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Isaiah 28:11

in Isaiah 28

Indeed, with mocking lips and foreign tongues, He will speak to this people

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

Nay, but by men of strange lips and with another tongue will he speak to this people;

KJV

For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people.

This verse in Isaiah 28

Commentary

12 notes on this verse

A commentator

Gregory of Nazianzus

ON PENTECOST, ORATION 41:15 · Written before 390.

They spoke with strange tongues and not those of their native land; and the wonder was great, a language spoken by those who had not learned it. And the sign is to them that do not believe, not to them that believe, that it may be an accusation of the unbelievers, as it is written, "With other tongues and other lips will I speak to this people, and not even so will they listen to me, says the Lord." But they heard. Here stop a little and raise a question. How are you to divide the words?

This site's exposition

with mocking lips and foreign tongues

on Isaiah 28:11-13

The LORD answers the mockery, "with mocking lips and foreign tongues, He will speak to this people", the speech of a foreign conqueror, Assyria. Paul quotes this verse at 1 Corinthians 14:21 on tongues as a sign to unbelievers. "Order on order" becomes their snare, and they "will go stumbling".

The record, by era

The Church Fathers4 voices

These gifts were first bestowed on us the apostles when we were about to preach the Gospel to every creature, and afterwards were of necessity afforded to those who had by our means believed; not for the advantage of those who perform them, but for the conviction of the unbelievers, that those whom the word did not persuade, the power of signs might put to shame: for signs are not for us who believe, but for the unbelievers, both for the Jews and Gentiles. For neither is it any profit to us to cast out demons, but to those who are so cleansed by the power of the Lord; as the Lord Himself somewhere instructs us, and shows, saying: "Rejoice not because the spirits are subject unto you; but rejoice, because your names are written in heaven." [Luke 10:20] Since the former is done by His power, but this by our good disposition and diligence, yet (it is manifest) by His assistance. It is not therefore necessary that every one of the faithful should cast out demons, or raise the dead, or speak with tongues; but such a one only who is vouchsafed this gift, for some cause which may be advantage to the salvation of the unbelievers, who are often put to shame, not with the demonstration of the world, but by the power of the signs; that is, such as are worthy of salvation: for all the ungodly are not affected by wonders; and hereof God Himself is a witness, as when He says in the law: "With other tongues will I speak to this people, and with other lips, and yet will they by no means believe." [Isaiah 28:11; 1 Corinthians 14:21] For neither did the Egyptians believe in God, when Moses had done so many signs and wonders; nor did the multitude of the Jews believe in Christ, as they believed Moses, who yet had healed every sickness and every disease among them.

A commentator

Jerome

Commentary on Isaiah · Written before 420.

proposed

(Vers. 10 seqq.) Who will teach knowledge, and who will make understanding? Weaned from milk, pulled from the breasts: command, re-command; command, re-command; wait, re-wait; wait, re-wait; a little here, a little there. For with stammering lips and another tongue He will speak to this people, to whom He said, 'This is the rest, give rest to the weary,' and 'This is the refreshing,' but they would not hear. And the word of the Lord will be to them, command, re-command; command, re-command; wait, re-wait; wait, re-wait; a little here, a little there, that they may go and fall backward, and be broken, snared, and caught. LXX: To whom shall we announce evil, and to whom shall we announce good news? Those who have been weaned from milk, those who have been taken away from the breast. Expect tribulation upon tribulation; wait for hope upon hope; still little, still little: because of the mockery of lips, because of the other tongue with which they will speak to this people, saying to them: This is the rest for the hungry, and this is the crushing, and they did not want to hear. The word of the Lord will come upon them: Tribulation upon tribulation: wait, wait; hope upon hope: still little, still little; so that they may go and fall backward, and be crushed, and be endangered, and be captured. Who, he says, is worthy of the teaching of the Lord, to whom are the words of the Savior saying: 'He who has ears to hear, let him hear' (Matthew 12:15), so that what he has heard with his ears, he may understand with his heart? […]

A commentator

John Chrysostom

DEMONSTRATION AGAINST THE PAGANS 7:2 · Written before 407.

proposed

Someone might well ask how the apostles drew to themselves all these people. How did men who spoke only the language of the Jews win over the Scythian, the Indian, the Sarmatian and the Thracian? Because they received the gift of tongues through the Holy Spirit. Not only did the apostles say this but also the prophets when they made both these facts clear, namely, that the apostles received the gift of tongues and that they failed to win over the Jews. Hear how the prophet showed this when he said, " 'In foreign tongues and with other lips I shall speak to this people, and in this way they shall not hear me,' says the Lord."

A commentator

Augustine of Hippo

ON THE TRINITY 15:17.30 · Written before 430.

proposed

Just as sometimes all the utterances of the Old Testament together in the Holy Scriptures are signified by the name of the Law. For the apostle, in citing a text from the prophet Isaiah, where he says, "With divers tongues and with divers lips will I speak to this people," yet prefaced it by, "It is written in the Law." And the Lord Himself says, "It is written in their Law, They hated me without a cause," whereas this is read in the Psalm.

