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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Isaiah 28: GW
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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.
Isaias (Isaiah) 28
28
1WOE to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, and to the fading flower, the glory of his joy, who were on the head of the fat valley, staggering with wine.
2Behold, the Lord is mighty and strong, as a storm of hail: a destroying whirlwind, as the violence of many waters overflowing, and sent forth upon a spacious land.
3The crown of pride of the drunkards of Ephraim shall be trodden under feet.
4And the fading flower, the glory of his joy, who is on the head of the fat valley, shall be as a hasty fruit before the ripeness of autumn: which when he that seeth it shall behold, as soon as he taketh it in his hand, he will eat it up.
5In that day, the Lord of hosts shall be a crown of glory and a garland of joy to the residue of his people:
6And a spirit of judgment to him that sitteth in judgment, and strength to them that return out of the battle to the gate.
7But these also have been ignorant through wine, and through drunkenness have erred: the priest and the prophet have been ignorant through drunkenness. They are swallowed up with wine, they have gone astray in drunkenness, they have not known him that seeth, they have been ignorant of judgment.
8For all tables were full of vomit and filth, so that there was no more place.
9Whom shall he teach knowledge? And whom shall he make to understand the hearing? Them that are weaned from the milk, that are drawn away from the breasts.
10For command, command again; command, command again; expect, expect again; expect, expect again: a little there, a little there.
11For with the speech of lips and with another tongue he will speak to this people.
12To whom he said: This is my rest. Refresh the weary, and this is my refreshing. And they would not hear.
13And the word of the Lord shall be to them: Command, command again; command, command again: expect, expect again; expect, expect again: a little there, a little there: that they may go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.
14Wherefore, hear the word of the Lord, ye scornful men, who rule over my people that is in Jerusalem.
15For you have said: We have entered into a league with death, and we have made a covenant with hell. When the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come upon us: for we have placed our hope in lies, and by falsehood we are protected.
16Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Behold I will lay a stone in the foundations of Sion, a tried stone, a corner-stone, a precious stone, founded in the foundation. He that believeth, let him not hasten.
17And I will set judgment in weight, and justice in measure: and hail shall overturn the hope of falsehood, and waters shall overflow its protection.
18And your league with death shall be abolished, and your covenant with hell shall not stand. When the overflowing scourge shall pass, you shall be trodden down by it.
19Whensoever it shall pass through, it shall take you away, because in the morning early it shall pass through, in the day and in the night: and vexation alone shall make you understand what you hear.
20For the bed is straitened so that one must fall out: and a short covering cannot cover both.
21For the Lord shall stand up as in the mountain of divisions: he shall be angry as in the valley which is in Gabaon: that he may do his work, his strange work: that he may perform his work, his work is strange to him.
22And now do not mock, lest your bonds be tied strait. For I have heard of the Lord the God of hosts a consumption and a cutting short upon all the earth.
23Give ear, and hear my voice: hearken, and hear my speech.
24Shall the ploughman plough all the day to sow, shall he open and harrow his ground?
25Will he not, when he hath made plain the surface thereof, sow gith, and scatter cummin, and put wheat in order, and barley and millet and vetches in their bounds?
26For he will instruct him in judgment: his God will teach him.
27For gith shall not be thrashed with saws, neither shall the cart-wheel turn about upon cummin: but gith shall be beaten out with a rod, and cummin with a staff.
28But bread-corn shall be broken small; but the thresher shall not thresh it for ever: neither shall the cart-wheel hurt it, nor break it with its teeth.
29This also is come forth from the Lord God of hosts, to make his counsel wonderful, and magnify justice.
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An historical text maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society.