Isaiah 28
28
Judgment on Ephraim and Judah
1Oh, the majestic garland of Ephraim’s drunks
and the fading flower of its splendid beauty
on the head that flows with perfume#28.1 DSS (1QIsaa)
of those hammered with wine.
2Look! The Lord has someone who is powerful and strong;
like a hailstorm, a disastrous tempest,
like a downpour of mighty, overflowing waters,
he can level them to the ground with his hand.
3The majestic garland of Ephraim’s drunks
will be trampled underfoot.
4The withered flower, which is a thing of beauty#28.4 Heb uncertain
as it sits on the head of those bloated with fat,#28.4 Or at the head of the fat valley
will be like an early fig before the summer harvest:
whoever sees it swallows it as soon as it is in hand.
5On that day, the LORD of heavenly forces will be a splendid garland and a beautiful wreath for the people who survive, 6and a spirit of justice for the one who sits in judgment, and a strength for those who repel the assault at the gate.
7These also stagger from wine and stumble from beer:
priest and prophet stagger from beer;
they are confused by wine;
they stray on account of beer;
they err when receiving visions;
they stumble when making judgments.
8All the tables are covered with vomit;
filth overruns the place.
9To whom will God teach knowledge?
To whom will he explain the message?
To those just weaned from milk?
To those who have hardly outgrown the breast?
10It is “tsav letsav, tsav letsav; qav leqav, qav leqav,”#28.10 A Hebrew version of baby talk or gibberish
a little of this, a little of that.
11With derisive speech and a foreign tongue,
he will speak to this people.
12He has said to them,
“This is the place of rest;
give rest to the weary;
this is the place of repose”;
but they refused to listen.
13So the LORD’s word will be for them:
“tsav letsav, tsav letsav; qav leqav, qav leqav,”
a little of this, a little of that.
So that they will go and stagger backward,
they will be broken, snared, and captured.
The covenant with death overturned
14Therefore, hear the LORD’s word,
you scoffers who rule this people in Jerusalem.
15You said, “We’ve cut a deal with death;#28.15 Heb Maveth
with the underworld#28.15 Heb Sheol we made a pact.
When the overflowing flood passes through, it won’t reach us;
for we have made lies our hiding place,
and in falsehood we take shelter.”
16Therefore, the LORD God says:
Look! I’m laying in Zion a stone,
a tested stone, a valuable cornerstone,
a sure foundation:
the one who trusts won’t tremble.
17I will make justice the measuring line
and righteousness the plumb line.
But hail will sweep away the hiding place of lies,
and water will overflow the shelter.
18Your deal with death#28.18 Heb Maveth will be dissolved,
and your pact with the grave#28.18 Heb Sheol won’t stand.
The rushing flood: when it passes through,
you will be annihilated by it.
19Every time it passes through it will take you,
for morning by morning it will pass,
by day and by night.
It will be nothing but terror to understand the message.
20The bed is too short to stretch out,
and the shroud is too narrow to cover oneself.
21Just as on Mount Perazim, the LORD will rise up;
as in the Gibeon Valley he will rage to do his deed—strange is his deed!—
And to work his work—foreign is his work!
22So now stop your scoffing,
or your chains will be tightened,
because destruction has been ordered—I have heard it!—
by the LORD God of heavenly forces against the whole land.
Plowing and threshing
23Listen and hear my voice;
pay attention and hear my word:
24Does the plowman plow without stopping for planting,
opening and harrowing their ground?
25When he has smoothed its surface,
doesn’t he scatter fennel,#28.25 Or black cumin and sow cumin,
and plant wheat and barley in their places,
and spelt as a border?
26They are properly ordered;
their God directs them.#28.26 Or waters them
27Fennel#28.27 Or black cumin isn’t threshed with a threshing sledge,
nor is a cart wheel rolled over cumin,
but fennel#28.27 Or black cumin is beaten with a staff,
and cumin with a rod.
28Bread grain is crushed,
but the thresher#28.28 DSS (1QIsaa) doesn’t thresh it forever.
He drives the cart wheel over it;
he spreads it out but doesn’t crush it.
29This also comes from the LORD of heavenly forces,
who gives wondrous counsel and increases wisdom.
