The Great Isaiah Scroll, the best preserved of the biblical scrolls found at Qumran from the second century BC, contains all the verses in this chapter.
The parashah sections listed here are based on the Aleppo Codex.[4] Isaiah 28 is a part of the Prophecies about Judah and Israel (Isaiah 24–35). {P}: open parashah; {S}: closed parashah.
Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, whose glorious beauty is a fading flower, which are on the head of the fat valleys of them that are overcome with wine![5]
"Crown": refers to Samaria, the capital city of the northern kingdom of Israel ("Ephraim"), where the priests and prophets are included among the drunkards (cf. verse 7).[6]
A cornerstone in Zion (28:14–22)
Verse 16
Therefore thus saith the Lord God,
Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone,
a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation:
Verses 23–29 constitute a parable or mashal drawn from the "wisdom of the countryman".[10] He first of all claims the attention of his audience as a teacher of wisdom, next shares his illustration from the approach of the farmer, then "leaves his hearers to interpret and apply the parable themselves".[10]