The Medieval Church1 voice

A commentator

Thomas Aquinas

Commentary on Isaiah · Written before 1274.

proposed

And he adds the punishment: for with the speech of lips, and with another tongue, that is, you shall so lack understanding of the prophets as if someone were speaking to you, with only the movement of the lips, and in a foreign tongue; or …
5 more voices on this verse

The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices

For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people.

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

The rulers of Jerusalem are reproved and threatened for their insolent contempt of God's judgments, and setting them at defiance; and, after a gracious promise of Christ and his grace, they are made to know that the vain hopes of escaping the judgments of God with which they flattered themselves would certainly deceive them,

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

He would bring utter ruin upon them. By their profane contempt of God and his word they are but hastening on their own ruin, and ripening themselves for it; it is that they may go and fall backward, may grow worse and worse, may depart further and further from God, and proceed from one sin to another, till they be quite broken, and snared, and taken, and ruined,

The Nineteenth Century2 voices

For - This verse is to be understood as a response to what the complaining and dissatisfied people had said, as expressed in the previous verse. God says that he will teach them, but it should be by another tongue - a foreign language in a distant land.

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

proposed

For--rather, "Truly." This is Isaiah's reply to the scoffers: Your drunken questions shall be answered by the severe lessons from God conveyed through the Assyrians and Babylonians; the dialect of these, though Semitic, like the Hebrew, was so far different as to sound to the Jews like the speech of stammerers (compare Isa 33:19;

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens

How the passage was read

What the Jewish commentators add

On the verses either side of this one

For he said The prophet said to them, “This is the rest,” that you should have rest, “give rest to the weary,” that you shall not rob him, “and this” shall be “tranquility” for them (var. for you).
Rashi: France, 1040–1105 · Rashi on Isaiah 28:12:1, via Sefaria, The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
Surely, they were commanded to do the law; but what they were commanded, they were not willing to do. The prophets prophesied unto them, that if they would repent, it should be forgiven them; but they did not obey the words of the prophets: they walked after the desire of their soul, neither did they desire to do my law.
Targum · Targum Jonathan on Isaiah 28:10, via Sefaria, London "Chaldee Paraphrase," 1871

This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.

Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 3 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.

The words behind it

9 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • כִּ֚יfor

    kiH3588 →4482 times

  • בְּלַעֲגֵ֣יby stammerings of

    belaageiH3934 →

  • שָׂפָ֔הlip

    safahH8193 →176 times

  • וּבְלָשׁ֖וֹןand by a tongue

    uvelashonH3956 →117 times

  • אַחֶ֑רֶתanother

    ʾacheretH312 →166 times

  • יְדַבֵּ֖רhe will speak

    yedaberH1696 →1141 times

  • אֶל־to

    ʾel-H413 →5510 times

  • הָעָ֥םthe people

    haamH5971 →1873 times

  • הַזֶּֽה׃<the> this

    hazehH2088 →1180 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    1 Corinthians 14:21

    It is written in the Law: “By strange tongues and foreign lips I will speak to this people, but even then they will not listen to Me, says the Lord.”

    it leads to

    • Isaiah 28:11–12

      Indeed, with mocking lips and foreign tongues, He will speak to this people

    • Jeremiah 5:15

      Behold, I am bringing a distant nation against you, O house of Israel,” declares the LORD. “It is an established nation, an ancient nation, a nation whose language you do not know and whose…

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • Deuteronomy 28:49

      The LORD will bring a nation from afar, from the ends of the earth, to swoop down upon you like an eagle—a nation whose language you will not understand,

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

  • Through

    Isaiah 33:19

    You will no longer see the insolent, a people whose speech is unintelligible, who stammer in a language you cannot understand.

    it leads to

    • Deuteronomy 28:49–50

      The LORD will bring a nation from afar, from the ends of the earth, to swoop down upon you like an eagle—a nation whose language you will not understand,

  • Through

    Deuteronomy 28:49

    The LORD will bring a nation from afar, from the ends of the earth, to swoop down upon you like an eagle—a nation whose language you will not understand,

    it leads to

    • Lamentations 4:19

      Those who chased us were swifter than the eagles in the sky; they pursued us over the mountains and ambushed us in the wilderness.

  • Through

    Jeremiah 5:15

    Behold, I am bringing a distant nation against you, O house of Israel,” declares the LORD. “It is an established nation, an ancient nation, a nation whose language you do not know and whose…

    it leads to

    • Jeremiah 4:16

      Warn the nations now! Proclaim to Jerusalem: “A besieging army comes from a distant land; they raise their voices against the cities of Judah.

    • Isaiah 33:19

      You will no longer see the insolent, a people whose speech is unintelligible, who stammer in a language you cannot understand.

    • Isaiah 5:26

      He lifts a banner for the distant nations and whistles for those at the ends of the earth. Behold—how speedily and swiftly they come!

Where this verse is studied

About Isaiah

The Prophet Isaiah, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
The Prophet Isaiah, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
This page draws on 12 works. Open the list of works

This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes on the Book of Isaiah; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Apostolic Constitutions, Apostolic Constitutions (Book VIII), Section 1, I; Augustine of Hippo, ON THE TRINITY 15:17.30; Gregory of Nazianzus, ON PENTECOST, ORATION 41:15; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Isaiah; John Chrysostom, DEMONSTRATION AGAINST THE PAGANS 7:2; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Isaiah.