Isaiah 28

Woe to ^athe crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim,

Whose ^bglorious beauty is a fading flower,

^bWhich are ^con the head of the fat valleys of them that are overcome with wine.

²Behold, the Lord hath ^da mighty and strong one,

Which as a tempest of ^ehail and a ^fdestroying ^gstorm,

As a flood of ^hmighty waters ^goverflowing,

Shall ⁱcast down to the earth with the hand.

^3aThe crown of pride, the drunkards of Ephraim,

Shall be trodden under feet:

⁴And ^bthe glorious beauty, ^bwhich is on the head of the fat valley, shall be a fading flower,

And as ^kthe hasty fruit before the summer;

Which when he that looketh upon it seeth,

While it is yet in his hand he eateth it up.

^5lIn that day shall the Lord of hosts be for ^ma crown of glory,

And for a diadem of ^bbeauty, unto the residue of his people,

⁶And for a spirit of judgment to him that sitteth in judgment,

And for strength to them that turn the battle ⁿto the gate.

⁷But they also ^ohave erred through wine, and ^pthrough strong drink are out of the way;

^qThe priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink,

They are swallowed up of wine, they are out of the way through strong drink;

They err in vision, they stumble in ^rjudgment.

⁸For ^sall tables are full of vomit and filthiness,

So that there is no place clean.

^9tWhom shall he teach knowledge?

And whom shall he make to understand doctrine?

^uThem that are weaned from the milk,

And drawn from the breasts.

¹⁰For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept;

^vLine upon line, line upon line;

Here a little, and there a little:

¹¹For ^wwith ^xstammering lips and another tongue

Will he speak to this people.

¹²To whom he said,

^yThis is the rest wherewith ye may cause ^zthe weary to rest;

And this is ^athe refreshing: ^wyet they would not hear.

¹³But the word of the Lord was unto them

^bPrecept upon precept, precept upon precept;

^bLine upon line, line upon line;

Here a little, and there a little;

That they might go, and ^cfall backward, and ^cbe broken,

And ^csnared, and ^ctaken.

¹⁴Wherefore hear the word of the Lord, ^dye scornful men,

That rule this people which is in Jerusalem.

¹⁵Because ye have said, We have ^emade a covenant with death,

And ^ewith hell are we at agreement;

When ^fthe overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us:

For ^gwe have made lies our refuge,

And ^gunder falsehood have we hid ourselves:

¹⁶Therefore thus saith the Lord God,

^hBehold, I lay in Zion for a foundation ⁱa stone,

^jA tried stone, ⁱa precious corner stone, ^ka sure foundation:

^hlHe that believeth shall not make haste.

¹⁷Judgment also will I lay to ^bmthe line,

And righteousness to ^mthe plummet:

And ⁿthe hail shall sweep away ^gthe refuge of lies,

And the waters shall ^foverflow ^gthe hiding place.

¹⁸And ^eyour covenant with death shall be disannulled,

And ^eyour agreement with hell shall not stand;

^fWhen the overflowing scourge shall pass through,

Then ye shall be trodden down by it.

¹⁹From the time that it goeth forth it shall take you:

For ⁿⁿmorning by morning shall it pass over, by day and by night:

And it shall be ^oa vexation only to understand ^pthe report.

²⁰For the bed is shorter than that a man can stretch himself on it:

And ^qthe covering narrower than that he can wrap himself in it.

²¹For the Lord shall rise up ^ras in mount Perazim,

He shall be wroth ^sas in the valley of ^tGibeon,

That he may do his work, ^uhis strange work;

And bring to pass his act, his strange act.

²²Now therefore ^dbe ye not mockers,

Lest your bands be made strong:

For I have heard from the Lord God of hosts

^wA consumption, even determined

Upon the whole earth.

²³Give ye ear, and hear my voice;

Hearken, and hear my speech.

²⁴Doth the plowman plow all day to sow?

Doth he open and ^xbreak the clods of his ground?

²⁵When he hath made plain the face thereof,

Doth he not cast abroad the fitches, and scatter the cummin,

And cast in the principal wheat

And the appointed barley and the rye in their place?

²⁶For his God doth instruct him to ^ydiscretion, and doth teach him.

²⁷For the fitches are not threshed with ^za threshing instrument,

Neither is a cart ^awheel turned about upon the cummin;

But the fitches are ^aabeaten out with a staff,

And the cummin with a rod.

²⁸Bread corn is bruised;

Because he will not ever be threshing it,

Nor break it with the wheel of his cart,

Nor bruise it with his horsemen.

²⁹This also cometh forth from the Lord of hosts,

^bWhich is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in ^cworking.

XXIX.