Isaiah 28
28
God Will Speak in Baby Talk
1-4Doom to the pretentious drunks of Ephraim,
shabby and washed out and seedy—
Tipsy, sloppy-fat, beer-bellied parodies
of a proud and handsome past.
Watch closely: God has someone picked out,
someone tough and strong to flatten them.
Like a hailstorm, like a hurricane, like a flash flood,
one-handed he’ll throw them to the ground.
Samaria, the party hat on Israel’s head,
will be knocked off with one blow.
It will disappear quicker than
a piece of meat tossed to a dog.
5-6At that time, God-of-the-Angel-Armies will be
the beautiful crown on the head of what’s left of his people:
Energy and insights of justice to those who guide and decide,
strength and prowess to those who guard and protect.
7-8These also, the priest and prophet, stagger from drink,
weaving, falling-down drunks,
Besotted with wine and whiskey,
can’t see straight, can’t talk sense.
Every table is covered with vomit.
They live in vomit.
9-10“Is that so? And who do you think you are to teach us?
Who are you to lord it over us?
We’re not babies in diapers
to be talked down to by such as you—
‘Da, da, da, da,
blah, blah, blah, blah.
That’s a good little girl,
that’s a good little boy.’”
11-12But that’s exactly how you will be addressed.
God will speak to this people
In baby talk, one syllable at a time—
and he’ll do it through foreign oppressors.
He said before, “This is the time and place to rest,
to give rest to the weary.
This is the place to lay down your burden.”
But they won’t listen.
13So God will start over with the simple basics
and address them in baby talk, one syllable at a time—
“Da, da, da, da,
blah, blah, blah, blah.
That’s a good little girl,
that’s a good little boy.”
And like toddlers, they will get up and fall down,
get bruised and confused and lost.
14-15Now listen to God’s Message, you scoffers,
you who rule this people in Jerusalem.
You say, “We’ve taken out good life insurance.
We’ve hedged all our bets, covered all our bases.
No disaster can touch us. We’ve thought of everything.
We’re advised by the experts. We’re set.”
The Meaning of the Stone
16-17But the Master, God, has something to say to this:
“Watch closely. I’m laying a foundation in Zion,
a solid granite foundation, squared and true.
And this is the meaning of the stone:
a trusting life won’t topple.
I’ll make justice the measuring stick
and righteousness the plumb line for the building.
A hailstorm will knock down the shantytown of lies,
and a flash flood will wash out the rubble.
18-22“Then you’ll see that your precious life insurance policy
wasn’t worth the paper it was written on.
Your careful precautions against death
were a pack of illusions and lies.
When the disaster happens,
you’ll be crushed by it.
Every time disaster comes, you’ll be in on it—
disaster in the morning, disaster at night.”
Every report of disaster
will send you cowering in terror.
There will be no place where you can rest,
nothing to hide under.
God will rise to full stature,
raging as he did long ago on Mount Perazim
And in the valley of Gibeon against the Philistines.
But this time it’s against you.
Hard to believe, but true.
Not what you’d expect, but it’s coming.
Sober up, friends, and don’t scoff.
Scoffing will just make it worse.
I’ve heard the orders issued for destruction, orders from
God-of-the-Angel-Armies—ending up in an international disaster.
* * *
23-26Listen to me now.
Give me your closest attention.
Do farmers plow and plow and do nothing but plow?
Or harrow and harrow and do nothing but harrow?
After they’ve prepared the ground, don’t they plant?
Don’t they scatter dill and spread cumin,
Plant wheat and barley in the fields
and raspberries along the borders?
They know exactly what to do and when to do it.
Their God is their teacher.
27-29And at the harvest, the delicate herbs and spices,
the dill and cumin, are treated delicately.
On the other hand, wheat is threshed and milled, but still not endlessly.
The farmer knows how to treat each kind of grain.
He’s learned it all from God-of-the-Angel-Armies,
who knows everything about when and how and where.
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Isaiah 28: MSG
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THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved. Used by permission of NavPress. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.
Isaiah 28
28
Judgment against the Leaders of Ephraim
1Ah! The garland of the pride of the drunkards of Ephraim
and the withering flower of the glory of his beauty,
which is at the head of the rich valley,#Literally “a valley of fat” ones overcome#Literally “ones struck” with wine!
2Look! The Lord has a mighty and strong one,
like a rainstorm of hail, a wind storm of destruction,
like a rainstorm of mighty overflowing waters,
he will put them to the earth with his hand.
