Isaiah 28:23-29

23 Perceive ye with ears, and hear ye my voice; perceive ye, and hear ye my speech. (Listen, and hear ye my voice; pay attention, yea, listen to me!)
24 Whether he that eareth, shall ear all day, for to sow, and shall he carve (up), and purge his land? (Shall he who ploweth, plow every day, in order to sow, and to furrow, and to purge his land?)
25 Whether when he hath made even the face thereof, shall he not sow gith, and sprinkle abroad cummin? and he shall not set wheat by order, and barley, and millet, and fitches in his coasts? (Or rather, when he hath smoothed, or leveled, its surface, shall he not sow gith, and sprinkle abroad cummin? and shall he not put in, by order, wheat, and barley, and millet, and fitches, in all his fields?)
26 And his God shall teach him, in doom he shall teach him. (And his God shall teach him, yea, he shall teach him good judgement.)
27 Forsooth (the) gith shall not be threshed in saws, and a wheel of a wain shall not compass on [the] cummin (For the gith shall not be threshed with saws, and the wheel of a wagon shall not roll over, or grind down, the cummin); but (the) gith shall be beaten out with a rod, and [the] cummin with a staff.
28 Soothly bread shall be made less, but he that thresheth shall not thresh it without end, neither shall travail it with a wheel of a wain, neither shall make it less with his claws. (And the corn shall be crushed, but he who thresheth it shall not thresh it out forever, nor shall he grind it down with the wheel of a wagon, nor shall he make it fine with his horses? hooves.)
29 And this thing went out of the Lord God of hosts, that he should make wonderful counsel, and magnify rightfulness. (And this word went out from the Lord God of hosts, whose counsel is wonderful, and whose rightfulness is great.)

Isaiah 28:23-29 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO ISAIAH 28

In this chapter the ten tribes of Israel and the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin, are threatened with divine judgments, because of their sins and iniquities mentioned. The ten tribes, under the name of Ephraim, for their pride and drunkenness, Isa 28:1 the means of their destruction, the Assyrian monarch, compared to a hail storm, and a flood of mighty waters, Isa 28:2 which destruction, for their sins, is repeated, and represented as sudden and swift; when they would be like a fading flower and hasty fruit, Isa 28:3,4 and then, as for the two tribes, though they had a glorious prince at the head of them, who had a spirit of wisdom and judgment for government, and of valour and courage for war, Isa 28:5,6 yet the generality of the people, led on by the example of priest and prophet, went into the same sensual gratifications as they of the ten tribes did, Isa 28:7,8 and became sottish and unteachable, and were like children just taken from the breast, and to be used as such, Isa 28:9-11 and though the doctrine proposed to be taught them was such as, if received, would be of the greatest advantage to them, for their comfort and refreshment, yet it was refused by them with the utmost contempt; which was to be their ruin, Isa 28:12,13, wherefore the rulers of Jerusalem are threatened with the judgments of God, which should come upon them night and day, the report of which would be a vexation to them; and from which they should not be screened by their covenant with death and hell, or by their shelters and coverings with lies and falsehood, in which they placed their confidence, Isa 28:14,15 Isa 28:17-22 in the midst of which account, for the comfort of the Lord's people, stands a glorious prophecy, concerning the sure foundation laid in Zion, on which all that are built are safe and happy, Isa 28:16 and the certainty of these judgments is illustrated by the method which the ploughman takes in sowing his corn, and threshing it out; for which he has instruction and direction from the Lord of hosts, Isa 28:23-29.

Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.