Isaiah 2:22

Put no more trust in man, who has only the breath in his nostrils. Of what account is he?

Berean Standard Bible

Study note

Setting — The prophet Isaiah addresses Israel during a period of impending divine judgment, immediately following the description of people fleeing to rock crevices from the terror of the LORD.

The words — The Hebrew imperative חִדְל֤וּ (chidLu), meaning "cease," commands the audience to stop trusting אֲשֶׁ֥ר (aSher), "whom," who possesses only נְשָמָ֖ה (neShaMah), "breath," in his nostrils.

The thread — This warning against human reliance recurs in Jeremiah 17:5, which curses those who make flesh their strength, and Psalms 146:3, which forbids trusting princes. The New Testament reinforces this in James 4:14, which highlights the fleeting nature of mortal life.

Why it lands — The passage requires a reader to abandon dependence on human capability and acknowledge that mortal existence is transient and ultimately of no account before divine majesty.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.

The Hebrew words

חִדְל֤וּchid.Luceaseלָכֶם֙la./Khem<for>/ yourselvesמִן־min-from הָ֣אָדָ֔םha./'a.Dam<the>/ humankind אֲשֶׁ֥ר'a.Sherwhom נְשָׁמָ֖הne.sha.Mahbreath בְּאַפּ֑וֹbe./'a.P/o[is] in/ nostril[s]/ his כִּֽי־ki-for בַמֶּ֥הva./Meh<in>/ how?נֶחְשָׁ֖בnech.Shavto be accounted הֽוּא׃ פHu'[is] he

King James Version

Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils: for wherein is he to be accounted of?

Cross-references

Jeremiah 17:5 This is what the LORD says: “Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind, who makes mere flesh his strength and turns his heart from the LORD.
Psalms 146:3 Put not your trust in princes, in mortal man, who cannot save.
James 4:14 You do not even know what will happen tomorrow! What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.
Psalms 144:3 O LORD, what is man, that You regard him, the son of man that You think of him?
Psalms 8:4 what is man that You are mindful of him, or the son of man that You care for him?
Genesis 2:7 Then the LORD God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed the breath of life into his nostrils, and the man became a living being.
Psalms 62:9 Lowborn men are but a vapor; the exalted are but a lie. Weighed on the scale, they go up; together they are but a vapor.
Isaiah 40:15 Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket; they are considered a speck of dust on the scales; He lifts up the islands like fine dust.
Genesis 7:22 Of all that was on dry land, everything that had the breath of life in its nostrils died.
Job 27:3 as long as my breath is still within me and the breath of God remains in my nostrils,