What Does Isaiah 2:11 Mean in the King James?
The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The verse does not erase height; it brings human height low and leaves the LORD alone exalted.
THE MEANING
Human prominence reaches for height, but it cannot hold: the elevated human gaze and status are brought low. The LORD alone remains exalted, placing lasting height outside human rank.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that status or self-importance can secure lasting elevation; the verse says human height comes down.
THE ROOT
נִשְׂגַּב
nisgav
GROWS FROM
שגב
To be high, lofty, or inaccessible; to stand securely above reach.
“exalted” in this verse is nisgav. The close names a height that belongs to the LORD alone. A branch of this root also names a high refuge, joining elevation with security.
ALSO GROWS
misgav: High place, refuge, or stronghold.
מִשְׂגָּב
This branch gives the root’s height a sense of secure refuge, deepening the verse’s claim that the LORD alone holds exaltation.
sāgav: To be high, exalted, or beyond reach.
שָׂגַב
The verb carries the same height found in the closing word, where the LORD alone is exalted.
גְּבַהוּת
geva'hut
GROWS FROM
גבה
To be or become high, raised, or lofty.
“lofty looks” in this verse is geva'hut. The Hebrew names the gaze itself as “eyes of loftiness”: גְּבַהוּת (geva’hut, loftiness) is what the eyes carry. It shares ג־ב (g-b) with נִשְׂגַּב (nisgav, exalted), though the words have distinct roots; their sound links the two heights as the lowering clauses distinguish their outcomes.
ALSO GROWS
gābōah: High or lofty.
גָּבֹהַּ
The adjective gives the same root’s elevation a direct form, echoing the verse’s image of a lofty human gaze.
higbiah: To raise or make high.
הִגְבִּיהַּ
This causative form shows the root can describe height being lifted up, the very condition the verse says does not last for human beings.
שָׁפֵל
shāphēl
GROWS FROM
שפל
To be low, brought down, or humbled.
“bowed down” in this verse is shāphēl. The verse’s lowering is a real reversal of position: human height is brought low. The same root can describe low terrain, giving the passage’s vertical contrast a concrete shape.
ALSO GROWS
shippēl: To lower or bring down.
שִׁפֵּל
This form makes the lowering active and clarifies the movement implied when human haughtiness is bowed down.
shephelah: Lowland or lower country.
שְׁפֵלָה
The root can name a low place in the landscape, grounding the verse’s movement from human height to lowliness.
THE PATTERN
Human height is brought low while exaltation belongs to the LORD alone.
The LORD maketh poor, and maketh rich: he bringeth low, and lifteth up.Though the LORD be high, yet hath he respect unto the lowly: but the proud he knoweth afar off.He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree.THE THREAD
And the loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be made low: and the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day.Verse 17 repeats נִשְׂגַּב (nisgav, exalted) for the LORD while naming human loftiness and height as brought low. The repetition makes the distinction structural: elevation remains, but the LORD alone occupies it.
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