But the Egyptians are men, not God; their horses are flesh, not spirit. When the LORD stretches out His hand, the helper will stumble, and the one he helps will fall; both will perish together.
Parallel translations
- WEB Now the Egyptians are men, and not God; and their horses flesh, and not spirit. When Yahweh stretches out his hand, both he who helps shall stumble, and he who is helped shall fall, and they all shall be consumed together.
- KJV Now the Egyptians are men, and not God; and their horses flesh, and not spirit. When the LORD shall stretch out his hand, both he that helpeth shall fall, and he that is holpen shall fall down, and they all shall fail together.
- NKJV Now the Egyptians are men, and not God; And their horses are flesh, and not spirit. When the Lord stretches out His hand, Both he who helps will fall, And he who is helped will fall down; They all will perish together.
- NASB Now the Egyptians are human and not God, And their horses are flesh and not spirit; So the Lord will stretch out His hand, And any helper will stumble, And one who is helped will fall. And all of them will come to an end together.
- NLT For these Egyptians are mere humans, not God! Their horses are puny flesh, not mighty spirits! When the Lord raises his fist against them, those who help will stumble, and those being helped will fall. They will all fall down and die together.
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
Egyptians are mere men and their horses flesh, not God or spirit; when God acts, both helper and helped fall together. It matters because it strips human power of its illusion of strength against God.
Overview
Isaiah draws the sharp line between creature and Creator: Egypt is flesh, not divine spirit. When the LORD stretches out His hand, the one who helps and the one helped both stumble and are consumed. The verse calls God's people to fear God rather than men, trusting the eternal Spirit over perishable flesh.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 15
- Isa 9:17Therefore the Lord takes no pleasure in their young men; He has no compassion on their fatherless and widows. For every one of them is godless and wicked, and every mouth speaks folly. Despite all this, His anger is not turned away; His hand is still upraised.
- Ezek 20:33–34As surely as I live, declares the Lord GOD, with a strong hand, an outstretched arm, and outpoured wrath I will rule over you.
- Ezek 28:9Will you still say, ‘I am a god,’ in the presence of those who slay you? You will be only a man, not a god, in the hands of those who wound you.
- Ps 9:20Lay terror upon them, O LORD; let the nations know they are but men. Selah
- Isa 30:7Egypt’s help is futile and empty; therefore I have called her Rahab Who Sits Still.
- Ps 33:17A horse is a vain hope for salvation; even its great strength cannot save.
- Jer 15:6You have forsaken Me, declares the LORD. You have turned your back. So I will stretch out My hand against you and I will destroy you; I am weary of showing compassion.
- Jer 37:7–10“This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says that you are to tell the king of Judah, who sent you to Me: Behold, Pharaoh’s army, which has marched out to help you, will go back to its own land of Egypt.
- Isa 36:9For how can you repel a single officer among the least of my master’s servants when you depend on Egypt for chariots and horsemen?
- Ps 146:3–5Put not your trust in princes, in mortal man, who cannot save.
- Isa 30:5everyone will be put to shame because of a people useless to them. They cannot be of help; they are good for nothing but shame and reproach.”
- Deut 32:30–31How could one man pursue a thousand, or two put ten thousand to flight, unless their Rock had sold them, unless the LORD had given them up?
- Isa 36:6Look now, you are trusting in Egypt, that splintered reed of a staff that will pierce the hand of anyone who leans on it. Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him.
- 2 Th 2:4–8He will oppose and exalt himself above every so-called god or object of worship. So he will seat himself in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God.
- Acts 12:22–23And they began to shout, “This is the voice of a god, not a man!”
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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 31:3 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.