3The garland of the pride of the drunkards of Ephraim will be trampled#The Hebrew is plural by feet,
4and the withering flower of the glory of its beauty which is at the head of the rich valley#Literally “a valley of fat” will be like its early fig before summer,
which the one who sees it swallows#Literally “Which, when the one who sees it sees it, he swallows it” while it is still in his hand.
5In that day, Yahweh of hosts will become a garland of glory
and a diadem of beauty to the remnant of his people,
6and a spirit of justice to the one who sits over judgment,
and strength to those who turn back the battle at the gate.
7And these also stagger because of wine
and stagger because of strong drink;
priest and prophet stagger because of strong drink;
they are confused#Or “swallowed” because of wine.
They stagger because of strong drink;
they err in vision.
They stagger in the rendering of a decision,
8for all the tables are full of disgusting vomit, with no place left.#Literally “without a place”
9To whom will he teach knowledge,
and to whom will he explain the message?
Those who are weaned from milk,
those taken from the breast?
10For it is blah-blah upon blah-blah,
blah-blah upon blah-blah,
gah-gah upon gah-gah,
gah-gah upon gah-gah,#In this context, the Hebrew expressions tsaw-tsaw and qaw-qaw are likely meant to sound like baby talk, but they could mean “command upon command” and “rule upon rule”
a little here, a little there.
11For he will speak with stammering#Literally “stammer of lip” and another tongue to this people, 12to whom he has said,
“This is rest; give rest to the weary;
and this is repose”; yet#Or “and” they were not willing to hear.
13And to them the word of Yahweh will be
blah-blah upon blah-blah
blah-blah upon blah-blah
gah-gah upon gah-gah
gah-gah upon gah-gah,#In this context, the Hebrew expressions tsaw-tsaw and qaw-qaw are likely meant to sound like baby talk, but they could mean “command upon command” and “rule upon rule”
a little here, a little there,
so that they may go and stumble backward
and be broken and ensnared and captured.
The Cornerstone of Zion
14Therefore hear the word of Yahweh, men of mockery,
rulers of these people in Jerusalem:
15Because you have said,
“We have made#Literally “cut” a covenant with death,
and we have made an agreement with Sheol.
The overwhelming flood, when it passes through, will not come to us,
for we have made lies#Hebrew “lie” our refuge,
and we have hidden ourselves in falsehood.”
16Therefore the Lord Yahweh says this:
“Look! I am laying a stone in Zion,
a tested#Literally “testing” stone,
a precious cornerstone,
a founded foundation:
‘The one who trusts will not panic.’#Literally “hurry”
17And I will make justice the measuring line,
and righteousness the plumb line;
and hail will sweep away the refuge of lies,#Hebrew “lie”
and waters will flood over the hiding place.
18And your covenant with death will be annulled,
and your agreement with Sheol will not stand;
you will become a trampling place for the overwhelming flood when it passes through.
19As often as it passes through,#Literally “From enough his passing through” it will take you,
for morning by morning#Literally “in the morning in the morning” it will pass through,
in the day and in the night,
and understanding the message will be only terror.”
20For the bed is too short to stretch out on,#Literally “from stretching oneself”
and the covering is too narrow when wrapping oneself.
21For Yahweh will rise up as at Mount Perazim;
he will rave as in the valley at Gibeon
to do his deed—his deed is strange—
and to work his work—his work is alien!
22And now you must not scoff,
or your bonds will be strong,
for I have heard from the Lord, Yahweh of hosts:
complete destruction
decreed upon all the land.
A Parable of Yahweh’s Work
23Listen, and hear my voice!
Listen attentively, and hear my word!
24Is it all day that the plowman plows,
opens to sow seed, harrows his ground?
25When he has leveled its surface,#Literally “face” does he not scatter dill,
and sow cumin seed,
and plant#Literally “place” wheat in planted rows,#Hebrew “row”
and barley in an appointed place,
and spelt grain as its border?
26And his God instructs him about the prescription;#That is, “the proper way”
he teaches him.
27For dill is not threshed with a threshing sledge,
nor is a wheel of a utility cart rolled#Literally “turned” over cumin,
but dill is beaten out with a stick,
and cumin with a rod.
28Grain is crushed fine,
but certainly one does not thresh it forever;
and one drives the wheel of his cart,
but his horses do not crush it.
29This also comes forth from Yahweh of hosts.
He is wonderful in advice;
he makes great wisdom.
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