Isaiah 11:3

3 and he will delight in the fear of the LORD. He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears;

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Isaiah 11:3 in Other Translations

KJV

3 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:

ESV

3 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,

NLT

3 He will delight in obeying the LORD . He will not judge by appearance nor make a decision based on hearsay.

MSG

3 Fear-of-God will be all his joy and delight. He won't judge by appearances, won't decide on the basis of hearsay.

CSB

3 His delight will be in the fear of the Lord. He will not judge by what He sees with His eyes, He will not execute justice by what He hears with His ears,

Isaiah 11:3 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 11:3

And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of
the Lord
Or "cause him to smell the fear of the Lord" ^F23; 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 ^F24 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 ^F25: 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.

FOOTNOTES:

F23 (hwhy taryb wxyrhw) "et faciet odorari eum timorem Jehovae", Munster, Vatablus; "et odorabitur timorem Jehovae", Cocceius.
F24 Zohar in Exod. fol. 31. 3. & 86. 1. Tzeror Hammor, fol. 62. 3.
F25 T. Bab. Sanhedrin. fol. 93. 2.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Isaiah 11:3 In-Context

1 A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.

2 The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him— the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of might, the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the LORD—

3 and he will delight in the fear of the LORD. He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears;

4 but with righteousness he will judge the needy, with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked.

5 Righteousness will be his belt and faithfulness the sash around his waist.