Sever yourselves from such a man, Whose breath is in his nostrils; For of what account is he?
Parallel translations
- WEB Stop trusting in man, whose breath is in his nostrils; for of what account is he?
- KJV Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils: for wherein is he to be accounted of?
- BSB Put no more trust in man, who has only the breath in his nostrils. Of what account is he?
- NASB Take no account of man, whose breath of life is in his nostrils; For why should he be esteemed?
- NLT Don’t put your trust in mere humans. They are as frail as breath. What good are they?
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Isaiah urges them to stop trusting in frail, mortal man whose breath is fleeting. Human beings are no fit object of ultimate trust.
Overview
The reminder that man's life is but breath in his nostrils exposes the folly of relying on people. Set against the exalted LORD, human power counts for nothing. This redirects trust to God alone, the only sure foundation, fully revealed in Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Jer 17:5Yahweh says: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man, and makes flesh his arm, and whose heart departs from Yahweh.
- Ps 146:3Don’t put your trust in princes, each a son of man in whom there is no help.
- Jas 4:14Whereas you don’t know what your life will be like tomorrow. For what is your life? For you are a vapor, that appears for a little time, and then vanishes away.
- Ps 144:3–4Yahweh, what is man, that you care for him? Or the son of man, that you think of him?
- Ps 8:4what is man, that you think of him? What is the son of man, that you care for him?
- Gen 2:7Yahweh God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
- Isa 40:15Behold, the nations are like a drop in a bucket, and are regarded as a speck of dust on a balance. Behold, he lifts up the islands like a very little thing.
- Ps 62:9Surely men of low degree are just a breath, and men of high degree are a lie. In the balances they will go up. They are together lighter than a breath.
- Gen 7:22All on the dry land, in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life, died.
- Job 27:3(for the length of my life is still in me, and the spirit of God is in my nostrils);
- Job 7:15–21so that my soul chooses strangling, death rather than my bones.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Isaiah sees him most clearly: the virgin's son Immanuel, the child on David's throne, the shoot from Jesse, the light to the nations, and above all the Suffering Servant pierced for our transgressions (ch. 53).
How Isaiah 2:22 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.