The Sure Foundation in Zion and the Collapse of False Security.

Isaiah 28 begins with a warning against Ephraim’s pride, drunkenness, and fading glory, showing that outward strength and self-confidence cannot stand before the Lord’s judgment. The chapter then turns toward Judah’s leaders, exposing their mockery, spiritual dullness, and false confidence in lies, as they refuse the plain word of God. In contrast, the Lord promises to lay in Zion a tried, precious cornerstone, a sure foundation for those who believe and do not make haste. The chapter strongly warns that no covenant with death, deception, or human security can protect those who reject God’s truth. Yet it also teaches that the Lord’s discipline is wise and measured, like a farmer who knows when to plow, sow, thresh, and gather, proving that God’s judgments are not random but purposeful and righteous.

Isaiah 28:1 – 28:29

  1 Woe 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!
  2 Behold, 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.
  3 The crown of pride, the drunkards of Ephraim, shall be trodden under feet:
  4 And 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.
  5 In 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,
  6 And for a spirit of judgment to him that sitteth in judgment, and for strength to them that turn the battle to the gate.
  7 But 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.
  8 For all tables are full of vomit [and] filthiness, [so that there is] no place [clean].
  9 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.
  10 For precept [must be] upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, [and] there a little:
  11 For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people.
  12 To 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.
  13 But 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.
  14 Wherefore hear the word of the Lord, ye scornful men, that rule this people which [is] in Jerusalem.
  15 Because 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:
  16 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.
  17 Judgment 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.
  18 And 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.
  19 From 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.
  20 For 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].
  21 For 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.
  22 Now 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.
  23 Give ye ear, and hear my voice; hearken, and hear my speech.
  24 Doth the plowman plow all day to sow? doth he open and break the clods of his ground?
  25 When 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?
  26 For his God doth instruct him to discretion, [and] doth teach him.
  27 For 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.
  28 Bread [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.
  29 This also cometh forth from the Lord of hosts, [which] is wonderful in counsel, [and] excellent in working.