Isaiah 28:21

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

in mount Perazim: 2 Samuel 5:20, 1 Chronicles 14:11

the valley: Joshua 10:10, Joshua 10:12, 2 Samuel 5:25, Geba, 1 Chronicles 14:16

his strange: Isaiah 28:19, Deuteronomy 29:21-24, Jeremiah 30:14, Lamentations 2:15, Lamentations 3:33, Ezekiel 33:21, Luke 19:41-44

Reciprocal: Numbers 16:30 - make a new thing Joshua 18:25 - Gibeon Job 31:3 - a strange Isaiah 28:29 - cometh Isaiah 29:14 - I will Isaiah 31:2 - arise Habakkuk 1:5 - for Habakkuk 3:11 - sun 1 Peter 4:12 - think

Cross-References

Exodus 15:2
The LORD is my strength and my song, and He has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will praise Him, my father's God, and I will exalt Him.

Deuteronomy 26:17
Today you have proclaimed that the LORD is your God and that you will walk in His ways, keep His statutes and commandments and ordinances, and listen to His voice.

Judges 11:31
then whatever comes out of the door of my house to greet me on my triumphant return from the Ammonites will belong to the LORD, and I will offer it up as a burnt offering."

2 Samuel 15:8
For your servant made a vow while dwelling in Geshur of Aram, saying: 'If indeed the LORD brings me back to Jerusalem, I will worship the LORD in Hebron.'"

2 Samuel 19:24
Then Mephibosheth, Saul's grandson, went down to meet the king. He had not cared for his feet or trimmed his mustache or washed his clothes from the day the king had left until the day he returned safely.

2 Samuel 19:30
And Mephibosheth said to the king, "Instead, since my lord the king has safely come to his own house, let Ziba take it all!"

2 Kings 5:17
"If you will not," said Naaman, "please let me, your servant, be given as much soil as a pair of mules can carry. For your servant will never again make a burnt offering or a sacrifice to any other god but the LORD.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

For the Lord shall rise up as [in] Mount Perazim,.... Where the Lord broke forth on David's enemies the Philistines, as the breach of waters; see Isaiah 28:17 and destroyed them, from whence the place had the name of Baalperazim, 2 Samuel 5:20. The Targum is,

"for as the mountain which moved when the glory of the Lord was revealed in the days of Uzziah the king;''

referring to the earthquake in his time, Amos 1:1:

he shall be wroth as [in] the valley of Gibeon; Josephus Ben Gorion b makes mention of the valley of Gibeon, where a battle was fought between Cestius the Roman general and the Jews, in which the latter got the victory, and says it was about six miles from Jerusalem: here the Philistines were smitten, returning again after they had been vanquished before, 1 Chronicles 14:16 though it is more generally thought that this refers to the discomfiture of the Canaanites in the times of Joshua, when also hailstones fell upon them, and destroyed many; see

Isaiah 28:17 and when the sun and moon stood still till Israel were avenged on their enemies, and which showed the power and presence of God with them, Joshua 10:10 and so the Targum, which adds,

"and in the miracles which he (the Lord) did for Joshua, in the valley of Gibeon;''

and these instances are mentioned as proofs of the divine power and vengeance, and to assure the Jews that the Lord would rise up in the same wrath and indignation against them, and consume them:

that he may do his work, his strange work, and bring to pass his act, his strange act; which may be called so, because in the above mentioned instances he fought for his people Israel, but in this he would fight against them; and because this was a work and act of strict justice and awful severity, and not so agreeable to him as acts of mercy, grace, and goodness, in which he delights; or rather, because it was an unusual one, marvellous and surprising, and would be so to the Jews themselves, and even to their enemies, and to all the world, as the destruction of Jerusalem was, especially as by the Romans; see Habakkuk 1:5. Vitringa, besides this, adds the calling of the Gentiles, the seizing of the inheritance of the world, and the destruction of the kingdom of Satan in the Roman empire. The Targum interprets this in a very contrary sense, of such as do strange works, idolatry, for which they are consumed.

b L. 6. c. 5. p. 559. Vid. Joseph. de Bello Jud. l. 2. c. 19. sect. 1.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

For the Lord shall rise up - To rise up is indicative of going forth to judgment, as when one rises from his seat to accomplish anything.

As in mount Perazim - There is reference here, doubtless, to the event recorded in 2 Samuel 5:20-21, and 1 Chronicles 14:11, where David is said to have defeated the Philistines at Baal-Perazim. This place was near to the valley of Rephaim 2 Samuel 5:19, and not far from Jerusalem. The word ‘Perazim’ is from פרץ pârats, to tear, or break forth, as waters do that have been confined; and is indicative of sudden judgment, and of a complete overthrow. It was on that account given to the place where David obtained a signal and complete victory 2 Samuel 5:20; and it is here referred to, to denote that God would come forth in a sudden manner to destroy Jerusalem and Judea. He would come upon them like bursting waters, and sweep them away to a distant land.

As in the valley of Gibeon - In 1 Chronicles 14:16, it is said that after the victory of Baal-Perazim, ‘David smote the host of the Philistines from Gibeon even to Gaza.’ This victory is doubtless referred to here, and not the victory of Joshua over the Gibeonites Joshua 10:10, as Vitringa and others suppose.

That he may do his work, his strange work - This is called his strange work because it would be inflicted on his people. He had destroyed their enemies often, but now he was about to engage in the unusual work of coming forth against his own people, and sweeping them away to a distant land. The work of judgment and punishment may be called the “strange” work of God always, inasmuch as it is not that in which he delights to engage, and is foreign to the benevolence of his heart. It is especially so when his own people are the objects of his displeasure, and when their sins are such as to demand that he should visit them with the tokens of his wrath.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Isaiah 28:21. As in Mount Perazim — כהר kehar; but בהר bahar, IN the mount, is the reading of two of Kennicott's, one of De Rossi's, and one of my own MSS.