God’s Word Translation
Isaiah 2:22
22Stop trusting people. Their life is in their nostrils. How can they be worth anything?
Isaiah 2:22 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils: for wherein is he to be accounted of?
- New International Version (NIV)Stop trusting in mere humans, who have but a breath in their nostrils. Why hold them in esteem?
- English Standard Version (ESV)Stop regarding man in whose nostrils is breath, for of what account is he?
- New King James Version (NKJV)Sever yourselves from such a man, Whose breath is in his nostrils; For of what account is he?
Context of Isaiah 2:22
20On that day people will throw to the moles and the bats the silver and gold idols that they made for themselves to worship. 21They will go into caves in the rocks and into cracks in the cliffs because of the Lord’s terrifying presence and the honor of his majesty when he rises to terrify the earth. Stop trusting people. Their life is in their nostrils. How can they be worth anything?
Read all of Isaiah 2Isaiah 2:22 word by word
חִדְל֤וּ לָכֶם֙ מִן־הָ֣אָדָ֔ם אֲשֶׁ֥ר נְשָׁמָ֖ה בְּאַפּ֑וֹ כִּֽי־בַמֶּ֥ה נֶחְשָׁ֖ב הֽוּא׃ פRead the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Isaiah 2:22
- Psalms 62:9Common people are only a whisper in the wind. Important people are only a delusion. When all of them are weighed on a scale, they amount to nothing. They are less than a whisper in the wind.
- Psalms 146:3Do not trust influential people, mortals who cannot help you.
- Jeremiah 17:5“This is what the Lord says: Cursed is the person who trusts humans, who makes flesh and blood his strength and whose heart turns away from the Lord.
- Genesis 2:7Then the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the earth and blew the breath of life into his nostrils. The man became a living being.
- Genesis 7:22Everything on dry land (every living, breathing creature) died.
- Job 27:3‘As long as there is one breath ⌞left⌟ in me and God’s breath fills my nostrils,
- Job 7:15My throat would rather be choked. My body would prefer death ⌞to these dreams⌟.
- Psalms 8:4what is a mortal that you remember him or the Son of Man that you take care of him?
- Psalms 144:3O Lord, what are humans that you should care about them? What are mere mortals that you should think about them?
Commentaries on Isaiah 2:22
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 22Cease ye from man - Trust neither in him, nor in the gods that he has invented. Neither he, nor they, can either save or destroy.Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 22Cease ye from man - That is, cease to confide in or trust in him. The prophet had just said Isaiah 2:11, Isaiah 2:17 that the proud and lofty people would be brought low; that is, the kings, princes, and nobles would be humbled. They in whom the people had been accustomed to confide should show their insufficiency to afford protection. And he calls on the people to cease to put their reliance on any of the devices and refuges of men, implying that trust…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 10-22Verses 10-22 The taking of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans seems first meant here, when idolatry among the Jews was done away; but our thoughts are led forward to the destruction of all the enemies of Christ. It is folly for those who are pursued by the wrath of God, to think to hide or shelter themselves from it. The shaking of the earth will be terrible to those who set their affections on things of the earth. Men's haughtiness will be brought down, either…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 22The prophecy of judgment in Isaiah 2:6–21 between two related calls to action. First, the people are urged to trust the Lord (Isaiah 2:5). Then they are warned not to trust in human beings (Isaiah 2:22). Human strength does not last. It is weak and short-lived, like a person’s breath (see Psalm 90).Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 2222. The high ones (Is 2:11, 13) on whom the people trust, shall be "brought low" (Is 3:2); therefore "cease from" depending on them, instead of on the Lord (Psa 146:3-5).Read the comment
Topics related to Isaiah 2:22
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Isaiah 2
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
God’s Word Translation — © 1995 God’s Word to the Nations Bible Society
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