Isaiah 11:3

Literal Standard Version

To refresh Him in the fear of YHWH, || And He does not judge by the sight of His eyes, || Nor decides by the hearing of His ears.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
His delight will be in the fear of the Lord.He will not judgeby what he sees with his eyes,he will not execute justiceby what he hears with his ears,

Hebrew Names Version
His delight shall be in the fear of the LORD; and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither decide after the hearing of his ears;

King James Version
And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord : and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears:

English Standard Version
And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord . He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide disputes by what his ears hear,

New American Standard Bible
And He will delight in the fear of the LORD, And He will not judge by what His eyes see, Nor make decisions by what His ears hear;

New Century Version
This king will be glad to obey the Lord . He will not judge by the way things look or decide by what he hears.

Amplified Bible
And He will delight in the fear of the LORD, And He will not judge by what His eyes see, Nor make decisions by what His ears hear;

World English Bible
His delight shall be in the fear of Yahweh; and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither decide after the hearing of his ears;

Geneva Bible (1587)
And shall make him prudent in the feare of the Lord: for he shall not iudge after the sight of his eies, neither reproue by ye hearing of his eares.

Legacy Standard Bible
And He will delight in the fear of Yahweh,And He will not judge by what His eyes see,Nor render a decision by what His ears hear;

Berean Standard Bible
And He will delight in the fear of the LORD. He will not judge by what His eyes see, and He will not decide by what His ears hear,

Contemporary English Version
His greatest joy will be to obey the Lord . This king won't judge by appearances or listen to rumors.

Complete Jewish Bible
he will be inspired by fearing Adonai . He will not judge by what his eyes see or decide by what his ears hear,

Darby Translation
And his delight will be in the fear of Jehovah; and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears;

Easy-to-Read Version
He will find joy in obeying the Lord . This king will not judge people by the way things look. He will not judge by listening to rumors.

George Lamsa Translation
And shall shine forth in the reverence of the LORD; and he shall not judge after that which his eyes see, neither reprove after that which his ears hear;

Good News Translation
and find pleasure in obeying him. He will not judge by appearance or hearsay;

Lexham English Bible
And his breath is in the fear of Yahweh. And he shall judge not by his eyesight, and he shall rebuke not by what he hears with his ears.

Literal Translation
And He is made to breathe in the fear of Jehovah. But He shall not judge by the sight of His eyes, nor decide by the hearing of His ears.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
and shal make him feruent in the feare of God. For he shal not geue sentece, after the thinge yt shal be brought before his eies, nether reproue a matter at the first hearinge:

American Standard Version
And his delight shall be in the fear of Jehovah; and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither decide after the hearing of his ears;

Bible in Basic English
And he will not be guided in his judging by what he sees, or give decisions by the hearing of his ears:

JPS Old Testament (1917)
And his delight shall be in the fear of the LORD; and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither decide after the hearing of his ears;

King James Version (1611)
And shal make him of quicke vnderstanding in the feare of the Lord, and he shall not iudge after the sight of his eyes, neither reproue after the hearing of his eares.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
And shall make hym of deepe iudgement in the feare of God: For he shall not geue sentence after the thing that shalbe brought before his eyes, neither reproue after the hearing of his eares:

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
the spirit of the fear of God. He shall not judge according to appearance, nor reprove according to report:

English Revised Version
And his delight shall be in the fear of the LORD: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears:

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
and the spirit of the drede of the Lord schal fille him. He schal deme not bi the siyt of iyen, nether he schal repreue bi the heryng of eeris;

Update Bible Version
And his delight shall be in the fear of Yahweh; and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither decide after the hearing of his ears;

Webster's Bible Translation
And will make him of quick understanding in the fear of the LORD: and he will not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears:

New English Translation
He will take delight in obeying the Lord . He will not judge by mere appearances, or make decisions on the basis of hearsay.

New King James Version
His delight is in the fear of the LORD, And He shall not judge by the sight of His eyes, Nor decide by the hearing of His ears;

New Living Translation
He will delight in obeying the Lord . He will not judge by appearance nor make a decision based on hearsay.

New Life Bible
He will be glad in the fear of the Lord. He will not judge by what His eyes see, or decide by what His ears hear.

New Revised Standard
His delight shall be in the fear of the Lord . He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide by what his ears hear;

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
So will he find fragrance, in the reverence of Yahweh, And not, by the sight of his eyes, will he judge, Nor by the hearing of his ears, will he decide;

Douay-Rheims Bible
And he shall be filled with the spirit of the fear of the Lord, He shall not judge according to the sight of the eyes, nor reprove according to the hearing of the ears.

