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Isaiah 32 · a question people ask

Why does the chapter speak to "women who are at ease" (32:9)?

In the text

The chapter doesn't say why it speaks to women. It says what they will face, and why: "For days beyond a year you will be troubled, you careless women; for the vintage will fail. The harvest won’t come" (32:10). It calls them to rise and hear (32:9), to tremble and put on sackcloth (32:11), and to mourn "for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine" (32:12). It calls them at ease and careless (32:9-11), and doesn't name them or say more about who they are. Its word for at ease comes back at the chapter's end, as the quiet of "quiet resting places" (32:18). These notes read the verses as the chapter gives them and apply them to no woman, or anyone, today.

The verses

“Rise up, you women who are at ease! Hear my voice! You careless daughters, give ear to my speech! For days beyond a year you will be troubled, you careless women; for the vintage will fail. The harvest won’t come. Tremble, you women who are at ease! Be troubled, you careless ones! Strip yourselves, make yourselves naked, and put sackcloth on your waist. Beat your breasts for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine.”
Isaiah 32:9-12 · World English Bible
“My people will live in a peaceful habitation, in safe dwellings, and in quiet resting places,”
Isaiah 32:18 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Isaiah 32

Isaiah 32: Until the Spirit is poured

The women "at ease" (32:9) are called "careless" three times, and in Hebrew that is the verb for trust. After the Spirit is poured "from on high" (32:15), the word for at ease and two words Strong's gives as coming from that verb come back: "confidence" (32:17), and "safe dwellings" and "quiet resting places" for "My people" (32:18).

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions