Isaiah 28:11
New International Version
Very well then, with foreign lips and strange tongues God will speak to this people,

New Living Translation
So now God will have to speak to his people through foreign oppressors who speak a strange language!

English Standard Version
For by people of strange lips and with a foreign tongue the LORD will speak to this people,

Berean Standard Bible
Indeed, with mocking lips and foreign tongues, He will speak to this people

King James Bible
For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people.

New King James Version
For with stammering lips and another tongue He will speak to this people,

New American Standard Bible
Indeed, He will speak to this people Through stammering lips and a foreign tongue,

NASB 1995
Indeed, He will speak to this people Through stammering lips and a foreign tongue,

NASB 1977
Indeed, He will speak to this people Through stammering lips and a foreign tongue,

Legacy Standard Bible
Indeed, He will speak to this people Through stammering lips and a foreign tongue,

Amplified Bible
Indeed, the LORD will teach this people [in a more humiliating way] By [men with] stammering lips and a foreign tongue,

Christian Standard Bible
For he will speak to this people with stammering speech and in a foreign language.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
So He will speak to this people with stammering speech and in a foreign language.

American Standard Version
Nay, but by men of strange lips and with another tongue will he speak to this people;

Contemporary English Version
So, the Lord will speak to his people in strange sounds and foreign languages.

English Revised Version
Nay, but by men of strange lips and with another tongue will he speak to this people:

GOD'S WORD® Translation
The LORD will speak to these people. He will mock them by speaking in a foreign language.

Good News Translation
If you won't listen to me, then God will use foreigners speaking some strange-sounding language to teach you a lesson.

International Standard Version
Very well, then, through the mouths of foreigners and foreign languages the LORD will speak to this people

Majority Standard Bible
Indeed, with mocking lips and foreign tongues, He will speak to this people

NET Bible
For with mocking lips and a foreign tongue he will speak to these people.

New Heart English Bible
But he will speak to this nation with stammering lips and a strange language;

Webster's Bible Translation
For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people.

World English Bible
But he will speak to this nation with stammering lips and in another language,
Literal Translations
Literal Standard Version
For by scorned lip, and by another tongue, "" Does He speak to this people.

Young's Literal Translation
For by scorned lip, and by another tongue, Doth He speak unto this people.

Smith's Literal Translation
For with the stammerings of the lip and with another tongue he will speak to this people.
Catholic Translations
Douay-Rheims Bible
For with the speech of lips, and with another tongue he will speak to this people.

Catholic Public Domain Version
For with the speech of lips and with a different language, he will speak to this people.

New American Bible
Yes, with stammering lips and in a strange language he will speak to this people,

New Revised Standard Version
Truly, with stammering lip and with alien tongue he will speak to this people,
Translations from Aramaic
Lamsa Bible
For with a difficult speech and with an alien tongue will he speak to this people.

Peshitta Holy Bible Translated
Because with difficult speech and in another language I shall speak with this people
OT Translations
JPS Tanakh 1917
For with stammering lips and with a strange tongue Shall it be spoken to this people;

Brenton Septuagint Translation
by reason of the contemptuous words of the lips, by means of another language: for they shall speak to this people, saying to them,

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Judgment on Ephraim
10For they hear: “Order on order, order on order, line on line, line on line; a little here, a little there.” 11Indeed, with mocking lips and foreign tongues, He will speak to this people 12to whom He has said: “This is the place of rest, let the weary rest; this is the place of repose.” But they would not listen.…

Cross References
1 Corinthians 14:21
It is written in the Law: “By strange tongues and foreign lips I will speak to this people, but even then they will not listen to Me, says the Lord.”

Deuteronomy 28:49
The LORD will bring a nation from afar, from the ends of the earth, to swoop down upon you like an eagle—a nation whose language you will not understand,

Jeremiah 5:15
Behold, I am bringing a distant nation against you, O house of Israel,” declares the LORD. “It is an established nation, an ancient nation, a nation whose language you do not know and whose speech you do not understand.

Acts 2:4-11
And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. / Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. / And when this sound rang out, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking his own language. ...

1 Corinthians 14:22
Tongues, then, are a sign, not for believers, but for unbelievers. Prophecy, however, is for believers, not for unbelievers.

Isaiah 33:19
You will no longer see the insolent, a people whose speech is unintelligible, who stammer in a language you cannot understand.

Isaiah 29:10-12
For the LORD has poured out on you a spirit of deep sleep. He has shut your eyes, O prophets; He has covered your heads, O seers. / And the entire vision will be to you like the words sealed in a scroll. If it is handed to someone to read, he will say, “I cannot, because it is sealed.” / Or if the scroll is handed to one unable to read, he will say, “I cannot read.”

1 Corinthians 1:22
Jews demand signs and Greeks search for wisdom,

Isaiah 32:4
The mind of the rash will know and understand, and the stammering tongue will speak clearly and fluently.

Isaiah 6:9-10
And He replied: “Go and tell this people, ‘Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving.’ / Make the hearts of this people calloused; deafen their ears and close their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.”

Matthew 13:14-15
In them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled: ‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving. / For this people’s heart has grown callous; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn, and I would heal them.’

Romans 11:8
as it is written: “God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that could not see, and ears that could not hear, to this very day.”

Ezekiel 3:5-6
For you are not being sent to a people of unfamiliar speech or difficult language, but to the house of Israel— / not to the many peoples of unfamiliar speech and difficult language whose words you cannot understand. Surely if I had sent you to them, they would have listened to you.

