Major Prophets · Chapter 28 of 66

Isaiah 28

Isaiah cries woe to the proud drunkards of Ephraim, whose fading glory will be trodden down, while the Lord Himself becomes a crown of glory to the remnant. He rebukes scoffing priests and prophets who mock His teaching as mere precept upon precept. To rulers trusting a covenant with death, God announces a tried, precious cornerstone laid in Zion, and closes with a parable of the farmer whose varied methods reflect God's wise, measured dealing.

What happens in Isaiah 28

The oracle opens against the crown of pride, the drunkards of Ephraim, whose glorious beauty is a fading flower soon trodden underfoot, while the Lord of hosts becomes a crown of glory to the remnant of His people. But Judah's own priests and prophets have also erred through wine, staggering in vision and stumbling in judgment. They mock Isaiah's teaching as childish, precept upon precept, line upon line, so God says that very word will trip them until they fall and are snared.

Because the scornful rulers of Jerusalem boast a covenant with death and a refuge of lies, the Lord declares He lays in Zion a foundation stone, a tried and precious cornerstone, and whoever believes will not make haste. Judgment will sweep away the refuge of lies. The chapter ends with a farming parable: the farmer threshes different grains by different means, learning discretion from God, an image of the Lord's wise, proportioned dealing.

Isaiah 28 in context

Isaiah addresses both the northern kingdom of Ephraim, drunk on pride before its fall to Assyria in 722, and the leaders of Jerusalem who scorned the prophet and trusted deceptive alliances, perhaps with Egypt, as a covenant with death against Assyria.

The cornerstone saying became foundational in later Scripture. The closing agricultural parable teaches that God, like a wise farmer, matches His methods to His purpose, disciplining His people with measured skill rather than blind severity.

Main themes of Isaiah 28

Isaiah 28 (KJV)

1Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, whose glorious beauty is a fading flower, which are on the head of the fat valleys of them that are overcome with wine! 2Behold, the Lord hath a mighty and strong one, which as a tempest of hail and a destroying storm, as a flood of mighty waters overflowing, shall cast down to the earth with the hand. 3The crown of pride, the drunkards of Ephraim, shall be trodden under feet: 4And the glorious beauty, which is on the head of the fat valley, shall be a fading flower, and as the hasty fruit before the summer; which when he that looketh upon it seeth, while it is yet in his hand he eateth it up. 5In that day shall the LORD of hosts be for a crown of glory, and for a diadem of beauty, unto the residue of his people, 6And for a spirit of judgment to him that sitteth in judgment, and for strength to them that turn the battle to the gate. 7But they also have erred through wine, and through strong drink are out of the way; the priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink, they are swallowed up of wine, they are out of the way through strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble in judgment. 8For all tables are full of vomit and filthiness, so that there is no place clean. 9Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts. 10For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little: 11For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people. 12To whom he said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear. 13But the word of the LORD was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little; that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken. 14Wherefore hear the word of the LORD, ye scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem. 15Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves: 16Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste. 17Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place. 18And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it. 19From the time that it goeth forth it shall take you: for morning by morning shall it pass over, by day and by night: and it shall be a vexation only to understand the report. 20For the bed is shorter than that a man can stretch himself on it: and the covering narrower than that he can wrap himself in it. 21For the LORD shall rise up as in mount Perazim, he shall be wroth as in the valley of Gibeon, that he may do his work, his strange work; and bring to pass his act, his strange act. 22Now therefore be ye not mockers, lest your bands be made strong: for I have heard from the Lord GOD of hosts a consumption, even determined upon the whole earth. 23Give ye ear, and hear my voice; hearken, and hear my speech. 24Doth the plowman plow all day to sow? doth he open and break the clods of his ground? 25When he hath made plain the face thereof, doth he not cast abroad the fitches, and scatter the cummin, and cast in the principal wheat and the appointed barley and the rie in their place? 26For his God doth instruct him to discretion, and doth teach him. 27For the fitches are not threshed with a threshing instrument, neither is a cart wheel turned about upon the cummin; but the fitches are beaten out with a staff, and the cummin with a rod. 28Bread corn is bruised; because he will not ever be threshing it, nor break it with the wheel of his cart, nor bruise it with his horsemen. 29This also cometh forth from the LORD of hosts, which is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working.

Verses to carry from Isaiah 28

“For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people.”Isaiah 28:11

“Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.”Isaiah 28:16

“This also cometh forth from the LORD of hosts, which is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working.”Isaiah 28:29

Reflection

Ask what refuge you are trusting. Isaiah exposes covenants with death and refuges of lies, the false securities that cannot hold when trouble sweeps through. God offers instead a tried cornerstone, Christ Himself. Build your life on that sure foundation, and you will not be shaken or put to shame.

A prayer from Isaiah 28