Isaiah 33:19

Modern

You will no longer see the insolent, a people whose speech is unintelligible, who stammer in a language you cannot understand.

Traditional

Thou shalt not see a fierce people, a people of a deeper speech than thou canst perceive; of a stammering tongue, that thou canst not understand.

Literal

A fierce people you will not see, a people in the depths of speech, beyond hearing, a stammering of the tongue without understanding.

Latin

Populum impudentem non videbis, populum alti sermonis, ita ut non possis intelligere disertitudinem linguæ ejus, in quo nulla est sapientia.

Hebrew

English

You will no longer see the insolent, a people whose speech is unintelligible, who stammer in a language you cannot understand.

The strange, unknown language was the language spoken in Assyria and later in Babylon (see Isaiah 28:11).

This vision is about God’s reign in Zion.

Theme notes and profiles

Isaiah 28:11
Indeed, with mocking lips and foreign tongues, He will speak to this people
Deuteronomy 28:49–50
The LORD will bring a nation from afar, from the ends of the earth, to swoop down upon you like an eagle—a nation whose language you will not understand,
Jeremiah 5:15
Behold, I am bringing a distant nation against you, O house of Israel,” declares the LORD. “It is an established nation, an ancient nation, a nation whose language you do not know and whose speech you do not understand.
2 Kings 19:32
So this is what the LORD says about the king of Assyria: ‘He will not enter this city or shoot an arrow into it. He will not come before it with a shield or build up a siege ramp against it.
Ezekiel 3:5–6
For you are not being sent to a people of unfamiliar speech or difficult language, but to the house of Israel—
Exodus 14:13
But Moses told the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the LORD’s salvation, which He will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians you see today, you will never see again.
1 Corinthians 14:21
It is written in the Law: “By strange tongues and foreign lips I will speak to this people, but even then they will not listen to Me, says the Lord.”