Isaiah 2:9

Isa 2:9 And the mean man boweth down, and the great man humbleth himself: therefore forgive them not.

Ver. 9. And the mean man boweth down.] There is a general conspiracy, and they are altogether become abominable. Lords and lowlies, kings and captives, all sorts were idolaters. Some render it, "Shall be brought down, and shall be humbled." God loveth to retaliate, to abate and abase man’s pride, by pulling down whatsoever height or strength they confide in.

Therefore forgive them not.] A pious prayer doubtless, proceeding from true zeal, which is an extreme heat of all the affections for God’s glory. Ut pius sit in Deum, durus sit in proximum, saith Oecolampadius. Like another Elias he maketh intercession to God against Israel, {Rom 11:2} whom he saw to be incorrigible, and their sin to be irremissible, their judgment unavoidable.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Isa_2:9

The mean man

The mean man

Mean there does not mean selfish or stingy, but the man between two extremes, the mean, average, ordinary man.

The mean man and the great man are both bowing--what are they bowing to? Something beneath them; they have lost the sense of their dignity, and they have forgotten that they are kings, and now they are bowing down to things that they ought to control. (J. H. Jowett, M. A.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

General Information:

In Isa 2:9 Isaiah finishes speaking to Yahweh. In Isa 2:10-11 Isaiah speaks to the people of Judah. Both times he speaks in the form of a poem. (See: Parallelism)

The people will be bowed down, and individuals will fall down

Here being low to the ground represents people who are completely humiliated because they realize all they trusted in is worthless, and they can do nothing to help themselves. This can be stated in active form. AT: "God will make the people ashamed, and they will realize that all they trusted in is worthless" (See: Metaphor and Active or Passive)

The people

human beings, as opposed to animals

individuals

"each person"

do not raise them up

The words "raise them up" are a metaphor for Yahweh forgiving the people. AT: "do not forgive them" (See: Metaphor)

Go into the rocky places

Possible meanings are the people should go into 1) caves on steep hillsides or 2) places where there are many large rocks among which to hide.

hide in the ground

Possible meanings are that the people should hide 1) in natural holes in the ground or 2) in pits that they dig in the ground.

from the terror of Yahweh

Here the abstract noun "terror" can be expressed by the verb "terrifying." AT: "to get away from Yahweh's terrifying presence" or "from Yahweh because you will be extremely afraid of him" (See: Abstract Nouns)

the glory of his majesty

"the great beauty and power he has as king" or "his royal splendor." See how you translated this in Isaiah 2:10.

The lofty gaze of man will be brought low

"Yahweh will bring down the lofty gaze of man." A man with a "lofty gaze" is looking above everyone to show them that he is better than they are. Here all people are guilty of thinking they are better than Yahweh, and the way they look at those who worship Yahweh, is a metonym for their pride. AT: "Yahweh will make ashamed all people because they think they are better than he is" (See: Metaphor and Metonymy)

the pride of men will be brought down

"The pride of men" here is a metonym for proud people, and being "brought down" is a metaphor for being humbled or ashamed. This can be stated in active form. AT: "Yahweh will bring down proud men" or "Yahweh will make proud people ashamed of themselves" (See: Metonymy and Metaphor and Active or Passive)

Yahweh alone will be exalted

This can be stated in active form. AT: "people will praise only Yahweh" (See: Active or Passive)

on that day

This is an idiom. AT: "on the day that Yahweh judges everyone" (See: Idiom)

translationWords

bow

terror

glory

majesty

proud

exalt

day of the Lord

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

He noteth the nature of the idolaters, which are never satisfied in their superstitions.

Thus the Prophet spake, being inflamed with the zeal of God’s glory, and that he might fear them with God’s judgment.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

mean--in rank: not morally base: opposed to "the great man." The former is in Hebrew, Adam, the latter, ish.

boweth--namely, to idols. All ranks were idolaters.

forgive . . . not--a threat expressed by an imperative. Isaiah so identifies himself with God's will, that he prays for that which he knows God purposes. So Rev 18:6.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 9. Boweth down - "Shall be bowed down"] This has reference to the preceding verse. They bowed themselves down to their idols, therefore shall they be bowed down and brought low under the avenging hand of God.

Therefore forgive them not.] "And thou wilt not forgive them." - L.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(9) And the mean man boweth down.—The English gives adequately the significance of the two words for “man”—in Hebrew, adam and îsh. The Authorised Version applies the words to the prostrations of the worshippers of idols, whether of low or high degree; others refer them to the punishment of that idolatry: The mean man must be bowed down . . . the great man must be humbled.

Therefore forgive them not.—As a prayer the words find a parallel in Psa_69:27; Psa_109:14, but the rendering adopted by Cheyne and others, And thou canst not forgive them, is perhaps preferable. The sin is treated as “a sin unto death,” for which it is vain to pray (Isa_22:14).

