People bow down, And each man humbles himself; Therefore 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.
- BSB So mankind is brought low, and man is humbled—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 man is brought low, mankind is humbled, and the eyes of the arrogant ones are humbled;
- Mark 3:29but whoever may blaspheme against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is subject to eternal condemnation.”
- Josh 24:19Joshua said to the people, “You can’t serve Yahweh, for he is a holy God. He is a jealous God. He will not forgive your disobedience nor your sins.
- Neh 4:5don’t cover their iniquity, and don’t let their sin be blotted out from before you; for they have insulted the builders.”
- Rom 3:23for all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God;
- Jer 18:23Yet, Yahweh, you know all their counsel against me to kill me. Don’t forgive their iniquity, neither blot out their sin from your sight; but let them be overthrown before you. Deal you with them in the time of your anger.
- Isa 27:11When its boughs are withered, they will be broken off. The women will come and set them on fire, for they are a people of no understanding. Therefore he who made them will not have compassion on them, and he who formed them will show them no favor.
- 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.
- Col 2:23Which things indeed appear like wisdom in self-imposed worship, and humility, and severity to the body; but aren’t of any value against the indulgence of the flesh.
- Isa 57:9You went to the king with oil, and increased your perfumes, and sent your ambassadors far off, and degraded yourself even to Sheol.
- Ps 49:2both low and high, rich and poor together.
- Rev 6:15–17The kings of the earth, the princes, the commanding officers, the rich, the strong, and every slave and free person, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains.
- Jer 5:4–5Then I said, “Surely these are poor. They are foolish; for they don’t know the way of Yahweh, nor the law of their God.
- Col 2:18Let no one rob you of your prize by a voluntary humility and worshiping of the angels, dwelling in the things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly 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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