And the people shall be oppressed, every one by another, and every one by his neighbour: the child shall behave himself proudly against the ancient, and the base against the honourable.

And the people shall rush one upon another, and every man against his neighbour: the child shall make it tumult against the ancient, and the base against the honourable.

And the people shall be oppressed one by the other, and each by his neighbour; the child will be insolent against the elder, and the base against the honourable.

And the people shall be oppressed, every one by another, and every one by his neighbor: the child shall behave himself proudly against the elder, and the base against the honorable.

And the people hath exacted, man upon man, Even a man on his neighbour, Enlarge themselves do the youths against the aged, And the lightly esteemed against the honoured.

And the people shall be oppressed, every one by another, and every one by his neighbor: the child shall behave himself proudly against the ancient, and the base against the honorable.

And the people will be crushed, every one by his neighbour; the young will be full of pride against the old, and those of low position will be lifted up against the noble.

And the people shall oppress one another, Every man his fellow, and every man his neighbour; The child shall behave insolently against the aged, And the base against the honourable,

And the people will rush, man against man, and each one against his neighbor. The child shall rebel against the elder, and the ignoble against the noble.

Violenter aget populus qisque in alium, vir in proximum suum; insolescet adolescens contra senem, contemptus adversus honoratum.

The people will oppress every man his neighbor He describes the utmost confusion, which was about to overtake the Jews, when order was destroyed or relaxed; and this will happen to all nations, as soon as government is removed or falls to the ground. We know how great is the wantonness of the human mind, when every man is hurried along by ambition and, in short, how furious the lawless passions are when they are laid under no restraint. There is no reason, therefore, to wonder if, when the judgment-seats have been laid low, every man insults his neighbor, cruelty abounds, and licentiousness rages without control. If we considered this wisely, we would set a higher value on the kindness of God, when he preserves us in any tolerable condition, and does not allow us to be lamentably ruined. Hence it is evident that they who direct or apply their minds to sap the foundations of civil government are the open enemies of mankind, or rather, they are in no respect different from wild beasts. But this confusion described by the Prophet is most disgraceful, that a child shall dare to insult an old man, that the dregs of a low and despised multitude shall rise up against nobles and men of high reputation; for it is the most preposterous of all things that modesty shall be thrown away, so that they who were worthy of veneration shall be treated with contempt. And yet this spectacle, so shameful and revolting, must unavoidably be exhibited when civil government has been overthrown. As to my rendering of the verb ngs (niggash) in an active sense, to oppress, I was forced to adopt it, for otherwise the meaning of the passage would have been imperfect.

And the people shall be oppressed - This describes the state of anarchy and confusion which would exist under the reign of children and babes Isaiah 3:4, when all law would be powerless, and all rights violated, and when the feeble would be oppressed and borne down by the strong. The word used here, properly denotes that "unjust exactions or demands" would be made, or that the people would be "urged" to fulfill them.
Every one by another - In turn they shall oppress and vex one another. Hebrew 'man by man; and man by his neighbor' - a strong mode of expression, denoting that there would be a state of mutual strife, and violation of rights; compare 1-Kings 20:20.
The child - All ranks of society shall be broken up. All respect due from one rank in life to another shall be violated.
Shall behave himself proudly - The word used here means rather to "urge," or "press on." The child shall "crowd on" the old man. This was particularly descriptive of a state of anarchy and disorder, from the fact that the Jews inculcated so much respect and deference for age; see the note at Isaiah 3:2.
The ancient - The old man.
And the base - The man of low rank in life. The word properly means the man that is despised, the vile, the ignoble; 1-Samuel 18:23; Proverbs 7:9.
The honorable - All the forms of respect in life would be broken up; all the proper rules of deference between man and man would be violated. Neither dignity, age, nor honor would be respected.

And the people shall be (e) oppressed, every one by another, and every one by his neighbour: the child shall behave himself proudly against the elder, and the base against the honourable.
(e) For lack of good regiment and order.

And the people shall be oppressed, everyone by another, and everyone by his neighbour,.... There being no governors, or such as were unfit for government, no decorum was kept and observed, but a mere anarchy; and so everyone did as he pleased, as when there was no king in Israel; and everyone rushed into the house of his neighbour, and plundered his goods; this was the case of Jerusalem, at the time of the siege, it abounding with robbers and spoilers:
the child shall behave himself proudly against the ancient; show no respect to them, nor honour them, as the law requires in Leviticus 19:32 but behave insolently towards them; and so the Jews say (d), that when the son of David is come, as he now would be, young men shall make ashamed the faces of old men, and old men shall stand before young men:
and the base against the honourable; persons of a mean birth and extract would rise up against and insult such as were men of families and fortune, of noble birth and of high degree.
(d) T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 97. 1.

The anarchy resulting under such imbecile rulers (Isaiah 3:4); unjust exactions mutually; the forms of respect violated (Leviticus 19:32).
base--low-born. Compare the marks of "the last days" (2-Timothy 3:2).

"And the people oppress one another, one this and another that; the boy breaks out violently upon the old man, and the despised upon the honoured." Niggas is the reciprocal niphal, as the clause depicting the reciprocity clearly shows (cf., nilcham, Isaiah 19:2); nagas followed by Beth means to treat as a tyrant or taskmaster (Isaiah 9:3). The commonest selfishness would then stifle every nobler motive; one would become the tyrant of another, and ill-mannered insolence would take the place of that reverence, which is due to the old and esteemed from boys and those who are below them in position, whether we regard the law of nature, the Mosaic law (Leviticus 19:32), or the common custom of society. Nikleh (from kâlâh, the synonym of הקל, Isaiah 9:1; Isaiah 23:9; cf., Isaiah 16:14, kal, to be light or insignificant) was a term used to denote whoever belonged to the lowest stratum of society (1-Samuel 18:23). It was the opposite of nichâd (from Cabed, to be heavy or of great importance). The Septuagint rendering, ὁ ἄτιμος πρὸς τὸν ἔντιμον is a very good one (as the Semitic languages have no such antithetical formations with ἃ στερητικόν). With such contempt of the distinctions arising from age and position, the state would very soon become a scene of the wildest confusion.

Oppressed - By thy command or permission of such childish rulers.