Isaiah 28–30

Judgment on Ephraim and Jerusalem

28Ah, the proud crown of ^ythe drunkards of Ephraim,

and the fading flower of its glorious beauty,

which is on the head of the rich valley of those overcome with wine!

²Behold, the Lord has ^zone who is mighty and strong;

like a storm of hail, a destroying tempest,

like ^aa storm of mighty, overflowing waters,

he casts down to the earth with his hand.

^3bThe proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim

will be trodden underfoot;

^4cand the fading flower of its glorious beauty,

which is on the head of the rich valley,

will be like ^da first-ripe fig¹ before the summer:

when someone sees it, he swallows it

as soon as it is in his hand.

^5eIn that day the Lord of hosts will be a crown of glory,²

and a diadem of beauty, to the remnant of his people,

⁶and ^fa spirit of justice to him who sits in judgment,

and ^gstrength to those who turn back the battle at the gate.

^7hThese also reel with wine

and ⁱstagger with strong drink;

the priest and ^jthe prophet reel with strong drink,

they are swallowed by³ wine,

they stagger with strong drink,

they reel in vision,

they stumble in giving judgment.

⁸For all tables are full of filthy vomit,

with no space left.

^9k“To whom will he teach knowledge,

and to whom will he explain the message?

Those who are weaned from the milk,

those taken from the breast?

¹⁰For it is precept upon precept, precept upon precept,

line upon line, line upon line,

here a little, there a little.”

^11lFor by people of strange lips

and with a foreign tongue

the Lord will speak to this people,

¹²to whom he has said,

^m“This is rest;

give rest to the weary;

and this is repose”;

yet they would not hear.

¹³And the word of the Lord will be to them

precept upon precept, precept upon precept,

line upon line, line upon line,

here a little, there a little,

ⁿthat they may go, and fall backward,

and be broken, and snared, and taken.

A Cornerstone in Zion

¹⁴Therefore hear the word of the Lord, you ^oscoffers,

who rule this people in Jerusalem!

¹⁵Because you have said, “We have made a covenant with death,

and with Sheol we have an agreement,

when the ^poverwhelming whip passes through

it will not come to us,

for we have made ^qlies our refuge,

and in falsehood we have taken shelter”;

¹⁶therefore thus says the Lord God,

^r“Behold, I am the one who has laid⁴ as a foundation ^sin Zion,

a stone, a tested stone,

a precious cornerstone, of a sure foundation:

‘Whoever believes will not be in haste.’

¹⁷And I will make justice ^tthe line,

and righteousness ^tthe plumb line;

and hail will sweep away the refuge of lies,

and waters will overwhelm the shelter.”

¹⁸Then ^uyour covenant with death will be annulled,

and your agreement with Sheol will not stand;

when the overwhelming scourge passes through,

you will be beaten down by it.

¹⁹As often as it passes through it will take you;

^vfor morning by morning it will pass through,

by day and by night;

and it will be ^wsheer terror to understand the message.

²⁰For the bed is too short to stretch oneself on,

and the covering too narrow to wrap oneself in.

²¹For the Lord will rise up ^xas on Mount Perazim;

^yas in the Valley of ^zGibeon he will be roused;

to do his deed—strange is his deed!

and to work his work—alien is his work!

²²Now therefore do not ^ascoff,

lest your bonds be made strong;

for I have heard ^ba decree of destruction

from the Lord God of hosts against the whole land.

²³Give ear, and hear my voice;

give attention, and hear my speech.

²⁴Does he who plows for sowing plow continually?

Does he continually open and harrow his ground?

^25cWhen he has leveled its surface,

does he not scatter dill, sow cumin,

and put in wheat in rows

and barley in its proper place,

and emmer⁵ as the border?

^26dFor he is rightly instructed;

his God teaches him.

²⁷Dill is not threshed with a threshing sledge,

nor is a cart wheel rolled over cumin,

but dill is beaten out with a stick,

and cumin with a rod.

²⁸Does one crush grain for bread?

No, he does not thresh it forever;⁶

when he drives his cart wheel over it

with his horses, he does not crush it.

²⁹This also comes from the Lord of hosts;

he is ^ewonderful in counsel

and excellent in wisdom.

The Siege of Jerusalem

29Ah, Ariel, Ariel,

the city ^fwhere David encamped!

Add year to year;

let the feasts run their round.

²Yet I will distress Ariel,

and there shall be moaning and lamentation,

and she shall be to me like an Ariel.¹

^3gAnd I will encamp against you all around,

and will besiege you ^hwith towers

and I will raise siegeworks against you.

⁴ⁱAnd you will be brought low; from the earth you shall speak,

and from the dust your speech will be bowed down;

your voice shall come from the ground like ^jthe voice of a ghost,

and from the dust your speech shall whisper.

⁵But the multitude of your foreign foes shall be like ^ksmall dust,

and the multitude of the ruthless like passing chaff.

