Isaiah 2:11
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The proud look of man will be humbled, and the loftiness of men brought low; the LORD alone will be exalted in that day.
Commentaries
Excerpts gathered from published commentaries to ground the reading.
With this chapter begins a new sermon, which is continued in the two following chapters. The subject of this discourse is Judah and Jerusalem (Isa 2:1). In this chapter the prophet speaks, I. Of the glory of the Christians, Jerusalem, the gospel-church in the latter days, in the accession of many to it (Isa 2:2, Isa 2:3), and the great peace it should introduce into the world (Isa 2:4), whence he infers the duty of the house of Jacob (Isa 2:5). II. Of the shame of the Jews, Jerusalem, as it then was, and as it would be after its rejection of the gospel and being rejected of God. 1. Their sin was their shame (Isa 2:6-9). 2. God by his judgments would humble them and put them to shame (Isa 2:10-17). 3. They should themselves be ashamed of their confidence in their idols and in an arm of flesh (Isa 2:18-22). And now which of these Jerusalems will we be the inhabitants of - that which is full of the knowledge of God, which will be our everlasting honour, or that which is full of horses and chariots, and silver and gold, and such idols, which will in the end be our shame?
Open source ↗2:11-12 A key theme in Isaiah is that the Lord will be exalted and humble people will be restored (57:15), while proud and mighty people are humbled (26:5). • The day of judgment and the “day of reckoning” are also called the “day of the Lord.” There are seven such references in chs 2–4 (2:11, 17, 20; 3:6, 18; 4:1, 2).
Open source ↗Original language
The Hebrew and Greek words behind this passage, with Strong's numbers — from openscriptures (CC BY-SA).
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For You save an afflicted people, but You humble those with haughty eyes.
So the pride of man will be brought low, and the loftiness of men will be humbled; the LORD alone will be exalted in that day,
and on that day you will say: “Give praise to the LORD; proclaim His name! Make His works known among the peoples; declare that His name is exalted.
I will punish the world for its evil and the wicked for their iniquity. I will end the haughtiness of the arrogant and lay low the pride of the ruthless.
In that day the LORD will punish the host of heaven above and the kings of the earth below.
“For behold, the day is coming, burning like a furnace, when all the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble; the day is coming when I will set them ablaze,” says the LORD of Hosts. “Not a root or branch will be left to them.”
“On that day,” declares the LORD, “I will gather the lame; I will assemble the outcast, even those whom I have afflicted.
In My zeal and fiery rage I proclaim that on that day there will be a great earthquake in the land of Israel.
On that day I will make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field and the birds of the air and the creatures that crawl on the ground. And I will abolish bow and sword and weapons of war in the land, and will make them lie down in safety.
Rather, “Let him who boasts boast in the Lord.”