Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes And clever in their own sight!
Parallel translations
- WEB Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!
- KJV Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!
- BSB Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight.
- NKJV Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, And prudent in their own sight!
- NLT What sorrow for those who are wise in their own eyes and think themselves so clever.
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
A woe falls on those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight. It condemns the self-reliant pride that rejects God's wisdom.
Overview
Trusting one's own insight above God's revelation is the root of much sin, the opposite of the fear of the Lord that begins true wisdom (Proverbs 3:7). Such self-conceit makes people deaf to correction and prophetic warning. The verse exposes the arrogance underlying Judah's refusal to repent.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- 1 Cor 3:18–20Let no one deceive himself. If anyone thinks that he is wise among you in this world, let him become a fool, that he may become wise.
- Prov 3:7Don’t be wise in your own eyes. Fear Yahweh, and depart from evil.
- Rom 12:16Be of the same mind one toward another. Don’t set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble. Don’t be wise in your own conceits.
- Prov 26:12Do you see a man wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.
- Prov 26:16The sluggard is wiser in his own eyes than seven men who answer with discretion.
- Rom 1:22Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,
- John 9:41Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, ‘We see.’ Therefore your sin remains.
- Job 11:12An empty-headed man becomes wise when a man is born as a wild donkey’s colt.
- Rom 11:25For I don’t desire you to be ignorant, brothers, of this mystery, so that you won’t be wise in your own conceits, that a partial hardening has happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in,
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 5:21 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.