Isaiah 30:28
His breath is like a rushing torrent that rises to the neck. He comes to sift the nations in a sieve of destruction; He bridles the jaws of the peoples to lead them astray.

Isaiah 8:16
Bind up the testimony and seal the law among my disciples.


Treasury of Scripture

For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people.

with

Deuteronomy 28:49
The LORD shall bring a nation against thee from far, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flieth; a nation whose tongue thou shalt not understand;

Jeremiah 5:15
Lo, I will bring a nation upon you from far, O house of Israel, saith the LORD: it is a mighty nation, it is an ancient nation, a nation whose language thou knowest not, neither understandest what they say.

1 Corinthians 14:21
In the law it is written, With men of other tongues and other lips will I speak unto this people; and yet for all that will they not hear me, saith the Lord.

stammering lips.

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Isaiah 28
1. The prophet threatens Ephraim for their pride and drunkenness
5. The residue shall be advanced in the kingdom of Christ
7. He rebukes their error
9. Their unwillingness to learn
14. And their security
16. Christ the sure foundation is promised
17. Their security shall be tried
23. They are incited to the consideration of God's providence














For with stammering lips and foreign tongues
For
This word serves as a conjunction, linking the current verse to the preceding context. In Isaiah 28, the prophet is addressing the leaders of Ephraim and Judah, who have become complacent and arrogant. The use of "for" indicates a continuation of the warning and judgment that God is pronouncing through Isaiah. It suggests that what follows is a consequence or further explanation of the previous statements about the people's disobedience and pride.

with stammering lips
The Hebrew phrase here can be translated as "stammering" or "mocking," indicating speech that is difficult to understand or that seems nonsensical. Historically, this refers to the Assyrian invaders whose language would have been foreign and unintelligible to the Israelites. Theologically, it signifies God's judgment, as He allows a foreign nation to conquer and speak to His people in a language they do not understand, highlighting their failure to heed His clear instructions given through the prophets.

and foreign tongues
This phrase emphasizes the foreignness and unfamiliarity of the language spoken by the invaders. The Hebrew word for "foreign" can also mean "strange" or "alien," underscoring the idea that the Israelites will be addressed by those who are not of their own nation or culture. This serves as a metaphor for the spiritual alienation that results from their disobedience. In a broader scriptural context, it foreshadows the New Testament theme of the Gospel being preached to all nations and the inclusion of Gentiles into God's covenant community.

He will speak to this people
The "He" refers to God, who is ultimately in control of the events described. Despite the people's rebellion, God continues to communicate with them, albeit through the harsh means of foreign domination. This phrase underscores God's sovereignty and His relentless pursuit of His people, even when they turn away from Him. It serves as a reminder of God's justice and mercy, as He uses even difficult circumstances to draw His people back to Himself.

(11) With stammering lips and another tongue . . .--The "stammering lips" are those of the Assyrian conquerors, whose speech would seem to the men of Judah as a barbarous patois. They, with their short sharp commands, would be the next utterers of Jehovah's will to the people who would not listen to the prophet's teaching. The description of the "stammering tongue" re-appears in Isaiah 33:19. (Comp. Deuteronomy 28:49.) In 1Corinthians 14:21, the words are applied to the gift of "tongues," which, in its ecstatic utterances, was unintelligible to those who heard it, and was therefore, as the speech of the barbarian conquerors was in Isaiah's thoughts, the antithesis of true prophetic teaching.

Verses 11-13. - JUDAH'S PUNISHMENT. God will retort on the Jews their scorn of his prophet, and, as they will not be taught by his utterances, which they find to be childish and unrefined, will teach them by utterances still more unrefined - those of the Assyrians, which will be quite as monotonous and quite as full of minutiae as Isaiah's. Verse 11. - With stammering lips and with another tongue. The Assyrian language, though a Semitic idiom nearly allied to Hebrew, was sufficiently different to sound in the ears of a Jew like his own tongue mispronounced and barbarized.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
So
כִּ֚י (kî)
Conjunction
Strong's 3588: A relative conjunction

with stammering
בְּלַעֲגֵ֣י (bə·la·‘ă·ḡê)
Preposition-b | Adjective - masculine plural construct
Strong's 3934: A buffoon, a foreigner

speech
שָׂפָ֔ה (śā·p̄āh)
Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 8193: The lip, language, a margin

and a foreign
אַחֶ֑רֶת (’a·ḥe·reṯ)
Adjective - feminine singular
Strong's 312: Hinder, next, other

tongue,
וּבְלָשׁ֖וֹן (ū·ḇə·lā·šō·wn)
Conjunctive waw, Preposition-b | Noun - common singular
Strong's 3956: The tongue

He will speak
יְדַבֵּ֖ר (yə·ḏab·bêr)
Verb - Piel - Imperfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 1696: To arrange, to speak, to subdue

to
אֶל־ (’el-)
Preposition
Strong's 413: Near, with, among, to

this
הַזֶּֽה׃ (haz·zeh)
Article | Pronoun - masculine singular
Strong's 2088: This, that

people
הָעָ֥ם (hā·‘ām)
Article | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 5971: A people, a tribe, troops, attendants, a flock


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OT Prophets: Isaiah 28:11 But he will speak to this nation (Isa Isi Is)
Isaiah 28:10
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