^lAnd in an instant, suddenly,

^6myou will be visited by the Lord of hosts

with thunder and with earthquake and great noise,

with whirlwind and tempest, and the flame of a devouring fire.

⁷And ⁿthe multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel,

all that fight against her and her stronghold and distress her,

shall be ^olike a dream, a vision of the night.

^8pAs when a hungry man dreams, and behold, he is eating,

and awakes with his hunger not satisfied,

or as when a thirsty man dreams, and behold, he is drinking,

and awakes faint, with his thirst not quenched,

so shall the multitude of all the nations be

that fight against Mount Zion.

⁹Astonish yourselves² and be astonished;

blind yourselves and be blind!

Be drunk,³ but not with wine;

^rstagger,⁴ but not with strong drink!

^10sFor the Lord has poured out upon you

a spirit of deep sleep,

and has closed your eyes (the prophets),

and covered your heads (the seers).

¹¹And the vision of all this has become to you like the words of a book that is ^tsealed. When men give it to one who can read, saying, “Read this,” he says, “I cannot, for it is sealed.” ¹²And when they give the book to one who cannot read, saying, “Read this,” he says, “I cannot read.”

¹³And the Lord said:

“Because ^uthis people ^vdraw near with their mouth

and honor me with their lips,

while their hearts are far from me,

and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men,

¹⁴therefore, behold, ^wI will again

do wonderful things with this people,

with wonder upon wonder;

and ^xthe wisdom of their wise men shall perish,

and the discernment of their discerning men shall be hidden.”

¹⁵Ah, ^yyou who hide deep from the Lord your counsel,

whose deeds are ^zin the dark,

and who say, “Who sees us? Who knows us?”

^16aYou turn things upside down!

Shall the potter be regarded as the clay,

that the thing made should say of its maker,

“He did not make me”;

or the thing formed say of him who formed it,

“He has no understanding”?

¹⁷Is it not yet a very little while

^buntil Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field,

and the fruitful field shall be regarded as a forest?

¹⁸In that day ^cthe deaf shall hear

^dthe words of a book,

and out of their gloom and darkness

^ethe eyes of the blind shall see.

^19fThe meek shall obtain fresh joy in the Lord,

and the poor among mankind shall exult in the Holy One of Israel.

²⁰For the ruthless shall come to nothing

and ^gthe scoffer cease,

and all who watch to do evil shall be cut off,

²¹who by a word make a man out to be an offender,

and ^hlay a snare for him who reproves in the gate,

and with an empty plea ⁱturn aside him who is in the right.

²²Therefore thus says the Lord, ^jwho redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob:

“Jacob shall no more be ashamed,

no more shall his face grow pale.

²³For when he sees his children,

^kthe work of my hands, in his midst,

they will sanctify my name;

^lthey will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob

and will stand in awe of the God of Israel.

²⁴And those ^mwho go astray in spirit will come to understanding,

and those who murmur will accept instruction.”

Do Not Go Down to Egypt

30“Ah, ⁿstubborn children,” declares the Lord,

^o“who carry out a plan, but not mine,

and who make ^pan alliance,¹ but not of my Spirit,

that they may add sin to sin;

^2qwho set out to go down to Egypt,

without asking for my direction,

to take refuge in the protection of Pharaoh

and to seek shelter in the shadow of Egypt!

^3rTherefore shall the protection of Pharaoh turn to your shame,

and the shelter in the shadow of Egypt to your humiliation.

⁴For though his officials are at ^sZoan

and ^this envoys reach ^uHanes,

⁵everyone comes to shame

through ^va people that cannot profit them,

that brings neither help nor profit,

but shame and disgrace.”

⁶An ^woracle on ^xthe beasts of ^ythe Negeb.

Through a land of trouble and anguish,

from where come the lioness and the lion,

the adder and the ^zflying fiery serpent,

they carry their riches on the backs of donkeys,

and their treasures on the humps of camels,

to a people that cannot profit them.

⁷Egypt’s ^ahelp is worthless and empty;

therefore I have called her

^b“Rahab who sits still.”

A Rebellious People

⁸And now, go, ^cwrite it before them on a tablet

and inscribe it in a book,

that it may be for the time to come

as a witness forever.²

^9dFor they are a rebellious people,

lying children,

children unwilling to hear

the instruction of the Lord;

^10ewho say to ^fthe seers, “Do not see,”

and to the prophets, “Do not prophesy to us what is right;

speak to us ^gsmooth things,

prophesy illusions,

¹¹leave the way, turn aside from the path,

let us hear no more about the Holy One of Israel.”

¹²Therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel,

“Because you despise this word

and trust in ^hoppression and perverseness

and rely on them,

¹³therefore this iniquity shall be to you

ⁱlike a breach in a high wall, bulging out and about to collapse,

whose breaking comes suddenly, in an instant;

¹⁴and its breaking is ^jlike that of a potter’s vessel

that is smashed so ruthlessly

that among its fragments not a shard is found

with which to take fire from the hearth,

or to dip up water out of…