Bible Strands
Isaiah 3:17
the Lord will bring sores on the heads of the daughters of Zion, and the LORD will make their foreheads bare.”
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The Lord speaks through Isaiah to the daughters of Zion, pronouncing judgment immediately after condemning their haughty posture and wanton behavior in the preceding verse.
The words — The Hebrew verb שִׂפֵּחַ (si.Pach) literally means to make scabby or bring forth sores, while the verb פָּתַח (pa.te./Hen) denotes laying bare or uncovering the forehead.
The thread — This imagery of bodily affliction and public shame echoes the diagnostic descriptions of skin infections in Leviticus 13:29 and 13:43, while the theme of iniquity causing physical disgrace aligns with Jeremiah 13:22.
Why it lands — The text demands recognition that divine judgment directly targets the very physical vanity and pride the daughters of Zion displayed, leaving them exposed and humiliated.
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
Therefore the Lord will smite with a scab the crown of the head of the daughters of Zion, and the Lord will discover their secret parts.
Cross-references
- Jeremiah 13:22 And if you ask yourself, “Why has this happened to me?” It is because of the magnitude of your iniquity that your skirts have been stripped off and your body has been exposed.
- Leviticus 13:29 If a man or woman has an infection on the head or chin,
- Leviticus 13:43 The priest is to examine him, and if the swelling of the infection on his bald head or forehead is reddish-white like a skin disease,
- Isaiah 20:4 so the king of Assyria will lead away the captives of Egypt and the exiles of Cush, young and old alike, naked and barefoot, with bared buttocks—to Egypt’s shame.
- Micah 1:11 Depart in shameful nakedness, O dwellers of Shaphir. The dwellers of Zaanan will not come out. Beth-ezel is in mourning; its support is taken from you.
- Revelation 16:2 So the first angel went and poured out his bowl on the earth, and loathsome, malignant sores broke out on those who had the mark of the beast and worshiped its image.
- Deuteronomy 28:27 The LORD will afflict you with the boils of Egypt, with tumors and scabs and itch from which you cannot be cured.
- Isaiah 47:2 Take millstones and grind flour; remove your veil; strip off your skirt, bare your thigh, and wade through the streams.
- Ezekiel 16:36 This is what the Lord GOD says: Because you poured out your wealth and exposed your nakedness in your promiscuity with your lovers and with all your detestable idols, and because of the blood of your children which you gave to them,
- Ezekiel 23:25 And I will set My jealous rage against you, and they will deal with you in fury. They will cut off your noses and ears, and your survivors will fall by the sword. They will seize your sons and daughters, and your remnant will be consumed by fire.