Revised Standard Version
And his delight shall be in the fear of the LORD. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide by what his ears hear;

Young's Literal Translation
To refresh him in the fear of Jehovah, And by the sight of his eyes he judgeth not, Nor by the hearing of his ears decideth.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
And He will delight in the fear of the LORD, And He will not judge by what His eyes see, Nor make a decision by what His ears hear;

Contextual Overview

¹And a Rod has come out from the stock of Jesse, || And a Branch is fruitful from his roots. ²The Spirit of YHWH has rested on Him, || The Spirit of wisdom and understanding, || The Spirit of counsel and might, || The Spirit of knowledge and fear of YHWH. ³To refresh Him in the fear of YHWH, || And He does not judge by the sight of His eyes, || Nor decides by the hearing of His ears.⁴And He has judged the poor in righteousness, || And decided for the humble of earth in uprightness, || And has struck earth with the rod of His mouth, || And He puts the wicked to death with the breath of His lips. ⁵And righteousness has been the girdle of His loins, || And faithfulness—the girdle of His reins. ⁶"And a wolf has sojourned with a lamb, || And a leopard lies down with a kid, || And calf, and young lion, and fatling [are] together, || And a little youth is leader over them. ⁷And cow and bear feed, || Together their young ones lie down, || And a lion eats straw as an ox. ⁸And a suckling has played by the hole of a cobra, || And on the den of a viper || The weaned one has put his hand. ⁹They do no evil, nor destroy in all My holy mountain, || For the earth has been full with the knowledge of YHWH, || As the waters are covering the sea."

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

shall make him: Isaiah 33:6, Proverbs 2:5, Proverbs 2:9, Luke 2:52

understanding: Heb. scent, or, smell, Job 12:11, Job 34:3, Philippians 1:9, Philippians 1:10, Hebrews 5:14

and he shall not: 1 Samuel 16:7, 2 Samuel 14:17, 1 Kings 3:9, 1 Kings 3:28, John 7:24, John 8:15, John 8:16, 1 Corinthians 2:13-15, 1 Corinthians 4:3-5

Reciprocal: Leviticus 13:6 - pronounce Deuteronomy 13:14 - General 2 Samuel 14:8 - I will give 2 Chronicles 19:9 - in the fear Psalms 50:4 - judge Psalms 58:1 - Do Psalms 72:2 - He shall Psalms 96:10 - judge Psalms 99:4 - strength Psalms 110:6 - judge Isaiah 2:4 - And he Isaiah 9:7 - to establish it Isaiah 32:15 - the spirit Isaiah 42:3 - he shall Isaiah 52:13 - my servant Ezekiel 45:8 - and my princes Ezekiel 46:18 - the prince Micah 3:8 - I am Micah 4:3 - he shall judge Zechariah 8:16 - execute the judgment of truth and peace John 5:30 - I judge Acts 1:2 - through Acts 2:3 - sat Acts 9:31 - and walking Romans 16:19 - yet 1 Corinthians 12:8 - is given 1 Corinthians 14:20 - not James 3:13 - endued James 3:17 - the wisdom Revelation 19:11 - and in

Cross-References

Genesis 11:4
And they say, "Give help, let us build for ourselves a city and tower with its head in the heavens, and make for ourselves a name, lest we be scattered over the face of all the earth."

Genesis 11:6
and YHWH says, "Behold, the people [is] one, and one language [is] to them all, and this it has dreamed of doing; and now, nothing is restrained from them of that which they have purposed to do.

Genesis 11:7
Give help, let us go down there and confuse their language, so that a man will not understand the language of his companion."

Genesis 11:18
And Peleg lives thirty years [[or one hundred and thirty years]], and begets Reu.

Genesis 14:10
And the Valley of Siddim [is] full of bitumen-pits; and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah flee, and fall there, and those left have fled to the mountain.

Exodus 1:14
and make their lives bitter in hard service, in clay, and in brick, and in every [kind] of service in the field; all their service in which they have served [is] with rigor.

Exodus 2:3
and she has not been able to hide him anymore, and she takes an ark of rushes for him, and covers it with bitumen and with pitch, and puts the boy in it, and puts [it] in the weeds by the edge of the River;

2 Samuel 12:31
and he has brought out the people who [are] in it, and sets [them] to the saw, and to cutting instruments of iron, and to axes of iron, and has caused them to pass over into the brick-kiln; and so he does to all the cities of the sons of Ammon; and David turns back, and all the people, to Jerusalem.

Psalms 64:5
They strengthen an evil thing for themselves, || They recount of the hiding of snares, || They have said, "Who looks at it?"

