Isaiah 3:1 Study Bible: For look, the Lord, the LORD of hosts, takes away from Jerusalem and from Judah supply and support, the whole supply of bread, and the whole supply of water;

◄ Isaiah 3:1 ►

For behold, the Lord GOD of Hosts is about to remove from Jerusalem and Judah both supply and support: the whole supply of food and water,

Study Bible

For behold
This phrase serves as a call to attention, urging the reader to focus on the significant message that follows. In Hebrew, the word "behold" is often used to introduce a prophetic declaration, emphasizing the certainty and importance of the forthcoming divine action. It is a reminder that God’s words are not to be taken lightly, and His plans are unfolding with purpose and authority.

the Lord GOD of Hosts
This title underscores the sovereignty and supreme authority of God. "LORD" (YHWH) is the personal name of God, denoting His eternal existence and covenantal faithfulness. "GOD" (Adonai) reflects His lordship and mastery over all creation. "Hosts" (Tzva'ot) refers to the heavenly armies, indicating God's command over both celestial and earthly realms. This powerful title reassures believers of God's omnipotence and His ability to execute His will.

is about to remove
The phrase indicates an imminent action, a divine intervention that is both certain and near. The Hebrew root for "remove" (סוּר, sur) conveys the idea of taking away or withdrawing. This action is not arbitrary but a deliberate response to the spiritual and moral state of the people. It serves as a warning of the consequences of turning away from God’s commandments.

from Jerusalem and Judah
These geographical references highlight the specific focus of God’s judgment. Jerusalem, the city of David, and Judah, the southern kingdom, were central to the identity and religious life of the Israelites. Their mention signifies that the judgment is directed at the heart of the nation, where the temple stood and where God’s presence was most intimately known. It is a sobering reminder that even those closest to God are not exempt from His discipline.

both supply and support
This phrase encompasses the essentials of life and stability. "Supply" (משען, mash'en) and "support" (משענה, mash'enah) suggest the removal of both physical sustenance and societal structures. The Hebrew words imply a comprehensive withdrawal of what sustains life and order, pointing to a period of severe deprivation and chaos. It serves as a call to reliance on God rather than material or human resources.

the whole supply of bread and water
Bread and water are fundamental necessities for survival, representing the basic provisions of life. Their removal signifies a complete and devastating judgment, affecting every aspect of daily existence. In the biblical context, bread often symbolizes God’s provision and sustenance, while water is a metaphor for life and purification. The absence of these elements underscores the severity of the coming judgment and the urgent need for repentance and return to God.

Persons / Places / Events

1. The Lord GOD of Hosts
This title emphasizes God's sovereignty and power over all heavenly armies. It underscores His authority to execute judgment and His control over the events that unfold.

2. Jerusalem and Judah
These are the central locations of the prophecy. Jerusalem, the capital city, and Judah, the southern kingdom, represent the heart of God's chosen people, who are facing impending judgment due to their disobedience.

3. Supply and Support
This refers to the essential provisions necessary for survival, specifically bread and water. The removal of these signifies a severe judgment and a stripping away of sustenance and security.

Teaching Points

God's Sovereignty in Judgment
God is in control of all nations and events. His judgments are just and serve as a call to repentance and return to Him.

Dependence on God for Provision
Our daily sustenance, both physical and spiritual, comes from God. We must recognize our dependence on Him for all our needs.

Consequences of Disobedience
Turning away from God leads to a loss of His blessings and protection. This passage serves as a warning to remain faithful and obedient to His commands.

Spiritual and Physical Famine
Just as physical famine is devastating, spiritual famine—being cut off from God's word and presence—is equally dire. We must seek to nourish our souls with His truth.

Bible Study Questions

1. How does the title "Lord GOD of Hosts" in Isaiah 3:1 influence your understanding of God's authority and power in your life?

2. In what ways can the removal of "supply and support" in Isaiah 3:1 be seen as a consequence of disobedience, and how does this apply to modern-day believers?

3. Reflect on a time when you experienced a "famine" of God's presence or provision. How did you respond, and what did you learn from that experience?

4. How can we ensure that we are spiritually nourished and not experiencing a "famine" of God's word in our daily lives?

5. Compare the physical famine described in Isaiah 3:1 with the spiritual famine mentioned in Amos 8. How can these insights guide your personal walk with God?

Connections to Other Scriptures

Deuteronomy 28
This chapter outlines the blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience. The removal of bread and water in Isaiah 3:1 echoes the curses described for turning away from God.

