Isaiah 28:9 kjv
Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts.
Isaiah 28:9 nkjv
"Whom will he teach knowledge? And whom will he make to understand the message? Those just weaned from milk? Those just drawn from the breasts?
Isaiah 28:9 niv
"Who is it he is trying to teach? To whom is he explaining his message? To children weaned from their milk, to those just taken from the breast?
Isaiah 28:9 esv
"To whom will he teach knowledge, and to whom will he explain the message? Those who are weaned from the milk, those taken from the breast?
Isaiah 28:9 nlt
"Who does the LORD think we are?" they ask.
"Why does he speak to us like this?
Are we little children,
just recently weaned?
Isaiah 28 9 Cross References
| Verse | Text | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| Isa 28:10-13 | "For it is precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line..." | Directly explains their childish dismissal of God's simple instruction, leading to foreign invasion. |
| 1 Cor 3:1-3 | "But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ... you are still worldly." | Paul refers to spiritual immaturity that requires basic teaching, similar to infants needing milk. |
| Heb 5:12-14 | "For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles... for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word..." | Describes those needing milk as unskilled, unable to discern solid food, contrasting with maturity. |
| Mt 18:3-4 | "Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest..." | Emphasizes humility and receptivity for divine truth, contrasting with the proud. |
| Mk 10:15 | "Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it." | Echoes the need for childlike receptivity and dependence for spiritual understanding. |
| Ps 119:99-100 | "I have more understanding than all my teachers, for your testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the aged, for I keep your precepts." | Demonstrates that true understanding comes from devotion to God's word, not worldly wisdom or age. |
| Prov 1:7 | "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction." | Basic principle of gaining wisdom and knowledge from God. |
| Prov 9:10 | "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight." | Reinforces that spiritual understanding starts with reverence for God. |
| Jer 5:21 | "Hear this, you foolish and senseless people, who have eyes, but do not see, who have ears, but do not hear." | Describes spiritual blindness and deafness, which Isaiah's audience displayed. |
| Jer 8:9 | "The wise men are put to shame; they are dismayed and caught; behold, they have rejected the word of the Lord, and what wisdom is in them?" | Directly addresses the rejection of God's word by those claiming to be wise. |
| Is 5:21 | "Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and shrewd in their own sight!" | Denounces self-exalting wisdom that resists God's teaching. |
| 2 Tim 3:7 | "always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth." | Describes those who appear to seek knowledge but resist foundational truth due to spiritual condition. |
| 1 Cor 14:21 | "In the Law it is written, 'By people of strange tongues and by the lips of foreigners will I speak to this people, and even then they will not listen,' says the Lord." | Paul quotes Isa 28:11-12, highlighting God's judgment through unintelligible (foreign) language for those who refuse to hear simple truth. |
| Dt 29:2-4 | "But to this day the Lord has not given you a heart to understand or eyes to see or ears to hear." | God's assessment of Israel's spiritual unresponsiveness, paralleling Isaiah's indictment. |
| Ez 2:4-5 | "The children are impudent and stubborn... 'whether they hear or refuse to hear—for they are a rebellious house—they will know that a prophet has been among them.'" | Highlights God sending prophets to rebellious people who refuse to listen. |
| Jer 6:10 | "To whom shall I speak and give warning, that they may hear? Behold, their ears are uncircumcised, and they cannot listen..." | Expresses the prophet's frustration with a spiritually unresponsive audience. |
| Pr 28:26 | "Whoever trusts in his own mind is a fool, but he who walks in wisdom will be delivered." | Contrasts human self-reliance with divine wisdom. |
| Ps 25:9 | "He leads the humble in justice, and he teaches the humble his way." | God instructs those who are meek and willing to learn. |
| Mt 11:25 | "I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children." | Jesus' affirmation that divine truth is often grasped by the humble and not the intellectually proud. |
| Jer 44:16-17 | "As for the word that you have spoken to us in the name of the Lord, we will not listen to you... we will do everything that we have vowed." | Example of outright rejection of God's word despite clear warnings. |
| Prov 26:12 | "Do you see a man who is wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him." | The spiritual danger of self-deception and pride in one's own intellect. |
Isaiah 28 verses
Isaiah 28 9 Meaning
Isaiah 28:9 presents a rhetorical question from God, delivered through the prophet Isaiah, challenging the self-proclaimed wise and discerning leaders of Judah and Ephraim. It satirically asks whom God can teach true knowledge and make understand His divine message. The verse then answers with an ironic twist: only those who are "weaned from milk" and "drawn from the breasts," implying that the supposedly mature spiritual leaders are so immature and resistant to God's clear revelation that they are like infants still needing basic instruction. This sets the stage for the next verses, which depict their rejection of simple divine precepts and the consequent judgment.
Isaiah 28 9 Context
Isaiah 28 opens with a "Woe to the proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim" (the Northern Kingdom of Israel), a condemnation primarily aimed at their corrupt leaders who indulged in luxury and spiritual blindness. The prophet condemns their arrogant self-assurance and their drunken revelry, which had made them spiritually obtuse and indifferent to God's impending judgment through the Assyrian invasion. They despised the prophets and their simple, clear messages of repentance. Verse 9 directly follows this condemnation, responding to their disdainful attitude towards Isaiah's consistent and plain instruction. It sets up the ironic reversal in verses 10-13, where God mocks their view of His "precept upon precept, line upon line" instruction by stating that He will indeed speak to them, but through the "stammering lips and foreign tongue" of their invaders, thus turning their scorn into a judgment.