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

9. boweth down … humbleth himself] If this be the right translation, the reference must be to the degradation of human dignity involved in idolatry and superstition, a thought not unworthy of Isaiah. It is more probable, however (see ch. Isa_5:15), that the words refer to the judgment at hand, which is as certain as if it had already taken place. So R.V. is bowed down … is brought low. The verbs may be understood either in a reflexive or a passive sense.

mean man … great man] In the original the contrast is expressed by two words for “man,” corresponding to homo and vir in Latin, Mensch and Mann in German, &c. Sometimes, as here, the distinction is emphasised so as to mark a contrast (Psa_49:2).

therefore forgive them not] Or, and thou canst (or wilt) not forgive them. The verbal form employed in the Heb. (jussive) properly expresses the will or desire of the speaker (as E.V.), but in negative sentences it “sometimes expresses merely the subjective feeling and sympathy of the speaker with the act” (Davidson, Synt. § 128, R. 2).

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And the mean man boweth down, and the great man humbleth himself,.... Both high and low, rich and poor, bow down unto, humble themselves before, and worship idols made by the hands of men: the words for the "mean man" and "the great man" are and "Adam" and "Ish"; and which are also interpreted by Jarchi of little or mean men, and of princes and mighty ones:

therefore forgive them not; their sins of soothsaying, covetousness, and idolatry; and such that worship the beast and his image shall not be forgiven, but drink of the wine of divine wrath, and be tormented with fire for ever and ever, Rev 14:9. These are either the words of the prophet to the Lord representing the church, and imprecating evils on antichristian worshippers; or of the angel to the Christian powers, exhorting them not to spare Babylon, Rev 18:6 some refer these words to the mean and great men bowing down and humbling themselves, and read them in connection with them thus, "and lifts not up unto them"; that is, the head or soul; so Aben Ezra, who also observes, that the word "earth" may be wanting, and supplied thus, "and the earth shall not bear them"; they shall be destroyed from off it, both the idols and the worshippers of them. See Psa 10:16.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

And the mean man - That is, the man in humble life, the poor, the low in rank - for this is all that the Hebrew word here - אדם 'âdâm - implies. The distinction between the two words here used - אדם 'âdâm as denoting a man of humble rank, and אישׁ 'ı̂ysh as denoting one of elevated rank - is one that constantly occurs in the Scriptures. Our word “mean” conveys an idea of moral baseness and degradation, which is not implied in the Hebrew.

Boweth down - That is, before idols. Some commentators, however, have understood this of bowing down in “affliction,” but the other is probably the true interpretation.

And the great man - The men in elevated rank in life. The expressions together mean the same as “all ranks of people.” It was a common or universal thing. No rank was exempt from the prevailing idolatry.

Therefore forgive them not - The Hebrew is “future” - להם ואל־תשׂא ve'al-tis'â' lâhem. Thou wilt not “bear” for them; that is, thou wilt not bear away their sins (by an atonement), or ‘thou wilt not forgive them;’ - but agreeable to a common Hebrew construction, it has the force of the imperative. It involves a “threatening” of the prophet, in the form of an address to God ‘So great is their sin, that thou, Lord, wilt not pardon them.’ The prophet then proceeds, in the following verses, to denounce the certainty and severity of the judgment that was coming upon them.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Forgive. Septuagint, "I will not dismiss them." Hebrew, "and thou hast not pardoned them."

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

The mean man boweth down, and the great man humbleth himself; men of all ranks fall down and worship idols.

Forgive them not; cut off these incorrigible idolaters. Such an imprecation is not strange, considering the heinousness and inexcusableness of the crime, the singular condition of the prophets, who spake such things not from any disorderly passion, but by Divine inspiration, and from a fervent zeal for God’s glory, which ever was and ought to be dearer to them than all the interests of men, and from a pious care and fear lest others should be infected by their counsel or example. Yet the words may be taken as a prediction, Thou wilt not forgive them; by this I know thou hast determined utterly to destroy them; for the Hebrew particle al is sometimes taken only for a simple denial, as Psa 121:3; Pro 12:28.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

9. Mean man… great man — All classes, both common people and the upper ranks, were involved in this kind of idolatry — that is, in harbouring household penates and the like.

Boweth down… humbleth himself — Most commentators believe these expressions to refer both to bowing in worship to idols, and to the punishment following.

