New English Translation
Isaiah 2:22
22Stop trusting in human beings, whose life’s breath is in their nostrils. For why should they be given special consideration?
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
20At that time men will throw their silver and gold idols, which they made for themselves to worship, into the caves where rodents and bats live, 21so they themselves can go into the crevices of the rocky cliffs and the openings under the rocky overhangs, trying to escape the dreadful judgment of the Lord and his royal splendor, when he rises up to terrify the earth. Stop trusting in human beings, whose life’s breath is in their nostrils. For why should they be given special consideration?
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 62:9Men are nothing but a mere breath; human beings are unreliable. When they are weighed in the scales, all of them together are lighter than air.
- Psalms 146:3Do not trust in princes, or in human beings, who cannot deliver!
- Jeremiah 17:5The Lord says, “I will put a curse on people who trust in mere human beings, who depend on mere flesh and blood for their strength, and whose hearts have turned away from the Lord.
- Genesis 2:7The Lord God formed the man from the soil of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.
- Genesis 7:22Everything on dry land that had the breath of life in its nostrils died.
- Job 27:3for while my spirit is still in me, and the breath from God is in my nostrils,
- Job 7:15so that I would prefer strangling, and death more than life.
- Psalms 8:4Of what importance is the human race, that you should notice them? Of what importance is mankind, that you should pay attention to them,
- Psalms 144:3O Lord, of what importance is the human race, that you should notice them? Of what importance is mankind, that you should be concerned 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
New English Translation — © 1996-2016 Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C.
Commentaries