“The Lord says, “The women of Zion are haughty, walking along with outstretched necks, flirting with their eyes, strutting along with swaying hips, with ornaments jingling on their ankles. Therefore the Lord will bring sores on the heads of the women of Zion; the Lord will make their scalps bald.” In that day the Lord will snatch away their finery: the bangles and headbands and crescent necklaces, the earrings and bracelets and veils, the headdresses and anklets and sashes, the perfume bottles and charms, the signet rings and nose rings, the fine robes and the capes and cloaks, the purses and mirrors, and the linen garments and tiaras and shawls. Instead of fragrance there will be a stench; instead of a sash, a rope; instead of well-dressed hair, baldness; instead of fine clothing, sackcloth; instead of beauty, branding. Your men will fall by the sword, your warriors in battle. The gates of Zion will lament and mourn; destitute, she will sit on the ground.” – Isaiah 3:16-26 NIV

This passage is about Zion being stripped of her beauty and external pretties because of her sin. This passage reminded me a lot of a passage from 1 Corinthians:

“For we are co-workers in God’s service; you are God’s field, God’s building. By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as a wise builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should build with care. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, their work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person’s work. If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward. If it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss but yet will be saved—even though only as one escaping through the flames.” – 1 Corinthians 3:9-15 NIV

The 1 Corinthian passage has to do with God demonstrating the fruits of a persons labor in life with a fire that refined. The fire could either reveal something strong like gold or silver, or it could end up revealing the fruitless of the job and have it burn up. God will reveal the fruitfulness or lack there of a person by this fire. The original passage in Isaiah reminded me of that because Zion is being refined and we see useless stuff being burned from it. All the pomp and splendor added to Zion was fake and fruitless as a work and so it ended up being burnt up like 1 Corinthians said. One additional thought I had is that I clearly revealed Zion for what it was and not what it wanted to look like. Zion was now just as ugly on the outside as on the inside. That is God’s refining flame at work. He reveals truth. Make sure that you are building things that won’t get burnt by the flame when judgment comes.