Isaiah 28:14–30:11

A DEAL WITH DEATH

¹⁴Therefore hear the word of the Lord,^d you scoffers^e

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 passes through,^f

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^g in Zion,

a tested stone,

a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation;^h

the one who believes will be unshakable.^Bi

¹⁷And I will make justice the measuring line

and righteousness the mason’s level.”^j

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^k will cause you

to understand the message.^C

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.^l

He will rise in wrath, as at the Valley of Gibeon,^m

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.ⁿ

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.^a

WOE TO JERUSALEM

29Woe to Ariel, Ariel,

the city where David camped!^b

Continue year after year;

let the festivals recur.

²I will oppress Ariel,

and there will be mourning and crying,

and she will be to me like an Ariel.

³I will camp in a circle around you;

I will besiege you with earth ramps,

and I will set up my siege towers against you.

⁴You will be brought down;

you will speak from the ground,

and your words will come from low in the dust.

Your voice will be like that of a spirit from the ground;^c

your speech will whisper from the dust.

⁵Your many foes^B will be like fine dust,^d

and many of the ruthless, like blowing chaff.

Then suddenly, in an instant,^e

⁶you will be punished by the Lord of Armies

with thunder, earthquake, and loud noise,

storm, tempest, and a flame of consuming fire.^f

⁷All the many nations^g

going out to battle against Ariel—

all the attackers, the siege works against her,

and those who oppress her—

will then be like a dream, a vision in the night.^h

⁸It will be like a hungry one who dreams he is eating,

then wakes and is still hungry;

and like a thirsty one who dreams he is drinking,

then wakes and is still thirsty, longing for water.

So it will be for all the many nations

who go to battle against Mount Zion.

⁹Stop and be astonished;

blind yourselves and be blind!

They are drunk,^C but not with wine;

they stagger,^A but not with beer.ⁱ

¹⁰For the Lord has poured out on you

an overwhelming urge to^B sleep;ⁱ

he has shut your eyes (the prophets)

and covered your heads (the seers).^k

¹¹For you the entire vision will be like the words of a sealed document.^l If it is given to one who can read and he is asked to read it,^C he will say, “I can’t read it, because it is sealed.” ¹²And if the document is given to one who cannot read and he is asked to read it,^D he will say, “I can’t read.”

¹³The Lord said:

These people approach me with their speeches^m

to honor me with lip-service,^E

yet their hearts are far from me,

and human rules direct their worship of me.^F

¹⁴Therefore, I will again confound these people

with wonder after wonder.ⁿ

The wisdom of their wise will vanish,^o

and the perception of their perceptive will be hidden.

¹⁵Woe to those who go to great lengths

to hide their plans from the Lord.^p

They do their works in the dark,

and say, “Who sees us? Who knows us?”^q

¹⁶You have turned things around,

as if the potter were the same as the clay.

How can what is made say about its maker,

“He didn’t make me”?^r

How can what is formed

say about the one who formed it,

“He doesn’t understand what he’s doing”?

¹⁷Isn’t it true that in just a little while

Lebanon will become an orchard,

and the orchard will seem like a forest?^s

¹⁸On that day the deaf will hear^a

the words of a document,

and out of a deep darkness

the eyes of the blind will see.

¹⁹The humble will have joy

after joy in the Lord,

and the poor people will rejoice^b

in the Holy One of Israel.^c

²⁰For the ruthless one will vanish,

the scorner will disappear,^d

and all those who lie in wait with evil intent

will be killed—

²¹those who, with their speech,

accuse a person of wrongdoing,

who set a trap for the one mediating at the city gate

and without cause deprive the righteous of justice.^e

²²Therefore, the Lord who redeemed Abraham^f says this about the house of Jacob:

Jacob will no longer be ashamed,

and his face will no longer be pale.

²³For when he sees his children,

the work of my hands within his nation,

they will honor my name,

they will honor the Holy One of Jacob^g

and stand in awe of the God of Israel.^h

²⁴Those who are confused will gain understanding,

and those who grumble will accept instruction.

CONDEMNATION OF THE EGYPTIAN ALLIANCE

30Woe to the rebellious children!ⁱ

This is the Lord’s declaration.

They carry out a plan,^j but not mine;

they make an alliance,

but against my will,

piling sin on top of sin.

²Without asking my advice

they set out to go down to Egypt^k

in order to seek shelter under Pharaoh’s protection

and take refuge in Egypt’s shadow.^l

³But Pharaoh’s protection will become your shame,

and refuge in Egypt’s shadow your humiliation.^m

⁴For though his^A princes are at Zoanⁿ

and his messengers reach as far as Hanes,

⁵everyone will be ashamed

because of a people who can’t help.

They are of no benefit, they are no help;

they are good for nothing but shame and disgrace.^o

⁶A pronouncement^p concerning the animals of the Negev:^B

Through a land of trouble and distress,

of lioness and lion,

of viper and flying serpent,^q

they carry their wealth on the backs of donkeys

and their treasures on the humps of camels,

to a people who will not help them.

⁷Egypt’s help is completely worthless;

therefore, I call her:

Rahab Who Just Sits.^r

⁸Go now, write it on a tablet in their presence

and inscribe it on a scroll;

it will be for the future,

forever and ever.

⁹They are a rebellious people,

deceptive children,^s

children who do not want to listen to the Lord’s instruction.

¹⁰They say to the seers, “Do not see,”

and to the prophets,

“Do not prophesy the truth to us.

Tell us flattering things.^t

Prophesy illusions.

¹¹Get out of the way!

Leave the pathway.

Rid us of the Holy One of Israel.”^u