Isaiah 28
28
The Lord Will Judge the Leaders of Ephraim and Judah
1How terrible it will be for the city of Samaria!
It sits on a hill like a wreath of flowers.
The leaders of Ephraim are drunk.
They take pride in their city.
It sits above a valley that has rich soil.
How terrible it will be for the glorious beauty of that fading flower!
2The Lord will bring the strong and powerful king of Assyria against Samaria.
The Lord will throw that city down to the ground with great force.
It will be like a hailstorm.
It will be like a wind that destroys everything.
It will be like a driving rain and a flooding storm.
3That city is like a wreath.
The leaders of Ephraim are drunk.
They take pride in their city.
But its enemies will walk all over it.
4It sits on a hill above a rich valley.
The city is like a wreath of flowers whose glorious beauty is fading away.
But it will become like figs that are ripe before harvest.
As soon as people see them,
they pick them and swallow them.
5At that time the Lord who rules over all
will be like a glorious crown.
He will be like a beautiful wreath
for those of his people who will be left alive.
6He will help those
who are fair when they judge.
He will give strength to those
who turn back their enemies at the city gate.
7Israel’s leaders are drunk from wine.
They can’t walk straight.
They are drunk from beer.
They are unsteady on their feet.
Priests and prophets drink beer.
They can’t walk straight.
They are mixed up from drinking too much wine.
They drink too much beer.
They are unsteady on their feet.
The prophets see visions but don’t really understand them.
The priests aren’t able to make good decisions.
8They throw up. All the tables are covered
with the mess they’ve made.
There isn’t one spot on the tables
that isn’t smelly and dirty.
9The Lord’s people are making fun of him. They say,
“Who does he think he’s trying to teach?
Who does he think he’s explaining his message to?
Is it to children who do not need their mother’s milk anymore?
Is it to those who have just been taken from her breast?
10Here is how he teaches.
Do this and do that.
There is a rule for this and a rule for that.
Learn a little here and learn a little there.”
11All right then, these people won’t listen to me.
So God will speak to them.
He will speak by using people who speak unfamiliar languages.
He will speak by using the mouths of strangers.
12He said to his people,
“I am offering you a resting place.
Let those who are tired rest.”
He continued, “I am offering you a place of peace and quiet.”
But they wouldn’t listen.
13So then, here is what the Lord’s message will become to them.
Do this and do that.
There is a rule for this and a rule for that.
Learn a little here and learn a little there.
So when they try to go forward,
they’ll fall back and be wounded.
They’ll be trapped and captured.
14Listen to the Lord’s message,
you who make fun of the truth.
Listen, you who rule over these people in Jerusalem.
15You brag, “We have entered into a covenant with the place of the dead.
We have made an agreement with the grave.
When a terrible plague comes to punish us,
it can’t touch us.
That’s because we depend on lies to keep us safe.
We hide behind what isn’t true.”
16So the Lord and King speaks. He says,
“Look! I am laying a stone in Zion.
It is a stone that has been tested.
It is the most important stone for a firm foundation.
The one who depends on that stone will never be shaken.
17I will use a measuring line to prove that you have not been fair.
I will use a plumb line to prove that you have not done what is right.
Hail will sweep away the lies you depend on to keep you safe.
Water will flood your hiding place.
18Your covenant with death will be called off.
The agreement you made with the place of the dead will not stand.
When the terrible plague comes to punish you,
you will be struck down by it.
19As often as it comes, it will carry you away.
Morning after morning, day and night,
it will come to punish you.”
If you understand this message,
it will bring you absolute terror.
20You will be like someone whose bed is too short to lie down on.
You will be like those whose blankets are too small to wrap themselves in.
21The Lord will rise up to judge, just as he did at Mount Perazim.
He will get up to act, just as he did in the Valley of Gibeon.
He’ll do his work, but it will be strange work.
He’ll carry out his task, but it will be an unexpected one.
22Now stop making fun of me.
If you don’t, your chains will become heavier.
The Lord who rules over all has spoken to me.
The Lord has told me he has ordered that the whole land be destroyed.
23Listen and hear my voice.
Pay attention to what I’m saying.
24When a farmer plows in order to plant, does he plow without stopping?
Does he keep on breaking up the soil and making the field level?
25When he’s made the surface even, doesn’t he plant caraway seeds?
Doesn’t he scatter cumin seeds?
Doesn’t he plant wheat in its proper place?
Doesn’t he plant barley where it belongs?
Doesn’t he plant spelt along the edge of the field?
26His God directs him.
He teaches him the right way to do his work.
27Caraway seeds are beaten out with a rod.
They aren’t separated out under a threshing sled.
Cumin seeds are beaten out with a stick.
The wheel of a cart isn’t rolled over them.
28Grain must be ground up to make bread.
A farmer separates it out.
But he doesn’t go on doing it forever.
He drives the wheels of a threshing cart over it.
But he doesn’t use horses to grind the grain.
29All these insights come from the Lord who rules over all.
His advice is wonderful. His wisdom is glorious.
