Isaiah 28:11 and the Command to Teach in Hebrew
Isaiah 28:11 states, "But he will speak to this nation with stammering lips and in another language" (Isaiah 28:11). This verse is part of a larger prophetic message in Isaiah 28 concerning the judgment of God upon the unfaithful leaders of Israel, particularly those in Ephraim and Jerusalem [1]. The preceding verses describe these leaders as drunkards and scoffers who mock Isaiah's warnings, likening his teaching to childish babble: "precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little" [6].
The immediate context of Isaiah 28:11 suggests that God's communication will shift from the familiar words of the prophet to a foreign tongue, symbolizing divine judgment [7]. The "stammering lips and another language" refer to the speech of foreign invaders, specifically the Assyrians and Babylonians, whose Semitic dialects would have sounded alien to the Judeans [7]. This foreign speech would serve as a severe lesson from God to a people who refused to heed His prophets [7]. The prophet Isaiah implies that because the people would not understand God's clear instruction, He would speak to them in a way they found even more unintelligible [7].
Some interpretations connect this passage to the broader theme of divine instruction. Abraham Ibn Ezra, a rationalist Jewish commentator, suggests that a teacher might simplify difficult pronunciations, and similarly, the prophet must adapt his speech when rebuking the people [4]. However, in Isaiah 28:11, the "other language" is not a simplification but a sign of impending hardship, exile, and death, through which God would speak to His hardened people [5]. The idea of God teaching and instructing is also present elsewhere in Isaiah, such as in Isaiah 28:26, which states, "For his God instructs and teaches him properly" [2, 3].
In the New Testament, Paul references Isaiah 28:11 in 1 Corinthians 14:21-22, applying it to the spiritual gift of tongues as a sign of judgment for unbelievers [5]. This demonstrates how the prophetic imagery of a foreign tongue, initially a sign of impending military conquest, was later reinterpreted in a spiritual context within early Christian thought.
Sources
- Isaiah “But he will speak to this nation with stammering lips and in another language; -- Isaiah 28:11”
- Isaiah “Isaiah 28:26 (NASB) — For his God instructs and teaches him properly.”
- Isaiah (Presbyterian) “Jamieson, Fausset & Brown on Isaiah 28:26: to discretion--in the due rules of husbandry; God first taught it to man (Gen 3:23).”
- Sefaria (Jewish (Rationalist)) “Abraham Ibn Ezra on Isaiah 28:11: And with another tongue. The teacher usually tries to substitute letters which are easy to pronounce for the more difficult ones; in the same manner the prophet must speak, when he rebukes this people.”
- Isaiah (Protestant academic) “Tyndale House on Isaiah 28:11: 28:11 God will have to speak through circumstances such as hardship, exile, and death in order to get through to his hardened people. • a strange language: In the New Testament, Paul applied this text to the spiritual gift of tongues as a sign of judgment to unbelievers (see 1 Cor 14:21-22).”
- Isaiah (Presbyterian) “Jamieson, Fausset & Brown on Isaiah 28:9: Here the drunkards are introduced as scoffingly commenting on Isaiah's warnings: "Whom will he (does Isaiah presume to) teach knowledge? And whom will He make to understand instruction? Is it those (that is, does he take us to be) just weaned, &c.? For (he is constantly repeating, as if to little children) precept upon precept," &c. line--a rule or law. [MAURER]. The repetition of sounds in Hebrew tzav latzav, tzav latzav, qav laqav, qav laquav, expresses the scorn of the imitators of Isaiah's speaking; he spoke stammering (Isa 28:11). God's mode of ”
- Isaiah (Presbyterian) “Jamieson, Fausset & Brown on Isaiah 28:11: 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; Isa 36:11). To them who will not understand God will speak still more unintelligibly.”