From the time that it goeth forth it shall take you: for morning by morning shall it pass over, by day and by night: and it shall be a vexation only to understand the report.
There were two self-deceiving notions of the scoffers:
(1) That the scourge would not come;
(2) That it would pass through the land lightly, as a 'transient scourge.' Isaiah asserts that it will both come and be long enough to sweep them away.
From the time - `As often as (Septuagint, hotan it comes over (i:e., passes through mideey (H1767) `aabªruw (H5674)), it shall overtake you' (Horsley). Like a flood returning from time to time, frequent hostile invasions shall assail Judah after the deportation of the Ten tribes.
And it shall be a vexation only (to) understand the report - `it shall be a terror even to hear the mere report of it' (1 Samuel 3:11). I prefer Calvin's translation, 'it shall be (that) only vexation (Horsley, dispersion) shall make you to understand hearing' or 'giving ear.' They scorned at the simple way in which the prophet offered it (Isaiah 28:9), and "would not hear" (Isaiah 28:12), therefore they must be taught hearing by the severe teachings of adversity. The Hebrew and the sense support this translation; also the Septuagint and Vulgate ('Tantummodo sola vexatio intellectum dabit auditui').