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Isaiah 4 · a question people ask

"Seven women shall take hold of one man in that day" (4:1). Why?

In the text

The verse gives only their words. Just before it, the chapter says, "Your men shall fall by the sword, and your mighty in the war" (3:25), and "She shall be desolate and sit on the ground" (3:26). The women offer to feed and clothe themselves (4:1) and ask two things: "Just let us be called by your name. Take away our reproach" (4:1) (tap reproach). Isaiah doesn't explain what being called by his name would mean for them, or what the reproach is, and it doesn't tell what the man answers. Later the same book says of the Lord GOD, "He will take the reproach of his people away from off all the earth" (Isaiah 25:8), with the word of 4:1's reproach. These notes don't add a reason the verse doesn't give, and apply nothing in it to anyone today.

The verses

“Your men shall fall by the sword, and your mighty in the war. Her gates shall lament and mourn. She shall be desolate and sit on the ground.”
Isaiah 3:25-26 · World English Bible
“Seven women shall take hold of one man in that day, saying, “We will eat our own bread, and wear our own clothing. Just let us be called by your name. Take away our reproach.””
Isaiah 4:1 · World English Bible
“He has swallowed up death forever! The Lord GOD will wipe away tears from off all faces. He will take the reproach of his people away from off all the earth, for the LORD has spoken it.”
Isaiah 25:8 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Isaiah 4

Isaiah 4: The LORD's branch

In the first chapter the LORD told Jerusalem, "Wash yourselves" (1:16). In 4:4 the Lord himself has "washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion": in Hebrew the same verb, and Isaiah's only other use of it. And the beauty the Lord takes away "In that day" (3:18) is, in Hebrew, the word for the glory of the survivors of Israel "In that day" (4:2).

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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