Lamentations 4
This passage describes the dire conditions during the siege of Jerusalem, illustrating the fulfillment of the prophecy in Isaiah 3:1, where the lack of basic necessities becomes a reality.

Amos 8
Amos speaks of a famine of hearing the words of the Lord, which parallels the physical famine in Isaiah 3:1, highlighting the spiritual and physical consequences of turning away from God.

Sermons

The Mission of Famines	W. Clarkson	Isaiah 3:1
National Leaders Removed	R. Macculloch.	Isaiah 3:1-3
The Death of Statesmen	J. Bennett, D. D.	Isaiah 3:1-3
The Death of the Renowned	J. Cumming, D. D.	Isaiah 3:1-3
The Death of the Renowned Excites Special Attention and Interest	J. A. Todd.	Isaiah 3:1-3
The Perils of Greatness	Bishop J. Taylor, D. D.	Isaiah 3:1-3
A Picture of Anarchy	E. Johnson	Isaiah 3:1-7
National and Spiritual Anarchy	W. Clarkson	Isaiah 3:1-8

People

Isaiah

Places

Jerusalem, Sodom, Zion

Topics

Armies, Aside, Behold, Bread, Hosts, Jerusalem, Judah, Remove, Rod, Staff, Stay, Store, Supplies, Supply, Support, Takes, Taking, Turning

Dictionary of Bible Themes

Isaiah 3:1

5447 poverty, causes

Isaiah 3:1-3

     5245   captain
     5272   craftsmen
     5714   men

Isaiah 3:1-7

5700 headship

Library

A Paradox of Selling and Buying
'Ye have sold yourselves for nought; and ye shall be redeemed without money.'--ISAIAH iii. 3. THE first reference of these words is of course to the Captivity. They come in the midst of a grand prophecy of freedom, all full of leaping gladness and buoyant hope. The Seer speaks to the captives; they had 'sold themselves for nought.' What had they gained by their departure from God?--bondage. What had they won in exchange for their freedom?-- only the hard service of Babylon. As Deuteronomy puts it: …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Marching Orders
'Depart ye, depart ye, go ye out from thence, touch no unclean thing; go ye out of the midst of her; be ye clean, that bear the vessels of the Lord. 12. For ye shall not go out with haste, nor go by flight: for the Lord will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your reward.'--ISAIAH iii. 11, 12. These ringing notes are parts of a highly poetic picture of that great deliverance which inspired this prophet's most exalted strains. It is described with constant allusion to the first Exodus, …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Christian view of Sorrow
"A man of sorrow, and acquainted with grief" Is. Iii. 3. There is one great distinction between the productions of Heathen and of Christian art. While the first exhibits the perfection of physical form and of intellectual beauty, the latter expresses, also, the majesty of sorrow, the grandeur of endurance, the idea of triumph refined from agony. In all those shapes of old there is nothing like the glory of the martyr; the sublimity of patience and resignation; the dignity of the thorn-crowned Jesus. …
E. H. Chapin—The Crown of Thorns

The Personal History of Herod - the Two Worlds in Jerusalem.
It is an intensely painful history, [581] in the course of which Herod made his way to the throne. We look back nearly two and a half centuries to where, with the empire of Alexander, Palestine fell to his successors. For nearly a century and a half it continued the battle-field of the Egyptian and Syrian kings (the Ptolemies and the Seleucidæ). At last it was a corrupt High-Priesthood - with which virtually the government of the land had all along lain - that betrayed Israel's precious trust. …
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah

How those are to be Admonished who Praise the Unlawful Things of which they are Conscious, and those who While Condemning Them, in no Wise Guard
(Admonition 32.) Differently to be admonished are they who even praise the unlawful things which they do, and those who censure what is wrong, and yet avoid it not. For they who even praise the unlawful things which they do are to be admonished to consider how for the most part they offend more by the mouth than by deeds. For by deeds they perpetrate wrong things in their own persons only; but with the mouth they bring out wickedness in the persons of as many as there are souls of hearers, to …
Leo the Great—Writings of Leo the Great

"But Whereunto Shall I Liken this Generation?"
Matth. xi. 16.--"But whereunto shall I liken this generation?" When our Lord Jesus, who had the tongue of the learned, and spoke as never man spake, did now and then find a difficulty to express the matter herein contained. "What shall we do?" The matter indeed is of great importance, a soul matter, and therefore of great moment, a mystery, and therefore not easily expressed. No doubt he knows how to paint out this to the life, that we might rather behold it with our eyes, than hear it with our …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

Brief Memoir of Thomas Watson
Compiled by C. H. Spurgeon Thomas Watson's Body of Practical Divinity is one of the most precious of the peerless works of the Puritans; and those best acquainted with it prize it most. Watson was one of the most concise, racy, illustrative, and suggestive of those eminent divines who made the Puritan age the Augustan period of evangelical literature. There is a happy union of sound doctrine, heart-searching experience and practical wisdom throughout all his works, and his Body of Divinity is, beyond …
Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity

Of Civil Government.
OF CIVIL GOVERNMENT. This chapter consists of two principal heads,--I. General discourse on the necessity, dignity, and use of Civil Government, in opposition to the frantic proceedings of the Anabaptists, sec. 1-3. II. A special exposition of the three leading parts of which Civil Government consists, sec. 4-32. The first part treats of the function of Magistrates, whose authority and calling is proved, sec. 4-7. Next, the three Forms of civil government are added, sec. 8. Thirdly, Consideration …
John Calvin—The Institutes of the Christian Religion

Letter Li to the virgin Sophia
To the Virgin Sophia He praises her for having despised the glory of the world: and, setting forth the praises, privileges, and rewards of Religious Virgins, exhorts her to persevere. Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux, to the Virgin Sophia, that she may keep the title of virginity and attain its reward. I. Favour is deceitful and beauty is vain; but a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised (Prov. xxxi. 31). I rejoice with you, my daughter, in the glory of your virtue, whereby, as I hear, you …
Saint Bernard of Clairvaux—Some Letters of Saint Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux

"All Our Righteousnesses are as Filthy Rags, and we all do Fade as a Leaf, and Our Iniquities, Like the Wind, have Taken us Away. "
Isaiah lxiv. 6, 7.--"All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags, and we all do fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away." Not only are the direct breaches of the command uncleanness, and men originally and actually unclean, but even our holy actions, our commanded duties. Take a man's civility, religion, and all his universal inherent righteousness,--all are filthy rags. And here the church confesseth nothing but what God accuseth her of, Isa. lxvi. 8, and chap. i. ver. …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

"Thou Shalt Honor Thy Father and Thy Mother. "
From this Commandment we learn that after the excellent works of the first three Commandments there are no better works than to obey and serve all those who are set over us as superiors. For this reason also disobedience is a greater sin than murder, unchastity, theft and dishonesty, and all that these may include. For we can in no better way learn how to distinguish between greater and lesser sins than by noting the order of the Commandments of God, although there are distinctions also within the …
Dr. Martin Luther—A Treatise on Good Works

Concerning Salutations and Recreations, &C.
Concerning Salutations and Recreations, &c. [1273] Seeing the chief end of all religion is to redeem men from the spirit and vain conversation of this world and to lead into inward communion with God, before whom if we fear always we are accounted happy; therefore all the vain customs and habits thereof, both in word and deed, are to be rejected and forsaken by those who come to this fear; such as taking off the hat to a man, the bowings and cringings of the body, and such other salutations of that …
Robert Barclay—Theses Theologicae and An Apology for the True Christian Divinity

A Sermon on Isaiah xxvi. By John Knox.
[In the Prospectus of our Publication it was stated, that one discourse, at least, would be given in each number. A strict adherence to this arrangement, however, it is found, would exclude from our pages some of the most talented discourses of our early Divines; and it is therefore deemed expedient to depart from it as occasion may require. The following Sermon will occupy two numbers, and we hope, that from its intrinsic value, its historical interest, and the illustrious name of its author, it …
John Knox—The Pulpit Of The Reformation, Nos. 1, 2 and 3.

The Prophet Micah.
PRELIMINARY REMARKS. Micah signifies: "Who is like Jehovah;" and by this name, the prophet is consecrated to the incomparable God, just as Hosea was to the helping God, and Nahum to the comforting God. He prophesied, according to the inscription, under Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. We are not, however, entitled, on this account, to dissever his prophecies, and to assign particular discourses to the reign of each of these kings. On the contrary, the entire collection forms only one whole. At …
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament

Isaiah
CHAPTERS I-XXXIX Isaiah is the most regal of the prophets. His words and thoughts are those of a man whose eyes had seen the King, vi. 5. The times in which he lived were big with political problems, which he met as a statesman who saw the large meaning of events, and as a prophet who read a divine purpose in history. Unlike his younger contemporary Micah, he was, in all probability, an aristocrat; and during his long ministry (740-701 B.C., possibly, but not probably later) he bore testimony, as …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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