Isaiah 28

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¹Woe to the crown of pride of the drunkards of Ephraim, and to the fading flower of his glorious beauty, which is on the head of the fertile valley of those who are overcome with wine! ✦ ²Behold, the Lord has a mighty and strong one. Like a storm of hail, a destroying storm, and like a storm of mighty waters overflowing, he will cast them down to the earth with his hand. ✦ ³The crown of pride of the drunkards of Ephraim will be trodden under foot. ✦ ⁴The fading flower of his glorious beauty, which is on the head of the fertile valley, shall be like the first-ripe fig before the summer; which someone picks and eats as soon as he sees it. ✦ ⁵In that day, Yahweh of Armies will become a crown of glory, and a diadem of beauty, to the residue of his people; ✦ ⁶and a spirit of justice to him who sits in judgment, and strength to those who turn back the battle at the gate. ✦ ⁷They also reel with wine, and stagger with strong drink. The priest and the prophet reel with strong drink. They are swallowed up by wine. They stagger with strong drink. They err in vision. They stumble in judgment. ✦ ⁸For all tables are completely full of filthy vomit and filthiness. ✦ ⁹Whom will he teach knowledge? To whom will he explain the message? Those who are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts? ✦ ¹⁰For it is precept on precept, precept on precept; line on line, line on line; here a little, there a little. ✦ ¹¹But he will speak to this nation with stammering lips and in another language; ✦ ¹²to whom he said, “This is the resting place. Give rest to weary”; and “This is the refreshing”; yet they would not hear. ✦ ¹³Therefore Yahweh’s word will be to them precept on precept, precept on precept; line on line, line on line; here a little, there a little; that they may go, fall backward, be broken, be snared, and be taken. ✦ ¹⁴Therefore hear Yahweh’s word, you scoffers, that rule this people in Jerusalem: ✦ ¹⁵“Because you have said, ‘We have made a covenant with death, and with Sheol are we in agreement. When the overflowing scourge passes through, it won’t come to us; for we have made lies our refuge, and we have hidden ourselves under falsehood.’” ✦ ¹⁶Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh, “Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone of a sure foundation. He who believes shall not act hastily. ✦ ¹⁷I will make justice the measuring line, and righteousness the plumb line. The hail will sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters will overflow the hiding place. ✦ ¹⁸Your covenant with death shall be annulled, and your agreement with Sheol shall not stand. When the overflowing scourge passes through, then you will be trampled down by it. ✦ ¹⁹As often as it passes through, it will seize you; for morning by morning it will pass through, by day and by night; and it will be nothing but terror to understand the message.” ✦ ²⁰For the bed is too short to stretch out on, and the blanket is too narrow to wrap oneself in. ✦ ²¹For Yahweh will rise up as on Mount Perazim. He will be angry as in the valley of Gibeon; that he may do his work, his unusual work, and bring to pass his act, his extraordinary act. ✦ ²²Now therefore don’t be scoffers, lest your bonds be made strong; for I have heard a decree of destruction from the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, on the whole earth. ✦ ²³Give ear, and hear my voice! Listen, and hear my speech! ✦ ²⁴Does he who plows to sow plow continually? Does he keep turning the soil and breaking the clods? ✦ ²⁵When he has leveled its surface, doesn’t he plant the dill, and scatter the cumin seed, and put in the wheat in rows, the barley in the appointed place, and the spelt in its place? ✦ ²⁶For his God instructs him in right judgment, and teaches him. ✦ ²⁷For the dill are not threshed with a sharp instrument, neither is a cart wheel turned over the cumin; but the dill is beaten out with a stick, and the cumin with a rod. ✦ ²⁸Bread flour must be ground; so he will not always be threshing it. Although he drives the wheel of his threshing cart over it, his horses don’t grind it. ✦ ²⁹This also comes out from Yahweh of Armies, who is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in wisdom. ✦

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Where this chapter connects

Isa 28 ·18 Isa 30 ·8 Isa 5 ·8 Isa 8 ·7 Isa 29 ·5 Isa 9 ·5 Ezek 13 ·5 Isa 10 ·5

Christ at the center

Isaiah sees him most clearly: the virgin's son Immanuel, the child on David's throne, the shoot from Jesse, the light to the nations, and above all the Suffering Servant pierced for our transgressions (ch. 53).

How Isaiah 28 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Resources, by level

Lay

★ Start hereVideoBibleProject — video overviews & word studiesBibleProject · 5–10 min · Free · evangelical
Free animated overviews of every book of the Bible, plus themes and Hebrew/Greek word studies — the best visual on-ramp to any book. (Biblical-theology, broadly evangelical, not distinctly Reformed.)
★ Start hereAudioThrough the WordThrough the Word · ~10 min/chapter · Free · evangelical
A clear ~10-minute audio teaching for every one of the Bible's 1,189 chapters — the most systematic free way to study chapter by chapter.

Pastoral

SermonChuck Smith — C2000 SeriesChuck Smith · Free · evangelical
Free verse-by-verse audio through the entire Bible from the founder of Calvary Chapel.

Seminary

★ Start hereCommentaryThe Book of Isaiah (NICOT)John N. Oswalt · Paid · evangelical
The standard evangelical commentary on Isaiah — thorough and devotionally warm.

Commentaries & study tools

VideoBibleProject — Isaiah videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
VideoWatch teaching on Isaiah 28YouTube · Lay · Free
Sermons and chapter teaching from across YouTube.
CommentaryEnduring Word — Isaiah 28David Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical
Readable, verse-by-verse exposition of the whole chapter.
CommentaryMatthew Henry on IsaiahMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
ReferenceBlue Letter Bible — Isaiah 28Blue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free
Interlinear, lexicon, and study tools across the chapter.

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