And the mean man shall be brought down, and the mighty man shall be humbled, and the eyes of the lofty shall be humbled:
Parallel translations
- WEB So man is brought low, mankind is humbled, and the eyes of the arrogant ones are humbled;
- BSB So mankind will be brought low, and each man humbled; the arrogant will lower their eyes.
- NKJV People shall be brought down, Each man shall be humbled, And the eyes of the lofty shall be humbled.
- NASB So the common people will be humbled and the person of importance brought low, The eyes of the haughty also will be brought low.
- NLT Humanity will be destroyed, and people brought down; even the arrogant will lower their eyes in humiliation.
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 the arrogant are humbled. It declares the leveling of human pride that God's judgment accomplishes.
Overview
This echoes the recurring theme of Isaiah that the proud will be cast down so that the Lord alone is exalted (2:11-17). The humbling of the arrogant is the necessary counterpart to God being lifted up. It prepares for the next verse's affirmation of God's exaltation in justice.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 19
- Isa 2:9And the mean man boweth down, and the great man humbleth himself: therefore forgive them not.
- Isa 2:11The 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.
- Jer 5:4–5Therefore I said, Surely these are poor; they are foolish: for they know not the way of the LORD, nor the judgment of their God.
- Isa 9:14–17Therefore the LORD will cut off from Israel head and tail, branch and rush, in one day.
- 1 Pet 5:5Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.
- Isa 2:17And the loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be made low: and the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day.
- Isa 13:11And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.
- Jer 5:9Shall I not visit for these things? saith the LORD: and shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
- Isa 24:2–4And it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest; as with the servant, so with his master; as with the maid, so with her mistress; as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the lender, so with the borrower; as with the taker of usury, so with the giver of usury to him.
- Isa 10:33Behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts, shall lop the bough with terror: and the high ones of stature shall be hewn down, and the haughty shall be humbled.
- Ps 62:9Surely men of low degree are vanity, and men of high degree are a lie: to be laid in the balance, they are altogether lighter than vanity.
- Jas 1:9–11Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted:
- Exod 9:17As yet exaltest thou thyself against my people, that thou wilt not let them go?
- Isa 37:29Because thy rage against me, and thy tumult, is come up into mine ears, therefore will I put my hook in thy nose, and my bridle in thy lips, and I will turn thee back by the way by which thou camest.
- Isa 37:23Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed? and against whom hast thou exalted thy voice, and lifted up thine eyes on high? even against the Holy One of Israel.
- Isa 10:12Wherefore it shall come to pass, that when the Lord hath performed his whole work upon mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks.
- Rev 6:15–16And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains;
- Dan 4:37Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honour the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and his ways judgment: and those that walk in pride he is able to abase.
- Job 40:11–12Cast abroad the rage of thy wrath: and behold every one that is proud, and abase him.
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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 5:15 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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