Proverbs 1:11
If they say, "Come with us, we lay wait for blood, || We watch secretly for the innocent without cause,

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord,.... Or "cause him to smell the fear of the Lord" w; that is, to discern in whom it was: this is one effect of the Spirit's resting upon him, and particularly as the spirit of understanding, and of the fear of the Lord, whereby he has a quick and sharp discerning of it; not merely of the grace of fear, so as to know what that is, and what the exercise of it; or so as to make it the rule of his actions, though all this is true; but so as to discern where and in whom it was, and was not; he could distinguish between him that feared God and him that feared him not; he knew Nathanael to be an Israelite indeed, in whom there was no guile, John 1:47 and the Scribes and Pharisees to be hypocrites, Matthew 22:18. As the Jews x understand this passage of the Messiah, and of his quick smell, as the word used signifies, or of his discerning of good and bad men, they make this to be a rule of judging the Messiah by; and accordingly made use of it with one that set up himself for the Messiah, and took the name of Barcochab, the son of a star, referring to Numbers 24:17 and tried him whether he could discern a good man from a bad man; and because he could not, they rejected him as a false Messiah, and called him Barcoziba, the son of a lie y: compare with this Luke 7:39 where it may be seen the same notion obtained among the Jews in Christ's time:

and, he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes; or according to the outward appearance, the external guise of sanctity and religion men might put on; as the Scribes and Pharisees were outwardly righteous before men, but not to Christ, who knew their hearts; they seemed to be somewhat to others, but nothing to him, because he judged not by appearances to the eyes:

neither reprove after the hearing of his ears; he needed no testimony of men, for he knew what was in men; nor did he regard the words of men, the boastings of a Pharisee, any more than his outward actions; nor would he reprove or condemn, nor will he, upon a human testimony.

w והריחו ביראת יהוה "et faciet odorari eum timorem Jehovae", Munster, Vatablus; "et odorabitur timorem Jehovae", Cocceius. x Zohar in Exod. fol. 31. 3. & 86. 1. Tzeror Hammor, fol. 62. 3. y T. Bab. Sanhedrin. fol. 93. 2.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

And shall make him of quick understanding - (והריחו vahărı̂ychô) The Septuagint renders this, ‘And the spirit of the fear of God shall fill him.’ The Chaldee, ‘And the Lord shall draw him near to him in his fear.’ The Syriac, ‘And he shall be resplendent (like the sun, or the stars) in the fear of the Lord.’ The Hebrew word used here is probably derived from ריח rêyach, used only in Hiphil, “to smell;” and is kindred with רוח rûach, “wind, breath,” for fragrant substances “breathe out” an odor. - “Gesenius.” It then denotes “to take delight in smelling” Exodus 30:38; Leviticus 26:31; and thence, by an easy transition, to take delight in anything; Amos 5:21. The reason is, that the objects of smell are usually pleasant and agreeable; and especially such as were the aromatics used in public worship. The sense here is, probably, that he would take pleasure in the fear of Yahweh, that is, in piety, and in devoting himself to his service. The interpretation given in our translation, is that given by many expositors; though that above suggested is probably the correct one. The word is used to denote “pleasure” in a thing; it is not used anywhere, it is believed, to denote a quick understanding; compare Exodus 5:21; Philippians 4:18. The idea which is conveyed by our translators is, probably, derived from “the discernment of the quality” of objects by an acute sense of smell, and hence, they interpreted the word to denote an acute discrimination of any objects.

And he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes - He sha 1 not judge of things by their external appearance. or with partiality. This is language which is applicable to a magistrate, and is spoken of the Messiah as the descendant of David, and as sitting on his throne as a ruler of his people. He who judges ‘after the sight of his eyes,’ does it according to external appearances, showing favor to rank, to the rich, and the great; or judging as things “appear” without a close and careful inquiry into their true nature and bearings; compare John 7:24 : ‘Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment;’ Deuteronomy 1:16-17.

Neither reprove - יוכיח yôkiyach. This word means “to show, to prove; to correct, reprove, convince; to reproach, or censure; to punish; to judge, decide, etc.” Here it is evidently used as synonymous with ‘shall he judge’ in the former part of the parallelism - retaining the idea of a just judge, who decides not according to the hearing of the ears, but according to justice.

After the hearing of his ears - Not by plausible statements, and ingenious defenses, but by weighing evidence, and by an impartial examination of the true merits of the case. This belonged to the Lord Jesus, because,

(1) He was never influenced by any undue regard to rank, honor, or office. His opinions were always impartial; his judgments without bias or favoritism.

(2) He was able to discern the true merits of every case. He knew what was in man, saw the true state of the heart, and, therefore, was not deceived or imposed upon as human judges are; see John 2:24-25; compare Revelation 2:28; John 6:64.