John Gill Commentary Isaiah 3:9

"The show of their countenance doth witness against them; and they declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not. Woe unto their soul! for they have done evil unto themselves." — Isaiah 3:9 (ASV)

The shew of their countenance does witness against them , &c.] The word translated "shew" is only used in this place. Some derive it from (rkn) , "to know", in the conjugations Piel and Hiphil; and render it, "the knowledge of their countenance"^F6; that is, what may be known by their countenances; the countenance often shows what is in the heart, the cruel disposition of the mind, the pride and vanity of it, the uncleanness and lasciviousness that is in it.

To this our version agrees. This is confirmed by the Chaldee paraphrase: "the knowledge of their countenance in judgment does testify against them." As they appear there, so it may be judged of them. Their guilt flies in their face and fills them with shame and confusion. And so the Septuagint and Arabic versions render it, "the shame of their face". But others derive it from (rkh) , which has the signification of hardness in the Arabic language, and as it is thought by some to have in (Job 19:3) . They render it, "the hardness of their countenance"; so R. Joseph Kimchi, and others^F7, meaning their impudence^F8; not only their words and actions, but their impudent looks, show what they are; which agrees with what follows:

and they declare their sin as Sodom , and hide [it] not ; commit it openly, without fear or shame; glory in it, and boast of it, as the Jews did in their crucifixion of Christ, and their evil treatment of him: woe to their soul, for they have rewarded evil unto themselves ; they have brought upon themselves, soul and body, the just recompence of reward; they have been the cause of their own ruin, and have wronged their own souls.

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FOOTNOTES:

• F6: (Myhynp trkh) "cognitio vultus eorum", Munster, Vatablus, V. L.
• F7: "Obfermatio", Janius & Tremellius; "durities", Piscator.
• F8: So Schindler renders the Arabic word , "hacar", impudence. Vid. Castel. Lexic. col. 846.