Isaiah 3

" And so it shall be:

Instead of a sweet smell there will be a stench;
Instead of a sash, a rope;
Instead of well-set hair, baldness;
Instead of a rich robe, a girding of sackcloth;
And branding instead of beauty." v.24

Read chapter 3.

Continued judgement on Judah and Jerusalem for their pride is going on here in this chapter.  We see that women are ruling over men (v.12) and seems to be a chapter calling out the haughtiness of these women rulers and to the men that have let that happen.  Verses 18-23 describe the materialism, vanity and the focus on outward adornment that women were so focused.  They cared more about their appearance and spent more time on themselves than in prayer and seeking God's will, being oblivious to the judgment that was to come.  So here in verse 24 Isaiah prophesies of what is to happen to them.  Instead of smells of perfumes they'll smell like rottenness, perhaps from death and decomposition around them and perfumes being taken from them.  We see in Esther that the women bathed in perfumes for 6 months getting ready to go before the king (Esther 2:12).  A rope instead of a sash, was a sign of poverty in dress of no girdles and fancy belts.  No longer would they braid or do their hair, wear fancy clothes and adorn themselves, but from poverty it'd no longer be just inward but show outward.  How have you covered up your inward ugliness by outward beauty?  Do you spend more time on your appearance than you do with the Lord (makeup, dress, dieting, exercising, shopping,etc)?