Isaiah 28:12

12 He once told this people, "It's time to rest, the exhausted can rest, now you can relax" - but they wouldn't listen.

Isaiah 28:12 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 28:12

To whom he said
Either the Lord himself, or the prophet Isaiah; or rather the Lord by him, and other prophets; so the Targum,

``to whom the prophets said;''

that is, the true prophets of the Lord said to the people, or to the priests and other prophets; or Christ and his apostles, as follows: This [is] the rest [wherewith] ye may cause the weary to rest: and
this [is] the refreshing:
that is, by teaching the word of God, the true knowledge of him, and the sound doctrines of the Gospel, and the duties of religion; this would be the best way of casing and refreshing the minds and consciences of the people, burdened with a sense of sin, or distressed and disconsolate through afflictions and calamities upon them, and be the most effectual method of continuing them in ease and peace in their own land, and of preserving them from captivity, and other judgments threatened with; see ( Matthew 11:28 ) : yet they would not hear;
having no regard to the Lord and his prophets; nor any compassion to their countrymen, afflicted and distressed in mind or body; nor to the doctrine of Christ and his apostles.

Isaiah 28:12 In-Context

10 so that [one has to use nursery rhymes]? Tzav la-tzav, tzav la-tzav, kav la-kav, kav la-kav z'eir sham, z'eir sham [Precept by precept, precept by precept, line by line, line by line, a little here, a little there].

11 So with stammering lips, in a foreign accent, [ADONAI] will speak to this people.

12 He once told this people, "It's time to rest, the exhausted can rest, now you can relax" - but they wouldn't listen.

13 So now the word of ADONAI for them comes "precept by precept, precept by precept, line by line, line by line, a little here, a little there," so that when they walk, they stumble backward, and are broken, trapped and captured!

14 So listen to the word of ADONAI, you scoffers, composing taunts for this people in Yerushalayim: