Read & explore together
Listen and Hear
Isaiah 28:23–29 calls people to listen closely. Using pictures from farming, it shows that wise work changes with the task, and it ends by saying that this wisdom comes from Yahweh of Armies.
Understanding the passage
The setting of this message
This passage is a spoken teaching made of commands, questions and explanation. It moves through ploughing, planting and threshing, then names Yahweh of Armies as the source of the wisdom seen in these fitting actions.
Isaiah 28:23–29Main takeaway
This passage teaches that wise judgment uses the right method at the right time, and that such wisdom comes from Yahweh of Armies.
Explore the message
Open a card to explore the full explanation and its Bible references.
01Listen before the lessonThe opening line repeats the call to hear: give ear, hear, listen, hear. The repeated words slow the reader down and make attention part of the message itself.
Explanation
The opening line repeats the call to hear: give ear, hear, listen, hear. The repeated words slow the reader down and make attention part of the message itself. What follows is not casual talk but instruction that must be carefully received.
02Ploughing leads to plantingThe questions about ploughing expect the answer no. A farmer does not keep breaking the soil forever.
Explanation
The questions about ploughing expect the answer no. A farmer does not keep breaking the soil forever. After levelling the surface, he plants different seeds in their places. The picture shows that one task has its time, then another fitting task follows.
03God teaches right judgmentVerse 26 explains the source of the farmer’s skill. His God instructs him in right judgment and teaches him.
Explanation
Verse 26 explains the source of the farmer’s skill. His God instructs him in right judgment and teaches him. The passage does not present good practice as mere habit. It points to God as the one who teaches fitting and orderly action.
04Different crops, different treatmentDill and cumin are not threshed with the same heavy tools used for other grain. Bread flour is ground, but not endlessly.
Explanation
Dill and cumin are not threshed with the same heavy tools used for other grain. Bread flour is ground, but not endlessly. The methods have limits and suit the crop. The final verse says this wisdom comes from Yahweh of Armies, wonderful in counsel and excellent in wisdom.
Questions to explore
Pause, look back at the verses and talk together.
01What effect do the repeated hearing words have at the start of the passage?
Isaiah 28:23 piles up commands to hear, showing that careful attention is necessary before the teaching unfolds.
02How do the farming questions show that wise work is not always done the same way?
Isaiah 28:24 and Isaiah 28:25 move from ploughing to planting, and each crop is placed differently.
03Where does the passage say this practical wisdom comes from?
Isaiah 28:26 says God instructs and teaches, and Isaiah 28:29 praises Yahweh of Armies for counsel and wisdom.
Read the Bible passage
World English Bible ClassicScripture quotation · Public domain
Isaiah 28:23–29
23Give ear, and hear my voice! Listen, and hear my speech!
24Does he who plows to sow plow continually? Does he keep turning the soil and breaking the clods?
25When he has leveled its surface, doesn’t he plant the dill, and scatter the cumin seed, and put in the wheat in rows, the barley in the appointed place, and the spelt in its place?
26For his God instructs him in right judgment and teaches him.
27For the dill isn’t threshed with a sharp instrument, neither is a cart wheel turned over the cumin; but the dill is beaten out with a stick, and the cumin with a rod.
28Bread flour must be ground; so he will not always be threshing it. Although he drives the wheel of his threshing cart over it, his horses don’t grind it.
29This also comes out from Yahweh of Armies, who is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in wisdom.