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Isaiah 28: CEB
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2011 Common English Bible. All rights reserved.
Yeshayah 28
28
1Hoy (woe, doom) to the ateret ge'ut (crown of pride), to the shikkorei Ephrayim (drunkards of Ephrayim), whose glorious beauty is a fading tzitz (flower), which are on the rosh of the verdant gey (valley) of them that are overcome with yayin!
2Hinei, Adonoi hath one, chazak and strong, which as a tempest of barad (hail) and a destroying storm, as a flood of mighty mayim overflowing, shall cast them down to ha'aretz with the yad.
3The ateret ge'ut (crown of pride), the shikkorei Ephrayim, shall be trodden under foot;
4And the glorious beauty, which is at the rosh of the verdant gey, shall be a fading tzitz, and as the bikkurah (first ripe fruit) before kayitz (summer); which when he that looketh upon it seeth, while it is yet in his palm he eateth it up.
5In that day shall Hashem Tzva'os be for an ateret of glory, and for a wreath tiferet, unto the remnant of His people,
6And for a ruach mishpat to him that sitteth in mishpat, and for gevurah to them that turn back the milchamah at the gate.
7But they also have gone astray through yayin, and through strong drink are out of the way; the kohen and the navi have erred through strong drink, they are swallowed up with yayin, they are out of the way through strong drink; they go astray from the vision, they stumble in rendering decisions.
8For all shulchanot are full of vomit and filthiness, so that there is no makom (place) clean.
9Whom shall He teach da'as? And whom shall He make to understand doctrine? Them that are just weaned from cholov, and just drawn from the breasts.
10For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; sham (here) a little, and sham (there) a little;
11For with stammering safah (lips) and with lashon acheret (another tongue, different tongue) will He speak to HaAm Hazeh.
12To whom He said, This is the menuchah (rest) wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing; yet they would not hear.
13But the Devar Hashem was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; sham a little, and sham a little; that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken [captive].
14Therefore hear the Devar Hashem, ye scoffing anashim, that rule HaAm Hazeh which is in Yerushalayim.
15Because ye have said, We have cut a brit with mavet, and with Sheol are we in agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us; for we have made kazav our refuge, and under sheker have we hid ourselves;
16Therefore thus saith Adonoi Hashem, Hineni, I lay in Tziyon for a foundation an even (stone), an even bochan (a tried stone), a pinnat yikrat (precious cornerstone), a sure foundation; the ma'amin (believer) shall not panic.
17Mishpat also will I make as the measuring line, and tzedakah to be the plumbline; and the barad shall sweep away the refuge of kazav, and the mayim shall overflow the hiding place.
18And your brit (covenant) with mavet shall be annulled, and your agreement with Sheol shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it.
19As often as it goeth forth it shall seize you; for boker by boker shall it pass over, by day and by night; and it shall be a terror just to understand the message.
20For the matztza (bed, mattress) is shorter than one can stretch himself on it; and the blanket narrower than that he can wrap himself in.
21For Hashem shall rise up as in Har Peratzim, He shall be in wrath as in the valley of Giv'on, that He may do His ma'aseh, His zar ma'aseh (strange work, foreign work); and bring to pass His avodah, His nochriyah avodah.
22Now therefore be ye not mockers, lest your chains be made chazak; for I have heard from Adonoi Hashem Tzva'os a destruction, even determined upon kol ha'aretz (the whole earth).
23Give ye ozen, and hear my voice; pay heed, and hear my speech.
24Doth the plowman plow kol hayom to sow? Doth he keep turning and breaking the clods of his adamah?
25When he hath made level the surface thereof, doth he not sow the dill, and scatter the cumin, and plant in rows the chittah (wheat) and the se'orah (barley) in the appointed place, and the spelt in their place?
26For Elohav doth instruct him, and doth teach him properly.
27For the dill is not threshed with a threshing sledge, neither is an ofan agalah (cart wheel) rolled about upon the cumin; but the dill is beaten out with a rod, and the cumin with a club.
28Grain for lechem must be ground; because he will not ever be threshing it, nor break it with the gilgal (wheel) of his agalah (cart, wagon), nor grind it with his parash.
29This also cometh forth from Hashem Tzva'os, Who is wonderful in etzah, and excellent in wisdom.
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