Isaiah 28
28
Ephraim Will Fall
1How horrible it will be for the arrogant drunks of Ephraim.
Their glorious beauty is ⌞like⌟ a withered flower.
They are at the entrance to a fertile valley
where they lie drunk from wine.
2The Lord has one who is strong and powerful.
He is like a hailstorm, a destructive wind.
He is like a thunderstorm, an overwhelming flood.
He will throw them to the ground forcefully.
3The arrogant drunks of Ephraim will be trampled underfoot.
4Their glorious beauty is ⌞like⌟ a withered flower.
They are at the entrance to a fertile valley.
They will be like figs that ripened early.
As soon as someone sees them,
they will be taken and eaten.
5When that day comes, the Lord of Armies will be
like a glorious crown for his few remaining people.
6He will give a spirit of justice to those who judge.
He will give strength to those who defend the city gates in battle.
7Priests and prophets stagger from wine and wobble from too much liquor.
They stagger from too much liquor
and become confused from too much wine.
They wobble because of their liquor.
They stagger when they see visions.
They swerve as they judge.
8All the tables are covered with vomit and excrement.
There isn’t a clean place left.
9To whom will they make the message understood?
To whom will they explain this message?
To children just weaned from milk?
To those just taken from their ⌞mother’s⌟ breasts?
10They speak utter nonsense.#28:10 Or “Command for command, command for command, line for line, line for line, a little here, a little there.” Also in verse 13.
11The Lord will speak to these people.
He will mock them by speaking in a foreign language.
12He will say to them,
“This is a place for comfort.
This is a place of rest for those who are tired.
This is a place for them to rest.”
But they weren’t willing to listen.
13The Lord speaks utter nonsense to them.
That is why they will fall backwards.
That is why they will be hurt, trapped, and captured.
A Message to Jerusalem
14So hear the Lord’s word, you foolish talkers
who rule the people in Jerusalem.
15You say, “We made a treaty with death
and an agreement with the grave.
When the overwhelming disaster passes by,
it won’t matter to us,
because we have taken refuge in our lies,
and falsehood is our hiding place.”
16This is what the Almighty Lord says:
I am going to lay a rock in Zion,
a rock that has been tested,
a precious cornerstone,
a solid foundation.
Whoever believes ⌞in him⌟ will not worry.
17I will make justice a measuring line
and righteousness a plumb line.
Hail will sweep away your refuge of lies,
and floodwaters will wash away your hiding place.
18Your treaty with death will be wiped away.
Your agreement with the grave will not stand.
When the overwhelming disaster passes by,
you will be trampled by it.
19Each time it passes by it will take you.
It will pass by morning after morning,
during the day and during the night.
Understanding this message brings only terror.
20The bed is too short to stretch out on.
The blanket is too narrow to serve as a cover.
21The Lord will rise as he did on Mount Perazim.
He will wake up as he did in Gibeon Valley.
He will do his work, his unexpected work,
and perform his deeds, his mysterious deeds.
22Now stop laughing, or your chains will be tightened,
because I have heard that the Almighty Lord of Armies
has finally determined to destroy the whole land.
23Open your ears, and listen to me!
Pay attention, and hear me!
24Does a farmer go on plowing every day so he can plant?
Does he continue to break up the soil and make furrows in the ground?
25When he has smoothed its surface,
doesn’t he scatter black cumin seed and plant cumin?
Doesn’t he plant wild wheat in rows?
Doesn’t he put barley in its own area
and winter wheat at its borders?
26God will guide him in judgment,
and his God will teach him.
27Black cumin isn’t threshed #28:27 Threshing is the process of beating stalks to separate them from the grain. with a sledge,
and wagon wheels aren’t rolled over cumin.
Black cumin is beaten with a rod
and cumin with a stick.
28Grain is ground into flour, but the grinding eventually stops.
It will be threshed.
The wheels of his cart will roll over it,
but his horses won’t crush it.
29All of this has come from the Lord of Armies.
His counsel is wonderful, and his wisdom is great.
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GOD'S WORD® Translation ©1995, 2003, 2013, 2014, 2019, 2020 by God's Word to the Nations Mission Society. All rights reserved.
Yeshayah (Isaiah) 28
28
1Woe to the proud crown of the drunkards of Ephrayim, and to the fading flower of its splendid comeliness that is on the head of the fertile valley, to those who are overcome with wine!
2See, יהוה has one who is strong and potent, like a downpour of hail and a destroying storm, like a flood of mighty waters overflowing, who casts down to the earth with the hand.
3The proud crown of the drunkards of Ephrayim, is trampled under foot;
4and the fading flower of its splendid comeliness that is on the head of the fertile valley, like the first fruit before the summer, which, when one sees it, he eats it up while it is still in his hand.
5In that day יהוה of hosts is for a crown of splendour and a head-dress of comeliness to the remnant of His people,
6and a spirit of right-ruling to him who sits in right-ruling, and strength to those who turn back the battle at the gate.
7And these too have gone astray through wine, and through strong drink wandered about. Priest and prophet have gone astray through strong drink, they are swallowed up by wine, they wander about through strong drink, they go astray in vision, they stumble in right-ruling.
8For all tables shall be covered with vomit, no place without filth.
9Whom would He teach knowledge? And whom would He make to understand the message? Those weaned from milk, those taken from the breasts!
10For it is: command upon command, command upon command, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little.
11For with a jabbering lip and a foreign tongue He speaks to this people,
12to whom He said, “This is the rest, give rest to the weary,” and, “This is the refreshing.” But they would not hear.
13But the Word of יהוה was to them, “Command upon command, command upon command, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little,” so that they go and shall stumble backward, and be broken and snared and taken captive.
14Therefore hear the Word of יהוה, you men of scorn, who rule this people who are in Yerushalayim,
15because you have said, “We have made a covenant with death, and with She’ol we have effected a vision. When the overflowing scourge passes through, it does not come to us, for we have made lying our refuge, and under falsehood we have hidden ourselves.”
16Therefore thus said the Master יהוה, “See, I am laying in Tsiyon a stone for a foundation, a tried stone, a precious corner-stone, a settled foundation. He who trusts shall not hasten away.
17And I shall make right-ruling the measuring line, and righteousness the plummet. And the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lying, and the waters overflow the hiding place.
18And your covenant with death shall be annulled, and your vision with She’ol not stand. When an overflowing scourge passes through, then you shall be trampled down by it.
19As often as it passes through it shall take you, for it shall pass through every morning, and by day and by night. And it shall be only trembling to understand the message.”
20For the bed shall be too short for a man to stretch out on, and the covering shall be too narrow to wrap himself in it.
21For יהוה rises up as at Mount Peratsim, and He is wroth as at the Valley of Giḇ‛on, to do His work, His strange work, and to do His deed, His strange deed.
22And now, do not be scoffers, lest your bonds be made strong. For I have heard from the Master יהוה of hosts, a destruction decreed upon all the earth.
23Give ear and hear my voice, listen and hear my Word.
24Does the ploughman keep ploughing all day to sow? Does he keep turning his soil and breaking the clods?
25When he has levelled its surface, does he not sow the caraway and scatter the cummin, plant the wheat in rows, the barley in the appointed place, and the spelt in its place?
26For He instructs him for right-ruling, his Elohim teaches him.
27For caraway is not threshed with a threshing sledge, nor is a wagon wheel rolled over cummin, but caraway is beaten out with a stick, and cummin with a rod.
28Grain is crushed, so one does not go on threshing it forever, nor break it with his wagon wheel, nor crush it with his horsemen.
29Even this has come from יהוה of hosts, who did wonders in counsel, who made wisdom great.
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