Isaiah 3:9
The shew 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 rewarded evil unto themselves. The shew 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 rewarded evil unto themselves.
In its first setting the verse exposes Judah, whose open sin was visible in conduct and in countenance like that of Sodom, and who bore the responsibility for bringing evil upon themselves, so that the verse warns that persisting in sin brings woe. The prophecy that contains the verse also applies to the last days, where it reproves the daughters of Zion for caring chiefly about appearance and display, with their open sin and its visible effects testifying against them while their wrongdoing brings harm upon themselves.
The showing of the countenance means that sin becomes visibly marked on the face and on outward appearance and behavior, so that it bears witness against the sinner. Declaring sin as Sodom and not hiding it means practicing wrongdoing openly and without shame, making no effort to conceal degradation. The woe pronounced means that evildoers reward themselves with evil, bringing guilt and harm and painful consequences upon themselves by persisting in sin.
In connection with the adjoining verse, the woe upon the openly sinful is contrasted with the well-being promised to the righteous, who will fare well and receive the fruit of their deeds. The sin of Sodom includes perverted and indulged sexual appetite, even within marriage, which defiles soul and body and spirit and makes people transgressors of divine law, which is passed from parents to children and intensified, and which is recorded in heaven. Zimri's bold public sin at Shittim fulfilled the description, in that he flaunted his shame before the congregation and defied divine judgment while the people were mourning and a plague was killing them. Drunken men illustrate the verse, in that their debased faces and behavior revealed their degradation without concealment.
The verse applies to people whose consciences have become unresponsive to sin, and to professing Christians whose repeated wrong actions distort their own and others' understanding of divine claims. It warns professed Christians that treating sin and error as trifles and living contrary to the truth they claim to believe brings guilt and harm rather than safety.