Bible Strands
Isaiah 26:5
For He has humbled those who dwell on high; He lays the lofty city low. He brings it down to the ground; He casts it into the dust.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The prophet addresses a community facing oppression, placing this declaration of divine judgment immediately after a command to trust God as an eternal rock and before a description of the afflicted trampling the fallen city.
The words — The Hebrew הֵשַׁח (he.shach) translates literally as "he lays low," while נִשְׂגָּבָה (nis.gavah) means "set on high," establishing a direct structural contrast between exaltation and humbling.
The thread — This pattern of God reducing the proud to dust recurs in Job 40:11, Jeremiah 51:37, and Revelation 18:2, where arrogant cities and rulers are systematically dismantled.
Why it lands — The passage requires the reader to abandon reliance on human status or political power and accept that divine sovereignty actively dismantles exalted structures.
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
King James Version
For he bringeth down them that dwell on high; the lofty city, he layeth it low; he layeth it low, even to the ground; he bringeth it even to the dust.
Cross-references
- Job 40:11 Unleash the fury of your wrath; look on every proud man and bring him low.
- Jeremiah 51:37 Babylon will become a heap of rubble, a haunt for jackals, an object of horror and scorn, without inhabitant.
- Revelation 18:2 And he cried out in a mighty voice: “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! She has become a lair for demons and a haunt for every unclean spirit, every unclean bird, and every detestable beast.
- Isaiah 13:11 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.
- Jeremiah 51:25 “Behold, I am against you, O destroying mountain, you who devastate the whole earth, declares the LORD. I will stretch out My hand against you; I will roll you over the cliffs and turn you into a charred mountain.
- Jeremiah 51:64 Then you are to say, ‘In the same way Babylon will sink and never rise again, because of the disaster I will bring upon her. And her people will grow weary.’” Here end the words of Jeremiah.
- Isaiah 2:12 For the Day of the LORD of Hosts will come against all the proud and lofty, against all that is exalted—it will be humbled—
- Isaiah 14:13 You said in your heart: “I will ascend to the heavens; I will raise my throne above the stars of God. I will sit on the mount of assembly, in the far reaches of the north.
- Isaiah 25:11 He will spread out his hands within it, as a swimmer spreads his arms to swim. His pride will be brought low, despite the skill of his hands.
- Isaiah 32:19 But hail will level the forest, and the city will sink to the depths.