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Isaiah 28: NIrV
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Holy Bible, New International Reader’s Version®, NIrV®
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Isaiah 28
28
Woe to Samaria
1Woe to the majestic crown of Ephraim’s drunkards,#Is 28:7; Hs 7:5
and to the fading flower of its beautiful splendor,
which is on the summit above the rich valley.
Woe to those overcome with wine.
2Look, the Lord has a strong and mighty one#Is 8:7; 40:10 —
like a devastating hail storm,
like a storm with strong flooding water.
He will bring it across the land with his hand.
3The majestic crown of Ephraim’s drunkards
will be trampled underfoot.
4The fading flower of his beautiful splendor,
which is on the summit above the rich valley,
will be like a ripe fig before the summer harvest.#Hs 9:10; Mc 7:1; Nah 3:12
Whoever sees it will swallow it
while it is still in his hand.
5On that day
the Lord of Armies will become a crown of beauty
and a diadem of splendor#Is 62:3
to the remnant of his people,
6a spirit of justice
to the one who sits in judgment,#1Kg 3:28; Is 11:2; 32:1,15–16; Jn 5:30
and strength
to those who repel attacks at the city gate.
7Even these stagger because of wine
and stumble under the influence of beer:
Priest and prophet stagger because of beer.
They are confused by wine.#Is 5:11,22; 9:15; 22:13; 56:12; Hs 4:11
They stumble because of beer.
They are muddled in their visions.
They stumble in their judgments.
8Indeed, all their tables are covered with vomit;
there is no place without a stench.
9Who is he trying to teach?
Who is he trying to instruct?
Infants#28:9 Lit Those just weaned from milk?
Babies#28:9 Lit Those removed from the breast?
10“Law after law, law after law,
line after line, line after line,
a little here, a little there.”#28:10 Hb obscure, also in v. 13
11For he will speak to this people
with stammering speech
and in a foreign language.#Is 5:26–29; 33:19; 1Co 14:21
12He had said to them,
“This is the place of rest;
let the weary rest;#Is 11:10; 30:15; 32:17–18; Jr 6:16; Mt 11:28–29
this is the place of repose.”
But they would not listen.
13The word of the Lord will come to them:
“Law after law, law after law,
line after line, line after line,
a little here, a little there,”
so they go stumbling backward,
to be broken, trapped, and captured.#Is 8:15; Mt 21:44
A Deal with Death
14Therefore hear the word of the Lord,#Is 1:10; 39:5,8; 66:5 you scoffers#Is 29:20
who rule this people in Jerusalem.
15For you said, “We have made a covenant with Death,
and we have an agreement with Sheol;
when the overwhelming catastrophe#28:15 Or whip; Hb obscure, also in v. 18 passes through,#Is 8:7–8
it will not touch us,
because we have made falsehood our refuge
and have hidden behind treachery.”
16Therefore the Lord God said:
“Look, I have laid a stone#Is 8:14; 26:4 in Zion,
a tested stone,
a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation;#Mt 21:42; Mk 12:10; Lk 20:17; Ac 4:11; 1Co 3:11; Eph 2:20
the one who believes will be unshakable.#28:16 Lit will not hurry#Rm 9:33; 1Pt 2:6
17And I will make justice the measuring line
and righteousness the mason’s level.”#2Kg 21:13; Is 5:16; 30:18; 61:8; Am 7:7–9
Hail will sweep away the false refuge,
and water will flood your hiding place.
18Your covenant with Death will be dissolved,
and your agreement with Sheol will not last.
When the overwhelming catastrophe passes through,
you will be trampled.
19Every time it passes through,
it will carry you away;
it will pass through every morning —
every day and every night.
Only terror#2Ch 29:8; Jr 15:4; 24:9; 29:18 will cause you
to understand the message.#28:19 Or The understanding of the message will cause sheer terror
20Indeed, the bed is too short to stretch out on,
and its cover too small to wrap up in.
21For the Lord will rise up as he did at Mount Perazim.#2Sm 5:20; 1Ch 14:11
He will rise in wrath, as at the Valley of Gibeon,#Jos 10:10,12; 2Sm 5:25; 1Ch 14:16
to do his work, his unexpected work,
and to perform his task, his unfamiliar task.
22So now, do not scoff,
or your shackles will become stronger.
Indeed, I have heard from the Lord God of Armies
a decree of destruction for the whole land.#Is 10:22–23; Rm 9:27–28
God’s Wonderful Advice
23Listen and hear my voice.
Pay attention and hear what I say.
24Does the plowman plow every day to plant seed?
Does he continuously break up and cultivate the soil?
25When he has leveled its surface,
does he not then scatter black cumin and sow cumin?
He plants wheat in rows and barley in plots,
with spelt as their border.
26His God teaches him order;
he instructs him.
27Certainly black cumin is not threshed
with a threshing board,
and a cart wheel is not rolled over the cumin.
But black cumin is beaten out with a stick,
and cumin with a rod.
28Bread grain is crushed,
but is not threshed endlessly.
Though the wheel of the farmer’s cart rumbles,
his horses do not crush it.
29This also comes from the Lord of Armies.
He gives wondrous advice;
he gives great wisdom.#Is 9:6; Jr 32:19
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