Isaiah 28:19

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
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

the time: Isaiah 10:5, Isaiah 10:6, 2 Kings 17:6, 2 Kings 18:13, Ezekiel 21:19-23

and it: Isaiah 33:7, Isaiah 36:22, Isaiah 37:3, 1 Samuel 3:11, 2 Kings 21:12, Jeremiah 19:3, Daniel 7:28, Daniel 8:27, Habakkuk 3:16, Luke 21:25, Luke 21:26

to understand the report: or, when he shall make you to understand doctrine

Reciprocal: Deuteronomy 28:20 - vexation Job 1:18 - there came Job 41:9 - shall Isaiah 28:21 - his strange Jeremiah 6:24 - We have Ezekiel 21:7 - For the Zephaniah 3:5 - every morning

Cross-References

Genesis 12:8
From there Abram moved on to the hill country east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel to the west and Ai to the east. There he built an altar to the LORD, and he called on the name of the LORD.

Genesis 28:4
And may He give the blessing of Abraham to you and your descendants, so that you may possess the land where you dwell as a foreigner, the land God gave to Abraham."

Genesis 28:5
So Isaac sent Jacob to Paddan-aram, to Laban son of Bethuel the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau.

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."

Genesis 35:1
Then God said to Jacob, "Arise, go up to Bethel, and settle there. Build an altar there to the God who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau."

Genesis 48:3
Jacob said to Joseph, "God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and there He blessed me

1 Kings 12:29
One calf he set up in Bethel, and the other in Dan.

Hosea 4:15
Though you prostitute yourself, O Israel, may Judah avoid such guilt! Do not go to Gilgal, do not go up to Beth-aven, and do not swear on oath, 'As surely as the LORD lives!'

Gill's Notes on the Bible

From the time that it goeth forth, it shall take you,.... Or, "as soon as it passeth through" z, "it shall take you away"; as soon as it begins to overflow, and as it goes along, it shall make clear work, and carry you away with it; you will not be able to resist it, to withstand its motion, and stop its progress; but will be borne down by it, and carried away with it, either destroyed by it at once, or carried into captivity; so the Targum,

"in the time of its passing over, it shall carry you captive:''

for morning by morning shall it pass over, by day and by night; signifying that it should come very early, before they were aware of it and prepared for it, and should be constant and incessant, day after day, day and night, continually, until it had done its work thoroughly, in the utter destruction of them; which was true of the Assyrian, but especially of the Roman army:

and it shall be a vexation only [to] understand the report; the fame, the rumour of the enemy's coming, of his invasion of the land, of the devastation he makes everywhere, and of his progress and near approach to Jerusalem; the bare report of this only being made and confirmed, so that there was reason to believe it, would produce anguish and distress of mind, cause a commotion, a fear and trembling, and shaking of the joints, as the word a signifies; and therefore, how dreadful must the calamity itself be! or else this may be meant of the report of the prophecy of the Lord, which before they would not believe; but now the judgments threatened coming upon them, they would be made to understand it; so the Vulgate Latin version renders it, "and only vexation alone shall give understanding to the report"; and to this sense the Targum,

"and it shall be, before the time of the curse comes, that ye shall understand the words of the prophets;''

and, when it was come, should know to their sorrow, and by sad experience, the truth of what they had said.

z מדי עברו "mox ut pertransierit", Tigurine version. a זועה "commotio", Montanus, Piscator; "terror", Calvin; "pavor", Pagninus.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

From the time that it goeth forth it shall take you - It shall not delay, or be hindered, or put back. As soon as the judgment is sent forth from God it shall come upon you.

For morning by morning - Continually; without intermission. It shall be like floods and tempests that have no intermission; that are repeated every day, and continued every night, until everything is swept before them.

And it shall be a vexation - It shall be an object of alarm, of agitation, of distress - זועה z^evâ‛âh from זוע zûa‛, “to move oneself;” to tremble with alarm; to be troubled Ecclesiastes 12:3; Daniel 5:19; Daniel 6:27; Hebrews 2:7. Here it means that the calamity would be so great that it would fill the mind with horror only to hear of it. For similar expressions denoting the effect of hearing a report of the judgments of God, see 1 Samuel 3:11; 2 Kings 21:12; Jeremiah 19:3.

The report - Margin, ‘Doctrine’ (see the note at Isaiah 28:9).