Isaiah 28

WOE TO SAMARIA

28Woe to the majestic crown of Ephraim’s drunkards,^m

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 oneⁿ—

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.^o

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^p

to the remnant of his people,

⁶a spirit of justice

to the one who sits in judgment,^q

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.^r

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^A just weaned from milk?

Babies^A removed from the breast?

¹⁰“Law after law, law after law,

line after line, line after line,

a little here, a little there.”

¹¹For he will speak to this people

with stammering speech

and in a foreign language.^a

¹²He had said to them,

“This is the place of rest;

let the weary rest;^b

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.^c

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