Isaiah 2:11 - Printer Friendly

ESV: The haughty looks of man shall be brought low, and the lofty pride of men shall be humbled, and the LORD alone will be exalted in that day.

NIV: The eyes of the arrogant will be humbled and human pride brought low; the LORD alone will be exalted in that day.

NASB: The proud look of humanity will be brought low, And the arrogance of people will be humbled; And the Lord alone will be exalted on that day.

CSB: The pride of mankind will be humbled, and human loftiness will be brought low; the Lord alone will be exalted on that day.

NLT: Human pride will be brought down, and human arrogance will be humbled. Only the Lord will be exalted on that day of judgment.

KJV: The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day.

NKJV: The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, The haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, And the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day.

Isaiah is describing the day of the Lord for the people of Judah in Israel. The phrase "day of the Lord" is used throughout the Bible, in both Old and New Testaments. It describes a day of judgment in which God makes good on His promise to hold accountable all who have rejected Him by continuing to live in evil and sin (Ezekiel 30:3; Obadiah 1:15; Acts 2:20; 2 Peter 3:10).

That fateful day is coming for the idol-worshipping Israelites of Isaiah's time. He has told them to try to hide from the Lord in caves, but it will not help (Isaiah 2:10; Revelation 6:15–17). The Lord will find them and bring justice upon them.

The result will be the end to human arrogance in Israel. They will be completely humbled and defeated. The Lord, however, will be exalted. The splendor of His glory will be obvious to all who have failed to see it. The Lord's cause and purpose will be victorious even as His own people are defeated in judgment.

Isaiah 2:6–22 begins with stunning words: the Lord has "rejected" His people Israel. Instead of trusting Him, they worship false idols and practice fortune-telling. They believe these things and their deal-making have brought them wealth and security. The day of the Lord, though, will result in the abandonment of their homemade idols. He will bring low every great thing they trust instead of the Lord. The people will try to escape the Lord's majesty in the darkness of caves as He terrifies the earth. Isaiah finishes this section with telling His people to stop esteeming human beings.

Isaiah describes Israel's far future as a time when all the nations of the earth will recognize Israel's God as the Lord. They will come to Jerusalem to learn from Him how to live. Isaiah tells his people to walk in the light of the Lord now. Instead, they worship false gods, follow fortune tellers, and make deals. Their great wealth, military might, and endless homemade idols will not save them from the God's judgment on day of the Lord. Human arrogance will be brought low as the Lord is exalted. Isaiah summarizes the chapter with a warning not to trust fallible people, instead of God.

Isaiah 2 follows the summation of the first chapter by reintroducing the prophet. He describes Israel's distant future. Someday, all the people of earth will come to Jerusalem to learn how to live from Israel's God. For now, though, the Lord has rejected His people. On the day of the Lord, however, those idols will be left behind in the caves in which the people attempt to hide from God's majesty. Later chapters of this book will explain more about how this prophecy will come to be.

Isaiah is among the most important prophetic books in the entire Bible. The first segment details God's impending judgment against ancient peoples for sin and idolatry (Isaiah 1—35). The second part of Isaiah briefly explains a failed assault on Jerusalem during the rule of Hezekiah (Isaiah 36—39). The final chapters predict Israel's rescue from Babylonian captivity (Isaiah 40—48), the promised Messiah (Isaiah 49—57), and the final glory of Jerusalem and God's people (Isaiah 58—66).

Accessed 5/2/2024 2:54:37 AM