And in that day seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel: only let us be called by thy name, to take away our reproach.
In that day - the calamitous period described last chapter.
Seven women - put for an indefinite number. So many men would be slain that there would be far more women than men; e.g., seven women, contrary to their natural bashfulness, would sue to (equivalent to "take hold of," Isaiah 3:6) one man to marry them.
We will eat our own bread - foregoing the claim of maintenance, which the law (Exodus 21:10) gives to wives, when a man has more than one.
Only let us be called by thy name, to take away our reproach - of being unwedded and childless; especially felt among the Jews, who were looking for "the seed of the woman," Jesus Christ, described in Isaiah 4:2; Isaiah 54:1; Isaiah 54:4; Luke 1:25.