For by people of strange lips and with a foreign tongue the LORD will speak to this people,
English Standard Version (ESV)
God declares that because His people reject His messengers and find their teachings too simple, He will speak to them through the harsh, foreign language of their conquerors. This is not about a literal inability to understand, but rather about God using a severe, humbling experience to finally get their attention.
For by people of strange lips and with a foreign tongue the LORD will speak to this people,
English Standard Version (ESV)
Isaiah delivers a stark warning to Judah, who have been mocking him and dismissing his prophecies as childish simplicity. In response, God declares that He will speak to them not through their own language and understandable teachings, but through the harsh, foreign tongue of their conquerors, the Assyrians. This will be a humiliating lesson for a people who refuse to listen to God's gentle invitations to rest and peace.
Imagine being completely unable to understand what's being said around you, not out of choice, but because the language itself is foreign and harsh. What does it mean when God turns to His people and speaks in this way?
In Isaiah 28:11, the Lord declares He will speak to His people "with stammering lips and with another tongue." This isn't just a random linguistic shift; it's a form of divine judgment.
A Choice Ignored
The people of Judah had been repeatedly warned by Isaiah and other prophets in their own language. They had treated these clear messages of truth and warning as if they were childish babble, too simplistic for them to heed (Isaiah 28:10). They refused to listen to God's guidance, which was meant to be their rest and refreshment.
The Consequence of Rejection
When God's people reject His clear communication, a consequence follows: God will speak to them in a way they cannot ignore, even if it's through a foreign, harsh, and unintelligible tongue. In this context, the "another tongue" refers to the language of the invading Assyrian army. Their commands, their subjugation, and their very presence would be a powerful, albeit terrifying, message from God.
This wasn't a new method for God. Throughout history, when people refuse to hear God's voice speaking truth in love, He may allow them to experience the harsh realities that come through judgment, often delivered by forces they don't understand or expect.
What happens when people mock the very "wisdom" God offers? Isaiah's message reveals a chilling divine response to such contempt.
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Isaiah 28:11-13 paints a stark picture of divine response to those who scorn God's wisdom.
Scorned Simplicity
The people in Isaiah's day found God's messages, delivered through the prophets, to be too elementary. They described it as "precept upon precept, line upon line, here a little, and there a little" (Isaiah 28:10), implying it was fit only for babes. They felt they were too sophisticated for such simple instruction.
God's Retaliation
God's response is not to lower His message further, but to show the terrifying consequences of their scorn. Since they found His clear word like childish babble, He would speak to them through a language that was indeed unintelligible and harsh – the language of foreign conquerors (the Assyrians). Their own contempt for God's revealed truth would be mirrored in the incomprehensible and oppressive messages delivered by their enemies.
The 'Strange Work'
This act of speaking through a foreign tongue is described by scholars as God's "strange work." It's "strange" not because it's outside God's power, but because His nature is to communicate clearly and lovingly. This judgmental speaking is contrary to His desire, a response to human rebellion. Their inability to understand God's rest and refreshment offered through His word would be replaced by the harsh, confusing, and terrifying "message" of their oppressors.
Understand the original words
YHWH · Hebrew Proper Noun
The personal, covenantal name of God, revealed to Israel, emphasizing His self-existence and faithfulness to His promises. It is the name by which He makes Himself known as the Redeemer of His people.
This verse directly addresses the impending judgment of Judah by the Assyrian Empire. The 'stammering lips and strange tongue' represent the language of the foreign invaders who will conquer the land, highlighting God's judgment through the very means of terror and oppression that the people sought to avoid through their political and spiritual compromises.
c. 722 BC
Fall of the Northern Kingdom (Israel)
The Assyrian Empire conquers the northern kingdom of Israel, deporting many of its citizens and scattering them among its vast territories. This event serves as a stark warning to the southern kingdom of Judah.
c. 701 BC— this verse
Assyrian Siege of Jerusalem
Under King Sennacherib, the Assyrian army invades Judah, capturing many fortified cities and ultimately besieging Jerusalem. Though the city is miraculously spared, the threat and the Assyrian presence deeply impact the people of Judah.
605 BC
First Babylonian Deportation
The Neo-Babylonian Empire under Nebuchadnezzar II begins its campaigns against Judah, leading to the first wave of exiles to Babylon. This marks the start of Judah's decline and eventual destruction.
586 BC
Destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple
Nebuchadnezzar II completely destroys Jerusalem and its Temple, culminating the Babylonian conquest. This catastrophic event is a major turning point for the Jewish people, marking the beginning of the Babylonian exile.
This passage directly quotes Isaiah 28:11 when Paul explains that speaking in tongues, though a sign for unbelievers, can be unintelligible and sound like stammering, paralleling the foreign language in Isaiah used as a judgment.
Deuteronomy 28:49This Old Testament passage prophesies that a nation with a language they do not understand will come against Israel, directly mirroring the consequence described in Isaiah where God speaks through a foreign tongue.
Jeremiah 5:15Jeremiah also warns of a distant nation with a foreign language that will devour the land, reinforcing the theme of God using foreign languages as a tool of judgment against a disobedient people.
Habakkuk 1:7The prophet Habakkuk describes the Chaldeans as fearsome and formidable, whose own ordinance and majesty come from themselves, highlighting the terror and foreignness of the language Isaiah predicts.
bensonIsaiah 28:11: "For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people."
Isaiah 28:11-12 . For — Or, rather, therefore, as the particle כי is often used. For the prophet here evidently intends to express the punishment of their dulness. With stammering lips, and another tongue — By people of a strange language, whom he will bring among them, and into whose power he will deliver them; will he speak to this people — Seeing they will not hear him speaking by his prophets and minis…
cambridgeIsaiah 28:11: "For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people."
11 . Isaiah parries the gibe with a terrible threat. Jehovah is about to employ a more uncouth language, to which their mocking description will fully apply, viz., the harsh barbarous accents of the Assyrian invaders. stammering lips ] either “stammerings of lip” or “stammerers of lip” (cf. the Greek use of βάρβαρος ). Comp. 1 Corinthians 14:21 .
God declares that because His people reject His messengers and find their teachings too simple, He will speak to them through the harsh, foreign language of their conquerors. This is not about a literal inability to understand, but rather about God using a severe, humbling experience to finally get their attention.
Isaiah delivers a stark warning to Judah, who have been mocking him and dismissing his prophecies as childish simplicity. In response, God declares that He will speak to them not through their own language and understandable teachings, but through the harsh, foreign tongue of their conquerors, the Assyrians. This will be a humiliating lesson for a people who refuse to listen to God's gentle invitations to rest and peace.
Isaiah delivers a stark warning to Judah, who have been mocking him and dismissing his prophecies as childish simplicity. In response, God declares that He will speak to them not through their own language and understandable teachings, but through the harsh, foreign tongue of their conquerors, the Assyrians. This will be a humiliating lesson for a people who refuse to listen to God's gentle invitations to rest and peace.
"For by people of strange lips and with a foreign tongue the LORD will speak to this people," — God declares that because His people reject His messengers and find their teachings too simple, He will speak to them through the harsh, foreign language of their conquerors. This is not about a lite…
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Last reviewed October 2026