Isaiah 28:12-13

28:12 In the past he said to them, ¹ 

“This is where security can be found.

Provide security for the one who is exhausted!

This is where rest can be found.” ² 

But they refused to listen.

28:13 So the Lord’s word to them will sound like

meaningless gibberish,

senseless babbling,

a syllable here, a syllable there. ³ 

As a result, they will fall on their backsides when they try to walk, ⁴ 

and be injured, ensnared, and captured. ⁵ 

[28:12]  ¹ tn Heb “who said to them.”

[28:12]  ² sn This message encapsulates the Lord’s invitation to his people to find security in his protection and blessing.

[28:13]  ³ tn Heb “And the word of the Lord will be to them, ‘tsahv latsahv,’ etc.” See the note at v. 10. In this case the “Lord’s word” is not the foreigner’s strange sounding words (as in v. 10), but the Lord’s repeated appeals to them (like the one quoted in v. 12). As time goes on, the Lord’s appeals through the prophets will have no impact on the people; they will regard prophetic preaching as gibberish.

[28:13]  ⁴ tn Heb “as a result they will go and stumble backward.” Perhaps an infant falling as it attempts to learn to walk is the background image here (cf. v. 9b). The Hebrew term לְמַעַן (lÿma’an) could be taken as indicating purpose (“in order that”), rather than simple result. In this case the people’s insensitivity to the message is caused by the Lord as a means of expediting their downfall.

[28:13]  ⁵ sn When divine warnings and appeals become gibberish to the spiritually insensitive, they have no guidance and are doomed to destruction.