exploitation of the poor as a direct affront to God's authority and requires those in power to immediately cease predatory conduct.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
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.
Cross-references
- Psalms 94:5 They crush Your people, O LORD; they oppress Your heritage.
- Micah 3:2 You hate good and love evil. You tear the skin from my people and strip the flesh from their bones.
- Amos 2:6 This is what the LORD says: “For three transgressions of Israel, even four, I will not revoke My judgment, because they sell the righteous for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals.
- Amos 8:4 Hear this, you who trample the needy, who do away with the poor of the land,
- Exodus 5:14 Then the Israelite foremen, whom Pharaoh’s taskmasters had set over the people, were beaten and asked, “Why have you not fulfilled your quota of bricks yesterday or today, as you did before?”
- Isaiah 58:4 You fast with contention and strife to strike viciously with your fist. You cannot fast as you do today and have your voice be heard on high.
- 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’?
- Jonah 1:6 The captain approached him and said, “How can you sleep? Get up and call upon your God. Perhaps this God will consider us, so that we may not perish.”