Isaiah 28:1-13

Ephraim's Captivity Predicted

1 Woe to the proud crown of the ¹drunkards of ²Ephraim, And to the fading flower of its glorious beauty, Which is at the head of the fertile valley Of those who are overcome with wine!

2 Behold, the Lord has a strong and ³mighty agent; As a storm of ⁴hail, a tempest of destruction, Like a storm of ⁵mighty overflowing waters, He has cast it down to the earth with His hand.

3 The proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim is ⁶trodden under foot.

4 And the fading flower of its glorious beauty, Which is at the head of the fertile valley, Will be like the ⁷first-ripe fig prior to summer, Which one sees, And as soon as it is in his hand, He swallows it.

5 In that day the ⁸LORD of hosts will become a beautiful ⁹crown And a glorious diadem to the remnant of His people;

6 A ¹⁰spirit of justice for him who sits in judgment, A ¹¹strength to those who repel the onslaught at the gate.

7 And these also ¹²reel with wine and stagger from strong drink: ¹³The priest and ¹⁴the prophet reel with strong drink, They are confused by wine, they stagger from ¹⁵strong drink; They reel while having ¹⁶visions, They totter when rendering judgment.

8 For all the tables are full of filthy ¹⁷vomit, without a single clean place.

9 "To ¹⁸whom would He teach knowledge, And to whom would He interpret the message? Those just ¹⁹weaned from milk? Those just taken from the breast?

10 "For He says, '²⁰Order on order, order on order, Line on line, line on line, A little here, a little there.' "

11 Indeed, He will speak to this people Through ²¹stammering lips and a foreign tongue,

12 He who said to them, "Here is ²²rest, give rest to the weary," And, "Here is repose," but they would not listen.

13 So the word of the LORD to them will be, "Order on order, order on order, Line on line, line on line, A little here, a little there," That they may go and ²³stumble backward, be broken, snared and taken captive.

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Isaiah 28:1-13 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.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Cross References 23

1. Isaiah 28:7; Hosea 7:5
2. Isaiah 9:9
3. Isaiah 8:7; Isaiah 40:10
4. Isaiah 28:17; Isaiah 30:30; Isaiah 32:19; Ezekiel 13:11
5. Isaiah 8:6, 7; Isaiah 30:28; Nahum 1:8
6. Isaiah 26:6; Isaiah 28:18
7. Hosea 9:10; Micah 7:1; Nahum 3:12
8. Isaiah 41:16; Isaiah 45:25; Isaiah 60:1, 19
9. Isaiah 62:3
10. 1 Kings 3:28; Isaiah 11:2; Isaiah 32:15, 16; John 5:30
11. 2 Chronicles 32:6-8; Isaiah 25:4
12. Isaiah 5:11, 22; Isaiah 22:13; Isaiah 56:12; Hosea 4:11
13. Isaiah 24:2
14. Isaiah 9:15
15. Habakkuk 2:15, 16
16. Isaiah 29:11
17. Jeremiah 48:26
18. Isaiah 2:3; Isaiah 28:26; Isaiah 30:20; Isaiah 48:17; Isaiah 50:4; Isaiah 54:13
19. Psalms 131:2
20. 2 Chronicles 36:15; Nehemiah 9:30
21. Isaiah 33:19; 1 Corinthians 14:21
22. Isaiah 11:10; Isaiah 30:15; Isaiah 32:17, 18; Jeremiah 6:16; Matthew 11:28, 29
23. Isaiah 8:15; Matthew 21:44

Footnotes 10

[a]. Lit "valley of fatness"
[b]. Lit "smitten"
[c]. Lit "valley of fatness"
[d]. Lit "the one seeing sees"
[e]. Lit "while it is yet"
[f]. Lit "palm"
[g]. Lit "battle"
[h]. Lit "seeing"
[i]. Heb "Sav lasav, sav lasav, Kav lakav, kav lakav, Ze' er sham, ze' er sham" These Hebrew monosyllables, imitating the babbling of a child, mock the prophet's preaching
[j]. V 10, note 1 The LORD responds to their scoffing by imitating their mockery, to represent the unintelligible language of a conqueror