Forgive them not — Not necessarily a wish of the prophet, except so far as he desired the proper vindication of the rights of Jehovah. The Hebrew tense is future; hence it amounts to a prediction: Thou wilt not forgive them. See note on Isa_1:24.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And the mean man boweth down, etc. So Ewald and Kay; but most other commentators render, "Therefore shall the mean man be bowed down, and the great man brought low, and thou shalt not or, "canst not forgive them" (Rosenm Lowth, Gcsenius, Knobel, Cheyne). The transition from narrative to threatening comes best at the beginning of the verse.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The great man - Men of all ranks fall down and worship idols.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

It was a state ripe for judgment, from which, therefore, the prophet could at once proceed, without any further preparation, to the proclamation of judgment itself."Thus, then, men are bowed down, and lords are brought low; and forgive them - no, that Thou wilt not." The consecutive futures depict the judgment, as one which would follow by inward necessity from the worldly and ungodly glory of the existing state of things. The future is frequently used in this way (for example, in Isa 9:7.). It was a judgment by which small and great, i.e., the people in all its classes, were brought down from their false eminence. "Men" and "lords" (âdâm and ish, as in Isa 5:15; Psa 49:3, and Pro 8:4, and like άνθρωπος and ανήρ in the Attic dialect), i.e., men who were lost in the crowd, and men who rose above it - all of them the judgment would throw down to the ground, and that without mercy (Rev 6:15). The prophet expresses the conviction (al as in Kg2 6:27), that on this occasion God neither could nor would take away the sin by forgiving it. There was nothing left for them, therefore, but to carry out the command of the prophet in Isa 2:10 : "Creep into the rock, and bury thyself in the dust, before the terrible look of Jehovah, and before the glory of His majesty." The glorious nation would hide itself most ignominiously, when the only true glory of Jehovah, which had been rejected by it, was manifested in judgment. They would conceal themselves in holes of the rocks, as if before a hostile army (Jdg 6:2; Sa1 13:6; Sa1 14:11), and bury themselves with their faces in the sand, as if before the fatal simōm of the desert, that they might not have to bear this intolerable sight. And when Jehovah manifested Himself in this way in the fiery glance of judgment, the result summed up in Isa 2:11 must follow: "The people's eyes of haughtiness are humbled, and the pride of their lords is bowed down; and Jehovah, He only, stands exalted in that day." The result of the process of judgment is expressed in perfects: nisgab is the third pers. praet., not the participle: Jehovah "is exalted," i.e., shows Himself as exalted, whilst the haughty conduct of the people is brought down (shâphel is a verb, not an adjective; it is construed in the singular by attraction, and either refers to âdâm, man or people: Ges. 148, 1; or what is more probable, to the logical unity of the compound notion which is taken as subject, the constr. ad synesin s. sensum: Thiersch, 118), and the pride of the lords is bowed down (shach = shâchach, Job 9:13). The first strophe of the proclamation of judgment appended to the prophetic saying in Isa 2:2-4 is here brought to a close. The second strophe reaches to Isa 2:17, where Isa 2:11 is repeated as a concluding verse.

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

Here the Prophet passes from the sin to its punishment, or rather simultaneously alludes to both, the verbs in the first clause being naturally applicable as well to voluntary humiliation in sin as to compulsory humiliation in punishment, while the verb in the last clause would suggest of course to a Jewish reader the twofold idea of pardoning and lifting up. They who bowed themselves to idols should be bowed down by the mighty hand of God, instead of being raised up from their willful self-abasement by the pardon of their sins. The relative futures denote not only succession in time but the relation of cause and effect. “And so” (by this means, for this reason) “the mean man” (not in the modern but the old sense of inferior, low in rank) “is bowed down, and the great man is brought low, and do not Thou (O Lord) forgive them.” This prayer, for such it is, may be understood as expressing, not so much the Prophet’s own desire, as the certainty of the event, arising from the righteousness of God.

Joseph Addison Alexander, The Prophecies of Isaiah (1846–1847; New York: Scribner, 1870–1878) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And man has become bowed down [This refers to] inferior [men].

and man has become humble [This refers to] great [men], heroes, and warriors.

and You shall not forgive them The prophet says to the Holy One, blessed be He: And I know that you shall not forgive them from punishing them.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

וישה And boweth down. Niphal of שחח; comp. וימס ‘And it was melted’ (Jos. 7:5) Niphal of מסס. Their acts degraded them.

ואל תשא להם According to some—the ת being the sign for the second person, and referring to God—and thou forgive them not. I am, however, of opinion that the passage has the following meaning: Not one of them dares to lift up his head or soul, because the context requires a phrase similar to And the man humbles himself; or that the word ארץ ‘ the earth ’ is to be supplied: And the earth is not able to bear them (comp. Gen. 13:6). The Grammarian, who asserts that אַל is only found with a command, is mistaken; comp. אל־מות, where there is no death (Prov. 12:28)

Ibn Ezra on the Tanakh — English translations: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “Yalkut, Sifsei Chachomim Chumash, Metsudah Publications, 2009” (CC BY 4.0); and “Commentary of Ibn Ezra on Isaiah - trans. by M. Friedlander, 1873” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.