Isaiah 28 9 Word analysis
Whom will he teach knowledge?:
- Whom (לְמִי - ləmî): A challenging interrogative, implying frustration and a rhetorical question that expects a negative or difficult answer.
- will he teach (יוֹרֶה - yôreh): From the root יָרָה (yarah), meaning "to throw, cast, shoot," and in the Hiphil stem, "to teach, instruct, lay down (as a foundation or law), point out, guide." It suggests an authoritative and guiding form of instruction. The prophet's question here suggests a people unwilling or unable to receive such divine teaching.
- knowledge (דָּעַת - da'at): A fundamental biblical concept signifying intellectual and experiential understanding, discernment, and often wisdom linked to knowing God and His ways. The question highlights that this essential spiritual knowledge is being rejected.
And whom will he make to understand the message?:
- make to understand (יָבִין - yāḇîn): From the root בִּין (bin), "to discern, perceive, understand." This implies not just hearing information but grasping its full meaning and significance. It's about spiritual comprehension.
- the message (שְׁמוּעָה - šəmûʿâ): From the root שָׁמַע (shama), "to hear, listen, obey." This term refers to something heard or reported, a report, tidings, or a divine revelation/word. The unresponsiveness of the audience renders them incapable of grasping this divine communication.
Those who are weaned from milk:
- weaned (גְּמוּלֵי - gəmûlê): From גָּמַל (gamal), meaning "to deal out," also specifically "to wean." This indicates a developmental stage: having moved past dependency on milk. In this satirical context, it implies a maturity level just past infancy, but still far from robust spiritual adulthood. They have supposedly "graduated" from the most basic teachings but remain profoundly immature.
- from milk (מֵחָלָב - mê-châlâb): Literally milk. In biblical literature, milk is a metaphor for basic, elementary nourishment. Here it represents the simplest, foundational spiritual truths, which the Israelites should have long mastered.
Those who are drawn from the breasts?:
- drawn (עַתִּיקֵי - ʿattiqê): From עָתַק (athaq), meaning "to move, depart, draw away." This further emphasizes separation from an infant's dependency.
- from the breasts (מִשָּׁדַיִם - miššādayim): Another literal image of an infant's primary source of nourishment and comfort. It underscores the utter basicness of what the audience is supposedly "too mature" for, highlighting their profound spiritual regression or unwillingness to truly learn.
Words-group by words-group analysis:
"Whom will he teach knowledge? And whom will he make to understand the message?": These two parallel rhetorical questions are key. They express God's exasperation and the profound spiritual immaturity of those who should be His leaders. It implies that these supposed adults, who scoffed at Isaiah's simple prophetic pronouncements, are paradoxically unteachable when it comes to fundamental divine knowledge and understanding. It's a cutting indictment of their perceived wisdom and self-sufficiency, which prevents them from receiving God's actual revelation. The emphasis is on the prideful unwillingness to learn.
"Those who are weaned from milk, those who are drawn from the breasts?": This is the biting, sarcastic answer. It mockingly suggests that God's teaching is only fit for infants. This directly reflects the contemptuous attitude of the elite toward Isaiah's clear, repetitive instruction, which they dismissed as fit only for toddlers ("precept upon precept, line upon line," as the next verse explicitly states). However, the divine irony turns the accusation on its head: precisely because they are like spiritually immature infants, despite their age and status, these very simple, foundational truths are precisely what they need. Their resistance indicates that they haven't even progressed past "milk," despite having been "weaned" developmentally. They are childish in their faith, unwilling to truly mature.
Isaiah 28 9 Bonus section
This verse encapsulates a classic biblical tension: God's clear revelation vs. humanity's resistant heart. The spiritual blindness depicted here is not due to God's failure to communicate, but the listeners' stubborn unwillingness to receive His message because of their pride, self-indulgence, and perceived intellectual superiority. This divine frustration is a recurring theme with God's covenant people. The use of satire and irony is a common prophetic device in Isaiah, used here to expose the profound hypocrisy of leaders who claimed to be knowledgeable but were spiritually impoverished. The imagery of infants needing milk is a potent metaphor throughout Scripture for foundational learning (e.g., 1 Cor 3, Heb 5) but is weaponized here by Isaiah against those who reject even that basic nourishment.
Isaiah 28 9 Commentary
Isaiah 28:9 acts as a profound rhetorical challenge from God, dissecting the spiritual immaturity and arrogance of the leading figures in Judah and Ephraim. These individuals, intoxicated both literally and figuratively by their own perceived wisdom and prosperity, had become deaf to God's straightforward prophetic messages. When the prophet delivered clear, repetitive instructions – basic precepts for living righteously and returning to God – they scoffed, viewing such pronouncements as primitive and condescending, fit only for babes who needed constant, simple repetition (as elaborated in verse 10).
Through this verse, God turns their scorn back on them. He asks, with bitter irony, to whom He can possibly teach knowledge or make them understand His revelation, concluding that perhaps only those literally weaned from infancy, still clinging to elementary needs, could absorb such truths. The implication is devastating: the supposed leaders of the nation, the "wise" and "discerning," were so spiritually obtuse and arrogant that they were less receptive to God's profound, yet simply expressed, truths than actual infants. Their pride and self-sufficiency prevented them from the humility necessary to truly learn from God. This refusal to hear simple truth is shown in the following verses to lead directly to their understanding God's judgment, delivered through the "stammering lips" of foreign invaders. The verse is a stark reminder that true spiritual maturity begins with humility and a willingness to embrace foundational truths, rather than disdainfully dismiss them.