Whom is He trying to teach? To whom is He explaining His message? To infants just weaned from milk? To babies removed from the breast?
Parallel translations
- WEB Whom will he teach knowledge? To whom will he explain the message? Those who are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts?
- KJV Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts.
- NKJV “Whomwill he teach knowledge? And whom will he make to understand the message? Those just weaned from milk? Those just drawn from the breasts?
- NASB ¶“To whom would He teach knowledge, And to whom would He interpret the message? Those just weaned from milk? Those just taken from the breast?
- NLT “Who does the Lord think we are?” they ask. “Why does he speak to us like this? Are we little children, just recently weaned?
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The scoffers mock Isaiah's teaching as fit only for infants just weaned from milk.
Overview
The drunken leaders sneer at the prophet's instruction as childish and beneath them. Their contempt for God's plain word reveals their pride and hardness of heart. This warns against despising God's truth, which the proud reject but the humble receive as life.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 19
- Ps 131:2Surely I have stilled and quieted my soul; like a weaned child with his mother, like a weaned child is my soul within me.
- Jer 6:10To whom can I give this warning? Who will listen to me? Look, their ears are closed, so they cannot hear. See, the word of the LORD has become offensive to them; they find no pleasure in it.
- John 12:38This was to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet: “Lord, who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?”
- Matt 11:25At that time Jesus declared, “I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because You have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children.
- Matt 21:15–16But the chief priests and scribes were indignant when they saw the wonders He performed and the children shouting in the temple courts, “Hosanna to the Son of David!”
- Isa 53:1Who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
- John 3:19And this is the verdict: The Light has come into the world, but men loved the darkness rather than the Light because their deeds were evil.
- Jer 5:31The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule by their own authority. My people love it so, but what will you do in the end?
- 1 Pet 2:2Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation,
- Isa 54:13Then all your sons will be taught by the LORD, and great will be their prosperity.
- Isa 50:4The Lord GOD has given Me the tongue of discipleship, to sustain the weary with a word. He awakens Me morning by morning; He awakens My ear to listen as a disciple.
- John 12:47–48As for anyone who hears My words and does not keep them, I do not judge him. For I have not come to judge the world, but to save the world.
- Ps 50:17For you hate My instruction and cast My words behind you.
- Isa 30:10–12They say to the seers, “Stop seeing visions!” and to the prophets, “Do not prophesy to us the truth! Speak to us pleasant words; prophesy illusions.
- Mark 10:15Truly I tell you, anyone who does not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”
- Prov 1:29For they hated knowledge and chose not to fear the LORD.
- Isa 48:17Thus says the LORD your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: “I am the LORD your God, who teaches you for your benefit, who directs you in the way you should go.
- Isa 30:20The Lord will give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, but your Teacher will no longer hide Himself—with your own eyes you will see Him.
- Isa 28:26For his God instructs and teaches him properly.
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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 28:9 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.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.