Isaiah
Chapter 4
Isaiah 4 opens with a picture of a land emptied of men after war: seven women beg one man to marry them just so they will not be shamed for having no husband. The rest of the chapter turns to what comes after the judgment. What is left of Jerusalem is washed clean, and the LORD covers the city with cloud and fire, as he did in the desert, to shelter and protect his people.
Plain reading written for preteens. Clear and complete, at about a fifth grade reading level.
And in that day seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel: only let us be called by thy name, to take away our reproach.
1When that day comes, seven women will grab hold of one man and say, "We will buy our own food and our own clothes. Just let us take your name as your wives. Take away our shame."
Being unmarried and childless was seen as a disgrace for a woman then. So many men have died in the war that seven women are willing to share one husband and pay their own way.
2In that day shall the branch of the LORD be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and comely for them that are escaped of Israel.
2On that day the Branch of the LORD will be beautiful and full of glory. The land's crops will be the pride and joy of the people of Israel who lived through it.
"Branch" is a picture of a new shoot growing from a cut-down tree. Zion is another name for Jerusalem, the hill the city sits on.
3And it shall come to pass, that he that is left in Zion, and he that remaineth in Jerusalem, shall be called holy, even every one that is written among the living in Jerusalem:
3Everyone still left in Zion, everyone still in Jerusalem, will be called holy. That means all whose names are written down among the living in Jerusalem.
4When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning.
4This happens after the Lord has washed the filth off the women of Zion. He will scrub the bloodstains out of Jerusalem with a spirit of judging and a spirit of burning.
5And the LORD will create upon every dwelling place of mount Zion, and upon her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night: for upon all the glory shall be a defence.
5Then over all of Mount Zion, and over the crowds that gather there, the LORD will make a cloud of smoke by day and a bright flame of fire by night. A covering will spread over everything glorious.
Cloud by day and fire by night is how God led Israel through the desert after they left Egypt. Isaiah's readers would know that story.
6And there shall be a tabernacle for a shadow in the day time from the heat, and for a place of refuge, and for a covert from storm and from rain.
6It will be a shelter that gives shade from the heat of the day. It will be a safe place to hide from storm and rain.
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