Isaiah 28

Woe 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!

Behold, the Lord has one who is mighty and strong. 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.

The crown of pride of the drunkards of Ephraim will be trodden under foot.

The 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.

In that day, the LORD of Armies will become a crown of glory and a diadem of beauty to the residue of his people,

and a spirit of justice to him who sits in judgment, and strength to those who turn back the battle at the gate.

They 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.

For all tables are completely full of filthy vomit and filthiness.

Whom will he teach knowledge? To whom will he explain the message? Those who are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts?

For it is precept on precept, precept on precept; line on line, line on line; here a little, there a little.

But he will speak to this nation with stammering lips and in another language,

to whom he said, “This is the resting place. Give rest to the weary,” and “This is the refreshing;” yet they would not hear.

Therefore the LORD’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.

Therefore hear the LORD’s word, you scoffers, that rule this people in Jerusalem:

“Because you have said, ‘We have made a covenant with death, and we are in agreement with Sheol. 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.’”

Therefore the Lord GOD says, “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.

I 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.

Your 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.

As 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.”

For the bed is too short to stretch out on, and the blanket is too narrow to wrap oneself in.

For the LORD 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.

Now therefore don’t be scoffers, lest your bonds be made strong; for I have heard a decree of destruction from the Lord, GOD of Armies, on the whole earth.

Give ear, and hear my voice! Listen, and hear my speech!

Does he who plows to sow plow continually? Does he keep turning the soil and breaking the clods?

When 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?

For his God instructs him in right judgment and teaches him.

For the dill isn’t 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.

Bread 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.

This also comes out from the LORD of Armies, who is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in wisdom.

Chapter overviewAI-generated

Overview. This chapter pronounces judgment on the drunken leaders of Ephraim (the northern kingdom) and the corrupt rulers of Judah (Jerusalem), whose pride, deception, and rejection of God’s word invite divine discipline; yet it also holds forth a future hope in the sure foundation laid in Zion—a promise ultimately fulfilled in the Messiah.

Flow.

The prophecy begins with a warning to Ephraim’s leaders, whose pride and inebriation mirror spiritual blindness, leading to certain downfall at the hands of Assyria as God’s instrument.
It shifts to Judah, where even priests and prophets are disoriented by wine and falsehood, rejecting God’s simple, repeated instruction (precept upon precept), and thus incurring judgment instead of rest.
God announces a new covenantal promise—the laying of a cornerstone in Zion, a foundation of justice and faith—contrasted with the people’s flimsy covenant with death.
The chapter closes with an agricultural analogy, illustrating God’s wise and measured discipline, as a farmer knows when and how to work the soil, just as the LORD administers judgment and salvation with exact wisdom.

Connections. Following chapter 27, which ends with a vision of God’s redeemed people returning and rejoicing, chapter 28 grounds that hope by exposing the unfaithfulness that must first be judged. It sets the stage for the series of oracles against foreign nations and Judah’s leaders in chapters 29–33, preparing the reader to see both the necessity of judgment and the reliability of God’s ultimate promise, which chapter 29 will take up in the context of Jerusalem’s siege and deliverance.

What it teaches. True security is not found in political alliances or human schemes (WCF 4.2), but in the foundation God Himself establishes: the promised Messiah, the cornerstone in Zion (WCF 7.4; HC LD 18), on whom those who believe rest and are not put to shame. The people’s reliance on falsehood and their refusal to heed God’s word in due order (HC LD 9) invite judgment, but God’s discipline, like the farmer’s plowing, is purposeful, not arbitrary—done in wisdom to prepare for harvest (WCF 5.7; CD I.6). The Spirit grants discernment to the humble, but brings confusion to the scoffers who despise revelation (1 Cor. 2:14; cf. WCF 1.6).

Apply. Trust the sure foundation, not the shifting strategies of human pride.

AI-generated. Not a substitute for Scripture, your pastor, or the confessions.