Isaiah 28 · Verse 23

Isaiah 28:23

Give ye ear, and hear my voice; hearken, and hear my speech.
Isaiah 28:23, King James Version

Isaiah 28:23 in other translations

BSBListen and hear my voice. Pay attention and hear what I say.
WEBGive ear, and hear my voice! Listen, and hear my speech!
ASVGive ye ear, and hear my voice; hearken, and hear my speech.
YLTGive ear, and hear my voice, Attend, and hear my saying:
DARBYGive ear, and hear my voice; hearken, and hear my speech.
BBELet your ears be open to my voice; give attention to what I say.
WebsterGive ye ear, and hear my voice; hearken, and hear my speech.

What does Isaiah 28:23 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
23. Calling attention to the following illustration from husbandry (Psa 49:1, 2). As the husbandman does his different kinds of work, each in its right time and due proportion, so God adapts His measures to the varying exigencies of the several cases: now mercy, now judgments; now punishing sooner, now later (an answer to the scoff that His judgments, being put off so long, would never come at all, Is 5:19); His object being not to destroy His people any more than the farmer's object in threshing is to destroy his crop; this vindicates God's "strange work" (Is 28:21) in punishing His people. Compare the same image, Jr 24:6; Ho 2:23; Mt 3:12.

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 23 Give ye ear, and hear my voice "Listen ye, and hear my voice" - The foregoing discourse, consisting of severe reproofs, and threatenings of dreadful judgments impending on the Jews for their vices, and their profane contempt of God's warnings by his messengers, the prophet concludes with an explanation and defense of God's method of dealing with his people in an elegant parable or allegory; in which he employs a variety of images, all taken from the science of agriculture. As the husbandman uses various methods in preparing his land, and adapting it to the several kinds of seeds to be sown, with a due observation of times and seasons; and when he hath gathered in his harvest, employs methods as various in separating the corn from the straw and the chaff by different instruments, according to the nature of the different sorts of grain; so God, with unerring wisdom, and with strict justice, instructs, admonishes, and corrects his people; chastises and punishes them in various ways, as the exigence of the case requires; now more moderately, now more severely; always tempering justice with mercy; in order to reclaim the wicked, to improve the good, and, finally, to separate the one from the other.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Isaiah 28:23-29
The husbandman applies to his calling with pains and prudence, in all the works of it according to their nature. Thus the Lord, who has given men this wisdom, is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in his working. As the occasion requires, he threatens, corrects, spares, shows mercy, or executes vengeance. Afflictions are God's threshing instruments, to loosen us from the world, to part between us and our chaff, and to prepare us for use. God will proportion them to our strength; they shall be no heavier than there is need. When his end is answered, the trials and sufferings of his people shall cease; his wheat shall be gathered into the garner, but the chaff shall be burned with unquenchable fire.

Matthew Henry, 1706 · public domain

Isaiah 28:23 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

הַאֲזִ֥ינוּha.'a.Zi.nugive earH238
וְשִׁמְע֖וּve.shim.'Uand hearH8085
קוֹלִ֑יko.Livoice myH6963
הַקְשִׁ֥יבוּhak.Shi.vupay attentionH7181
וְשִׁמְע֖וּve.shim.'Uand hearH8085
אִמְרָתִֽי\׃'im.ra.Tiutterance myH565

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Isaiah 28:23

  • Isaiah 1:2

    Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the Lord hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me.

  • Jeremiah 22:29

    O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the Lord.

  • Deuteronomy 32:1

    Give ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak; and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth.

  • Revelation 2:14

    But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication.

  • Revelation 2:11

    He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.

  • Revelation 2:7

    He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.

  • Revelation 2:29

    He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
1:2; De 32:1; Jer 22:29; Re 2:7,11,14,29

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • Isaiah 28:22

    Now therefore be ye not mockers, lest your bands be made strong: for I have heard from the Lord God of hosts a consumption, even determined upon the whole earth.

  • Isaiah 28:23

    Give ye ear, and hear my voice; hearken, and hear my speech.

  • Isaiah 28:24

    Doth the plowman plow all day to sow? doth he open and break the clods of his ground?

Read all of Isaiah 28

Isaiah 28:23 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		Estad atentos, y oid mi voz; estad atentos, y oid mi dicho.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		Prêtez l’oreille, et écoutez ma voix; soyez attentifs, et écoutez ma parole.
German
Elberfelder 1871		Nehmet zu Ohren und höret meine Stimme, merket auf und höret meine Rede!
Latin
Clementine Vulgate		Auribus percipite, et audite vocem meam: attendite, et audite eloquium meum.