So mankind is brought low, and man is humbled—do not forgive them!
Parallel translations
- WEB Man is brought low, and mankind is humbled; therefore don’t forgive them.
- KJV And the mean man boweth down, and the great man humbleth himself: therefore forgive them not.
- NKJV People bow down, And each man humbles himself; Therefore do not forgive them.
- NASB So the common person has been humbled And the person of importance has been brought low, But do not forgive them.
- NLT So now they will be humbled, and all will be brought low— do not forgive them.
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
Humanity is brought low and humbled, and Isaiah pleads that God not forgive them. The idolaters face inescapable abasement under judgment.
Overview
The bowing down here is humiliation under judgment, not humble worship. The plea 'don't forgive them' expresses the seriousness of impenitent idolatry rather than a denial of mercy to the repentant. It underscores how God opposes the proud, a theme answered by grace only to the humble (James 4:6).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Isa 5:15So mankind will be brought low, and each man humbled; the arrogant will lower their eyes.
- Mark 3:29But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; he is guilty of eternal sin.”
- Josh 24:19But Joshua said to the people, “You are not able to serve the LORD, for He is a holy God; He is a jealous God; He will not forgive your rebellion or your sins.
- Neh 4:5Do not cover up their iniquity or let their sin be blotted out from Your sight, for they have provoked the builders.
- Rom 3:23for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
- Jer 18:23But You, O LORD, know all their deadly plots against me. Do not wipe out their guilt or blot out their sin from Your sight. Let them be overthrown before You; deal with them in the time of Your anger.
- Isa 27:11When its limbs are dry, they are broken off. Women come and use them for kindling; for this is a people without understanding. Therefore their Maker has no compassion on them, and their Creator shows them no favor.
- Ps 62:9Lowborn men are but a vapor, the exalted but a lie. Weighed on the scale, they go up; together they are but a vapor.
- Col 2:23Such restrictions indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-prescribed worship, their false humility, and their harsh treatment of the body; but they are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh.
- Isa 57:9You went to Molech with oil and multiplied your perfumes. You have sent your envoys a great distance; you have descended even to Sheol itself.
- Ps 49:2both low and high, rich and poor alike.
- Rev 6:15–17Then the kings of the earth, the nobles, the commanders, the rich, the mighty, and every slave and free man hid in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains.
- Jer 5:4–5Then I said, “They are only the poor; they have played the fool, for they do not know the way of the LORD, the justice of their God.
- Col 2:18Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you with speculation about what he has seen. Such a person is puffed up without basis by his unspiritual mind.
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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 2:9 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
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