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Even these men[a] stagger because of wine;
they stumble around because of beer—
priests and prophets stagger because of beer,
they are confused[b] because of wine,
they stumble around because of beer;
they stagger while seeing prophetic visions,[c]
they totter while making legal decisions.[d]
Indeed, all the tables
are covered with vomit,
with filth, leaving no clean place.[e]
Who is the Lord[f] trying to teach?
To whom is he explaining a message?[g]
To those just weaned from milk!
To those just taken from their mother’s breast![h]
10 Indeed, they will hear meaningless gibberish,
senseless babbling,
a syllable here, a syllable there.[i]
11 For with mocking lips and a foreign tongue
he will speak to these people.[j]
12 In the past he said to them,[k]
“This is where security can be found.
Provide security for the one who is exhausted.
This is where rest can be found.”[l]
But they refused to listen.
13 So the Lord’s message to them will sound like
meaningless gibberish,
senseless babbling,
a syllable here, a syllable there.[m]
As a result, they will fall on their backsides when they try to walk,[n]
and be injured, ensnared, and captured.[o]

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Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 28:7 tn Heb “these.” The demonstrative pronoun anticipates “priests and prophets” two lines later.
  2. Isaiah 28:7 tn According to HALOT 135 s.v. III בלע, the verb form is derived from בָּלַע (balaʿ, “confuse”), not the more common בָּלַע (“swallow”). See earlier notes at 3:12 and 9:16.
  3. Isaiah 28:7 tn Heb “in the seeing.”
  4. Isaiah 28:7 tn Heb “[in] giving a decision.”
  5. Isaiah 28:8 tn Heb “filth, without a place.” The Hebrew phrase בְּלִי מָקוֹם (beli maqom, “without a place,” see HALOT 133 s.v. בְּלִי) probably means there is no (clean) space on the table, since it is covered with filth. The translation follows the line division of the MT. Some translations (NASB, ESV, NRSV) move “filth” to the previous line as “filthy vomit,” but the Hebrew lines are no longer balanced.
  6. Isaiah 28:9 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  7. Isaiah 28:9 tn Heb “Who is he teaching knowledge? For whom is he explaining a message?” The translation assumes that the Lord is the subject of the verbs “teaching” and “explaining,” and that the prophet is asking the questions. See v. 12. According to some vv. 9-10 record the people’s sarcastic response to the Lord’s message through Isaiah.
  8. Isaiah 28:9 tn Heb “from the breasts.” The words “their mother’s” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The translation assumes that this is the prophet’s answer to the questions asked in the first half of the verse. The Lord is trying to instruct people who are “infants” morally and ethically.
  9. Isaiah 28:10 tn The meaning of this verse has been debated. The final line says “a little there, a little there,” while the preceding lines have a series of redundancies (כִּי צַו לָצָו צַו לָצָו קַו לָקָו קַו לָקָו, ki tsav latsav, tsav latsav, qav laqav, qav laqav). The present translation assumes that the repetitive syllables are gibberish that resembles baby talk (cf v. 9b) and mimics what the people will hear when foreign invaders conquer the land (v. 11). In this case זְעֵיר (zeʿer, “a little”) refers to the short syllabic structure of the babbling (cf. CEV, REB and see HALOT 1010 s.v. צַו). Some take צַו (tsav) as a derivative of צָוָה (tsavah, “command”) and translate the first part of the statement as “command after command, command after command.” Proponents of this position (followed by many English versions) also take קַו (qav) as a noun meaning “measuring line” (see v. 17), understood here in the abstract sense of “standard” or “rule.”
  10. Isaiah 28:11 sn This verse alludes to the coming Assyrian invasion, when the people will hear a foreign language that sounds like gibberish to them. The Lord is the subject of the verb “will speak,” as v. 12 makes clear. He once spoke in meaningful terms, but in the coming judgment he will speak to them, as it were, through the mouth of foreign oppressors. The apparent gibberish they hear will be an outward reminder that God has decreed their defeat.
  11. Isaiah 28:12 tn Heb “who said to them.”
  12. Isaiah 28:12 sn This message encapsulates the Lord’s invitation to his people to find security in his protection and blessing.
  13. Isaiah 28:13 tn Heb “And the message of the Lord will be to them, ‘tsav latsav,’ etc.” See the note at v. 10. In this case the “Lord’s message” is not the foreigner’s strange sounding words (as in v. 10), but the Lord’s repeated appeals to them (like the one quoted in v. 12). As time goes on, the Lord’s appeals through the prophets will have no impact on the people; they will regard prophetic preaching as gibberish.
  14. Isaiah 28:13 tn Heb “as a result they will go and stumble backward.” Perhaps an infant falling as it attempts to learn to walk is the background image here (cf. v. 9b). The Hebrew term לְמַעַן (lemaʿan) could be taken as indicating purpose (“in order that”), rather than simple result. In this case the people’s insensitivity to the message is caused by the Lord as a means of expediting their downfall.
  15. Isaiah 28:13 sn When divine warnings and appeals become gibberish to the spiritually insensitive, they have no guidance and are doomed to destruction.

These people also[a] stagger from wine
    and reel from strong drink.
Priests and prophets stagger from strong drink;
    they’re drunk from[b] wine;
they reel from strong drink,
    waver when seeing visions,
        and stumble when rendering decisions.
For all the tables are covered in vomit and filth,
    with no clean[c] space left.

Misuse of God’s Word

To whom will he teach knowledge,
    and to whom will he explain the message?
To children just weaned from milk?
    To those just taken from the breast?
10 For it is: “Do this and do that,
    do this and do that,
Line upon line, line upon line,
    a little here, a little there.”

11 Very well, then, through the mouths of foreigners[d]
    and foreign languages
        the Lord will speak to this people
12 to whom he said,
    “This is the resting place,
        so give rest to the weary”’
and,
    “This is the place of repose”—
        but they would not listen.
13 So, then, the message from the Lord to them will become:
    “Do this and do that,
        do this and do that,
    line upon line,
        line upon line,
    a little here,
        a little there,”
so that they will go,
    but fall backward,
        and be injured, snared, and captured.

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Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 28:7 1QIsaa lacks people also; MT lacks people
  2. Isaiah 28:7 Lit. are devoured by
  3. Isaiah 28:8 1QIsaa MT lack clean
  4. Isaiah 28:11 Or through foreign lips