Isaiah 28:17

The Holy Bible, Berean Study Bible

Contextual Overview

¹⁴Therefore hear the word of the LORD, O scoffers, who rule this people in Jerusalem. ¹⁵For you said, "We have made a covenant with death; we have fashioned an agreement with Sheol. When the overwhelming scourge passes through, it will not touch us, because we have made lies our refuge and falsehood our hiding place." ¹⁶So this is what the Lord GOD says: "See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; the one who believes will never be shaken. ¹⁷I will make justice the measuring line and righteousness the level." Hail will sweep away your refuge of lies, and water will flood your hiding place.¹⁸Your covenant with death will be dissolved, and your agreement with Sheol will not stand. When the overwhelming scourge passes through, you will be trampled by it. ¹⁹As often as it passes through, it will carry you away; it will sweep through morning after morning, by day and by night. Sheer terror will come from understanding the message. ²⁰Indeed, the bed is too short to stretch out on, and the blanket too small to wrap around you. ²¹For the LORD will rise up as at Mount Perazim. He will rouse Himself as in the valley of Gibeon, to do His work, His strange work, and to perform His task, His disturbing task. ²²So now, do not mock, or your shackles will become heavier. Indeed, I have heard from the Lord GOD of Hosts a decree of destruction against the whole land.

Bible Verse Review
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Judgment: Isaiah 10:22, 2 Kings 21:13, Psalms 94:15, Amos 7:7-9, Romans 2:2, Romans 2:5, Romans 9:28, Revelation 19:2

and the hail: Isaiah 28:2, Isaiah 28:15, Isaiah 25:4, Isaiah 32:2, Isaiah 32:18, Isaiah 32:19, Exodus 9:18, Exodus 9:19, Joshua 10:11, Jeremiah 7:4-8, Jeremiah 7:14, Jeremiah 7:20, Jeremiah 23:19, Jeremiah 30:23, Jeremiah 30:24, Ezekiel 13:10-16, Ezekiel 38:22, Revelation 8:7, Revelation 11:19, Revelation 16:21

and the waters: Isaiah 30:28, Job 22:16, Daniel 11:22, Matthew 7:27, 2 Peter 3:6, 2 Peter 3:7

Reciprocal: Deuteronomy 13:5 - prophet Job 9:17 - For he Psalms 69:1 - the waters Psalms 83:15 - General Isaiah 8:7 - the Lord bringeth Isaiah 9:15 - the prophet Isaiah 17:12 - make a noise Isaiah 20:6 - whither Isaiah 29:15 - seek Isaiah 33:14 - sinners Jeremiah 19:7 - I will make Jeremiah 36:23 - he cut Jeremiah 47:2 - waters Lamentations 2:8 - stretched Ezekiel 40:3 - with Nahum 1:8 - with 1 Corinthians 3:13 - and the fire 2 Corinthians 10:13 - rule

Cross-References

Genesis 28:1
So Isaac called for Jacob and blessed him. "Do not take a wife from the Canaanite women," he commanded.

Genesis 28:13
And there at the top the LORD was standing and saying, "I am the LORD, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you now lie.

Genesis 28:22
And this stone I have set up as a pillar will be God's house, and of all that You give me I will surely give You a tenth."

Exodus 3:6
Then He said, "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." At this, Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.

Judges 13:22
"We are going to die," he said to his wife, "for we have seen God!"

2 Chronicles 5:14
so that the priests could not stand there to minister because of the cloud; for the glory of the LORD filled the house of God.

Ecclesiastes 5:1
Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. Draw near to listen rather than to offer the sacrifice of fools, who do not know that they do wrong.

Matthew 17:6
When the disciples heard this, they fell facedown in terror.

Luke 2:9
Just then, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.

Luke 8:35
So the people went out to see what had happened. They came to Jesus and found the man whom the demons had left, sitting at Jesus' feet, clothed and in his right mind; and they were afraid.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Judgment also will I lay to the line,.... A metaphor taken from builders, who in building use the line and plummet to carry on their work even and regular, retaining such stones as agree thereunto, and rejecting such as do not; signifying, that in the spiritual building, where Christ is the foundation and cornerstone, such as are built thereon shall continue and grow up regularly into a holy temple; but those that set at nought this precious stone, and build upon the sandy foundation of their own righteousness, betake themselves to a refuge of lies, and cover themselves in their own hiding places, as well as all such who go on in their sins, shall be rejected by the righteous judgment of God:

and righteousness to the plummet; meaning the same as before; or, "I will lay judgment by the line, and righteousness by the plummet" w; the rule of the divine law, by which it will appear whether their actions are agreeable to it, or the righteousness they trust in answerable to it; or the sense is, that at the same time that God would preserve and secure his own people upon the sure foundation Christ, he would punish others, according to the strict rules of justice, as his righteous law required, and according to the just demerit of sin. Kimchi interprets it, but very wrongly, of the justice and equity that should take place in the reign of Hezekiah, which were wanting at the time of this prophecy; but the preceding prophecy regards Christ, and not Hezekiah; and therefore is rather to be understood of the right and equal distribution of justice and judgment in the administration of government by him:

and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies; the lies they made their refuge, Isaiah 28:15 their lying prophets, their idols, their riches, their righteousness, and everything in which they placed their confidence; for all refuges, be they what they will, are lying ones, and will deceive, excepting Christ and his righteousness; all which are easily and at once swept away, with the besom of avenging justice, when God takes it in hand. The phrase denotes the facility and suddenness of the destruction, and the entirety of it, which should be brought about by means of a "hail" storm, the same with that in

Isaiah 28:2 which designs the Assyrian, or rather the Roman army, since the prophecy preceding relates to the times of Christ; and it may be, by the refuge of lies may be meant the temple, in which the Jews greatly placed their confidence, as Cocceius thinks:

and the waters shall overflow the hiding place; the city of Jerusalem, where they hid, and thought themselves safe: a mighty army rushing into a city, and putting the inhabitants to the sword, or to flight, or obliging them to surrender, may be fitly signified by an inundation of water; see Isaiah 8:7 very probably the army of the Romans under Vespasian.

w So Gataker.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Judgment also will I lay to the line - The sense of this is, I will judge them according to the exact rule of law, as an architect frames everything according to the rule which he uses. In other words, there shall be no mercy intermingled. The line is used by a carpenter for measuring; the plummet consists of a piece of lead attached to a string, and is also used by carpenters to obtain a perpendicular line. A carpenter works exactly according to the lines which are thus indicated, or his frame would not be properly adjusted. So God says that he would judge the people of Jerusalem according to the exact rule, without any intermingling of mercy.

And the hail ... - (see the note at Isaiah 28:2). Hail, hailstones, and floods of waters are frequent images of the divine vengeance and wrath Psalms 105:32; Isaiah 22:19; Isaiah 30:30; Ezekiel 13:13; Ezekiel 38:22; Revelation 8:7; Revelation 11:19; Revelation 16:21.