Isaiah 28:8 - Printer Friendly

ESV: For all tables are full of filthy vomit, with no space left.

NIV: All the tables are covered with vomit and there is not a spot without filth.

NASB: For all the tables are full of filthy vomit, without a single clean place.

CSB: Indeed, all their tables are covered with vomit; there is no place without a stench.

NLT: Their tables are covered with vomit; filth is everywhere.

KJV: For all tables are full of vomit and filthiness, so that there is no place clean.

NKJV: For all tables are full of vomit and filth; No place is clean.

Isaiah is not being diplomatic in these verses. He wants his readers to see why the people of Samaria and Israel are so far away from the Lord. One problem is the open drunkenness of Israel's leaders, including her religious leaders. The priests and prophets have abandoned all responsibility for representing the Lord to the people and the people to the Lord. They do not even try to hide their intoxication.

Isaiah paints a vivid picture of a debauched night out: The tables are covered in filthy vomit. There's no place left to set anything down. And these are the assembled religious leaders of Israel!

As in the rest of Scripture, Isaiah does not condemn alcohol in general. He is condemning the religious leaders who had so abandoned their responsibility to God and to the people that they willingly embraced an ongoing lifestyle of public drunkenness. Most likely, this implied other forms of unrestrained pleasure-seeking.

Isaiah 28:1–13 poetically describes Israel's capital Samaria as a crown or wreath on the head of a beautiful valley. Its leaders, though, are drunkards, and the wilted wreath will be trampled by the hailstorm of the Lord's judgment. This comes in the form of Assyrian invaders. Then God will be the glorious crown of Israel once more. Israel's prophets and priests live in a drunken stupor, staggering, vomiting, and mocking Isaiah's warning message from the Lord. Isaiah assures them they will hear the message firsthand from foreign lips when the Lord's judgment falls on them.

Samaria, the capital of Israel, also called Ephraim, is the beautiful crown on the head of the rich valley below. Her leaders are proud and drunk. The Lord will send the Assyrians to trample the crown and send the people into exile. Israel's religious leaders mock Isaiah, but they will hear the Lord's message from the Assyrians. Isaiah warns Jerusalem's leaders not to mock his warning to them from the Lord about the same fate. Their covenant with death will fail. The hailstorm of the Assyrians will beat them down. The Lord's counsel is wonderful.

Isaiah 28 begins a new section following the previous four chapters about Israel's glorious future with the Lord as her king. Now, though, the Lord is sending the Assyrians to judge His own people, first in Ephraim, which is Israel, and then in Judah. The beautiful capital city of Samaria will be trampled like a wilted wreath. Israel's religious leaders mock Isaiah but will hear the Lord's message from the Assyrians themselves. Isaiah warns Jerusalem's leaders not to scoff at his message. Despite Judah's agreements with other nations, the Lord will send the overwhelming scourge to wash away their refuge of lies. The next three chapters of Isaiah (29—31) predict siege and distress for Jerusalem but also promise that God will destroy Judah's enemies and bless them if they return to Him.

Isaiah is among the most important prophetic books in the entire Bible. The first segment details God's impending judgment against ancient peoples for sin and idolatry (Isaiah 1—35). The second part of Isaiah briefly explains a failed assault on Jerusalem during the rule of Hezekiah (Isaiah 36—39). The final chapters predict Israel's rescue from Babylonian captivity (Isaiah 40—48), the promised Messiah (Isaiah 49—57), and the final glory of Jerusalem and God's people (Isaiah 58—66).

Accessed 10/12/2025 2:32:22 AM