Isaiah 28
28
Warnings to Israel
1How terrible it will be for Samaria, the pride of Israel’s drunken people!
That beautiful crown of flowers is just a dying plant
set on a hill above a rich valley where drunkards live.
2Look, the Lord has someone who is strong and powerful.
Like a storm of hail and strong wind,
like a sudden flood of water pouring over the country,
he will throw Samaria down to the ground.
3That city, the pride of Israel’s drunken people,
will be trampled underfoot.
4That beautiful crown of flowers is just a dying plant
set on a hill above a rich valley.
That city will be like the first fig of summer.
Anyone who sees it
quickly picks it and eats it.
5At that time the Lord All-Powerful
will be like a beautiful crown,
like a wonderful crown of flowers
for his people who are left alive.
6Then he will give wisdom to the judges who must decide cases
and strength to those who battle at the city gate.
7But now those leaders are drunk with wine;
they stumble from drinking too much beer.
The priests and prophets are drunk with beer
and are filled with wine.
They stumble from too much beer.
The prophets are drunk when they see their visions;
the judges stumble when they make their decisions.
8Every table is covered with vomit,
so there is not a clean place anywhere.
9The Lord is trying to teach the people a lesson;
he is trying to make them understand his teachings.
But the people are like babies too old for breast milk,
like those who no longer nurse at their mother’s breast.
10So they make fun of the Lord’s prophet and say:
“A command here, a command there.
A rule here, a rule there.
A little lesson here, a little lesson there.”
11So the Lord will use strange words and foreign languages
to speak to these people.
12God said to them,
“Here is a place of rest;
let the tired people come and rest.
This is the place of peace.”
But the people would not listen.
13So the words of the Lord will be,
“A command here, a command there.
A rule here, a rule there.
A little lesson here, a little lesson there.”
They will fall back and be defeated;
they will be trapped and captured.
14So listen to the Lord’s message, you who brag,
you leaders in Jerusalem.
15You say, “We have made an agreement with death;
we have a contract with death.
When terrible punishment passes by,
it won’t hurt us.
Our lies will keep us safe,
and our tricks will hide us.”
16Because of these things, this is what the Lord God says:
“I will put a stone in the ground in Jerusalem,
a tested stone.
Everything will be built on this important and precious rock.
Anyone who trusts in it will never be disappointed.
17I will use justice as a measuring line
and goodness as the standard.
The lies you hide behind will be destroyed as if by hail.
They will be washed away as if in a flood.
18Your agreement with death will be erased;
your contract with death will not help you.
When terrible punishment comes,
you will be crushed by it.
19Whenever punishment comes, it will take you away.
It will come morning after morning;
it will defeat you by day and by night.
Those who understand this punishment will be terrified.”
20You will be like the person who tried to sleep
on a bed that was too short
and with a blanket that was too narrow
to wrap around himself.
21The Lord will fight as he did at Mount Perazim.
He will be angry as he was in the Valley of Gibeon.
He will do his work, his strange work.
He will finish his job, his strange job.
22Now, you must not make fun of these things,
or the ropes around you will become tighter.
The Lord God All-Powerful has told me
how the whole earth will be destroyed.
The Lord Punishes Fairly
23Listen closely to what I tell you;
listen carefully to what I say.
24A farmer does not plow his field all the time;
he does not go on working the soil.
25He makes the ground flat and smooth.
Then he plants the dill and scatters the cumin.
He plants the wheat in rows,
the barley in its special place,
and other wheat as a border around the field.
26His God teaches him
and shows him the right way.
27A farmer doesn’t use heavy boards to crush dill;
he doesn’t use a wagon wheel to crush cumin.
He uses a small stick to break open the dill,
and with a stick he opens the cumin.
28The grain is ground to make bread.
People do not ruin it by crushing it forever.
The farmer separates the wheat from the chaff with his cart,
but he does not let his horses grind it.
29This lesson also comes from the Lord All-Powerful,
who gives wonderful advice, who is very wise.
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The Holy Bible, New Century Version, Copyright © 2005 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.
Isaiah 28
28
1Woe to the crown of pride of the drunkards of Ephraim, and to the fading flower of his glorious adornment, which is on the head of the fat valley of them that are overcome with wine. 2Behold, the Lord hath a mighty and strong one, as a storm of hail and a destroying tempest; as a storm of mighty waters overflowing, shall he cast down to the earth with might. 3The crown of pride of the drunkards of Ephraim shall be trodden under feet; 4and the fading flower of his glorious adornment which is on the head of the fat valley shall be like an early fig before the summer: as soon as he that seeth it perceiveth it, scarcely is it in his hand, he swalloweth it down. 5In that day will Jehovah of hosts be for a crown of glory, and for a diadem of beauty, unto the remnant of his people; 6and for a spirit of judgment to him that sitteth in judgment, and for strength to them that turn the battle to the gate. 7But these also have erred through wine, and through strong drink are they gone astray. The priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink; they are overpowered by wine, they are gone astray through strong drink; they have erred in vision, they have stumbled in judgment. 8For all tables are full of filthy vomit, so that there is no more place.
9Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand the report? Them that are weaned from the milk, withdrawn from the breasts? 10For it is precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, there a little. ... 11For with stammering lips and a strange tongue will he speak to this people; 12to whom he said, This is the rest: cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing. But they would not hear. 13And the word of Jehovah was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little: that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.
14Therefore hear the word of Jehovah, ye scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem. 15For ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with Sheol have we made an agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us; for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves. 16Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Behold, I lay for foundation in Zion a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner-stone, a sure foundation: he that trusteth shall not make haste. 17And I will appoint judgment for a line, and righteousness for a plummet; and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding-place. 18And your covenant with death shall be annulled, and your agreement with Sheol shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, ye shall be trodden down by it. 19As it passeth through it shall take you; for morning by morning shall it pass through, by day and by night; and it shall be terror only to understand the report. 20For the bed is too short to stretch oneself on, and the covering too narrow when he would wrap himself in it. 21For Jehovah will rise up as on mount Perazim, he will be moved with anger as in the valley of Gibeon; that he may do his work, his strange work, and perform his act, his unwonted act. 22Now therefore be ye not scorners, lest your bonds be made strong; for I have heard from the Lord Jehovah of hosts a consumption, and one determined, upon the whole land.
23Give ear, and hear my voice; hearken, and hear my speech. 24Doth the ploughman plough all day to sow? Is he all day opening and breaking the clods of his land? 25Doth he not, when he hath levelled the face thereof, cast abroad dill, and scatter cummin, and set the wheat in rows, and the barley in an appointed place, and the rye in its border? 26His God#GodHebrew: Elohim doth instruct him in his judgment, he doth teach him. 27For the dill is not threshed with a threshing instrument, neither is a cart-wheel turned about upon the cummin; but dill is beaten out with a staff, and cummin with a rod. 28Bread corn is crushed, because he will not ever be threshing it; and if he drove the wheels of his cart and his horses over it, he would not crush it. 29This also cometh forth from Jehovah of hosts; he is wonderful in counsel, great in wisdom.
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First published in 1890. This edition is maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society.