Isaiah 28
28
Warnings to North 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.
It sits on a hill above a rich valley where drunkards live.
2Look, the Lord has someone who is strong and full of power.
That person will come like a storm of hail and strong wind.
He will come 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.
It sits on a hill above a rich valley.
That city will be like the first fig of summer.
When a person sees it,
he quickly picks it and eats it.
5At that time the Lord of heaven’s armies
will be like a beautiful crown.
He will be like a wonderful crown of flowers
for his people who are left alive.
6Then the Lord will give wisdom
to the judges who rule his people.
The Lord will give 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.
They 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.
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 little babies.
They are like babies who just nursed 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 lesson here, a 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 lesson here, a lesson there.”
They will fall back and will be defeated.
They will be trapped and captured.
14You who brag should listen to the Lord’s message.
Pay attention, you leaders in Jerusalem.
15You say, “We have made an agreement with death.
We have a contract with death.
When punishment passes by,
it won’t hurt us.
We will be safe with our lies.
We will hide behind our tricks.”
16Because of these things, this is what the Lord God says:
“I will put a stone in the ground in Jerusalem.
This will be 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.
I will use goodness to measure by.
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 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 hear of this punishment will be terrified.”
20You will be like the man who tried to sleep
on a bed that was too short for him.
And his blanket 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.
Then the Lord will do his work, his strange work.
He will finish his job, his strange job.
22Now, you must not make fun of these things.
If you do, the ropes around you will become tighter.
The Lord of heaven’s armies has told me these things.
He 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 prepares the ground.
Then he plants the dill seed and scatters the cummin seed.
He plants the wheat in rows.
He plants barley in its special place,
and other wheat in its own 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 to crush cummin.
He uses a small stick to break open the dill.
With a stick he opens the cummin.
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 comes from the Lord of heaven’s armies.
He gives wonderful advice. He is very wise.
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Isaiah 28
28
Ephraim’s Captivity Predicted
1Woe (judgment is coming) to [Samaria] the splendid crown of the drunkards of #I.e. the ten northern tribes of Israel.Ephraim,
And to the fading flower of its glorious beauty,
Which is at the head of the rich valley
Of those who are overcome with wine!
2Listen carefully, the Lord has a strong and mighty agent [the Assyrian];
Like a tempest of hail, a disastrous storm,
Like a tempest of mighty overflowing waters,
He has cast it down to the earth with His hand.
3The splendid crown of the drunkards of Ephraim is trampled by [the foreigners’] feet.
4And the fading flower of its glorious beauty,
Which is at the head of the rich valley,
Will be like the early fig before the summer,
Which one sees,
And as soon as it is in his hand
He [greedily] swallows it [and so will the Assyrians rapidly devour Samaria, Israel’s capital].
5In that day the Lord of hosts will become a magnificent crown
And a glorious diadem to the [converted] remnant of His people,
6A spirit of justice for him who sits in judgment [administering the law],
A strength to those who drive back the battle at the gate.
7But even these reel with wine and stagger from strong drink:
The priest and the prophet reel with strong drink;
They are confused by wine, they stagger from strong drink;
They reel while seeing visions,
They stagger when pronouncing judgment.
8For all the tables are full of filthy vomit, so that there is no place [that is clean.]
9 They say “To whom would He teach knowledge?
And to whom would He explain the message?
Those just weaned from milk?
Those just taken from the breast?
10For He says,
‘Precept upon precept, precept upon precept,
Rule upon rule, rule upon rule,
Here a little, there a little.’ ”
11Indeed, the Lord will teach this people [in a more humiliating way]
By [men with] stammering lips and a foreign tongue,
12He who said to them, “This is the place of quiet, give rest to the weary,”
And, “This is the resting place,” yet they would not listen.
13Therefore the word of the Lord to them will be [merely monotonous repetitions]:
“Precept upon precept, precept upon precept,
Rule upon rule, rule upon rule,
Here a little, there a little.”
That they may go and stumble backward, and be broken, ensnared, and taken captive.
Judah Is Warned
14Therefore, hear the word of the Lord, you arrogant men
Who rule this people who are in Jerusalem!
15Because you have said, “We have made a covenant with death,
And with Sheol (the place of the dead) we have made an agreement,
When the overwhelming scourge passes by, it will not reach us,
For we have made lies our refuge and we have concealed ourselves in deception.”
16Therefore the Lord God says this,
“Listen carefully, I am laying in Zion a Stone, a tested Stone,
A precious Cornerstone for the [secure] foundation, firmly placed.
He who believes [who trusts in, relies on, and adheres to that Stone] will not #The Septuagint (Greek translation of the Old Testament) reads “be put to shame,” a phrase which occurs frequently in pleas to God.be disturbed or give way [in sudden panic].
17I will make justice the measuring line
And righteousness the mason’s level;
Then hail will sweep away the refuge of lies
And waters will flood over the secret [hiding] place.
18Your covenant with death will be annulled,
And your agreement with Sheol (the place of the dead) will not stand;
When the overwhelming scourge passes through,
Then you will become its trampling ground.
19As often as it passes through, it will seize you;
For morning after morning it will pass through, by day and by night,
And it will be sheer terror to understand what it means.”
20For the bed is too short to stretch out on,
And the blanket is too narrow to wrap around oneself [and likewise all their preparations are inadequate].
21For the Lord will rise up as at Mount Perazim,
He will be stirred up as in the Valley of Gibeon,
To do His work, His unusual and incredible work,
And to accomplish His work, His extraordinary work.
22Now do not carry on as scoffers,
Or the bands which bind you will be made stronger;
For I have heard from the Lord God of hosts [a decree]
Of decisive destruction on all the earth.
23Listen and hear my voice;
Listen carefully and hear my words.
24Does the farmer plow all day to plant seed?
Does he continually dig furrows and harrow his ground [after it is prepared]?
25When he has leveled its surface,
Does he not sow [the seed of] dill and scatter cumin,
And plant wheat in rows,
And barley in its [intended] place and #A subspecies of common wheat.rye within its border?
26For his God instructs [him correctly] and teaches him properly.
27For dill is not threshed with a sharp threshing sledge,
Nor is a cartwheel rolled over cumin;
But dill is beaten out with a staff, and cumin with a rod.
28Bread grain is crushed fine,
Indeed, the farmer does not continue to thresh it forever.
Because the wheel of his cart and his horses eventually damage it,
He does not thresh it longer.
29This also comes from the Lord of hosts,
Who has made His counsel wonderful and His wisdom great.
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