Isaiah 27–28

27TH CHAPTER

The Lord’s People Will Worship on His Holy Mountain

¹On that day the Lord will use his fierce and powerful sword 

to punish Leviathan,that slippery snake, 

Leviathan, that twisting snake. 

He will kill that monster which lives in the sea. 

²On that day sing about a delightful vineyard. 

³I, the Lord, watch over it. 

I water it continually. 

I watch over it day and night 

so that no one will harm it. 

⁴I am no longer angry. 

If only thorns and briars would confront me! 

I would fight them in battle and set all of them on fire. 

⁵Or else let them come to me for protection. 

Let them make peace with me. 

Yes, let them make peace with me. 

⁶In times to come Jacob will take root. 

Israel will blossom, bud, 

and fill the whole world with fruit. 

⁷Will the Lord hurt Israel as he hurt others who hurt them? 

Will he kill them as he killed others? 

⁸He punished Israel by sending it away. 

He removed it with a fierce blast from the east winds. 

⁹In this way the wrongdoings of the descendants of Jacob are covered up. 

This is the way they will turn from their sins— 

when they turn all the altar stones into powdered chalk 

and no poles dedicated to the goddess Asherah 

or incense altars are left standing. 

¹⁰The fortified city is isolated. 

The homestead is left deserted, abandoned like the desert. 

Calves will graze there. 

They will lie down. 

They will feed on the branches. 

¹¹When the branches are dried up, 

they will be broken off. 

Women will come and build a fire with them. 

These people don’t understand ⸤these things⸥. 

That is why their maker won’t have compassion on them, 

and their Creator won’t have pity on them. 

¹²On that day the Lord will begin his threshing^c

from the flowing stream of the Euphrates River 

to the brook of Egypt. 

People of Israel, you will be gathered one by one. 

¹³On that day a ram’s horn will be blown loudly. 

Those who are dying in Assyria 

and those who are banished to Egypt 

will come and worship the Lord 

on the holy mountain in Jerusalem. 

28TH CHAPTER

Ephraim Will Fall

¹How horrible it will be for the arrogant drunks of Ephraim. 

Their glorious beauty is ⸤like⸥ a withered flower. 

They are at the entrance to a fertile valley 

where they lie drunk from wine. 

²The Lord has one who is strong and powerful. 

He is like a hailstorm, a destructive wind. 

He is like a thunderstorm, an overwhelming flood. 

He will throw them to the ground forcefully. 

³The arrogant drunks of Ephraim will be trampled underfoot. 

⁴Their glorious beauty is ⸤like⸥ a withered flower. 

They are at the entrance to a fertile valley. 

They will be like figs that ripened early. 

As soon as someone sees them, 

they will be taken and eaten. 

⁵When that day comes, the Lord of Armies will be 

like a glorious crown for his few remaining people. 

⁶He will give a spirit of justice to those who judge. 

He will give strength to those who defend the city gates in battle. 

⁷Priests and prophets stagger from wine and wobble from too much liquor. 

They stagger from too much liquor 

and become confused from too much wine. 

They wobble because of their liquor. 

They stagger when they see visions. 

They swerve as they judge. 

⁸All the tables are covered with vomit and excrement. 

There isn’t a clean place left. 

⁹To whom will they make the message understood? 

To whom will they explain this message? 

To children just weaned from milk? 

To those just taken from their ⸤mother’s⸥ breasts? 

¹⁰They speak utter nonsense.^a

¹¹The Lord will speak to these people. 

He will mock them by speaking in a foreign language. 

¹²He will say to them, 

“This is a place for comfort. 

This is a place of rest for those who are tired. 

This is a place for them to rest.” 

But they weren’t willing to listen. 

¹³The Lord speaks utter nonsense to them. 

That is why they will fall backwards. 

That is why they will be hurt, trapped, and captured. 

A Message to Jerusalem

¹⁴So hear the Lord’s word, you foolish talkers 

who rule the people in Jerusalem. 

¹⁵You say, “We made a treaty with death 

and an agreement with the grave. 

When the overwhelming disaster passes by, 

it won’t matter to us, 

because we have taken refuge in our lies, 

and falsehood is our hiding place.” 

¹⁶This is what the Almighty Lord says: 

I am going to lay a rock in Zion, 

a rock that has been tested, 

a precious cornerstone, 

a solid foundation. 

Whoever believes ⸤in him⸥ will not worry. 

¹⁷I will make justice a measuring line 

and righteousness a plumb line. 

Hail will sweep away your refuge of lies, 

and floodwaters will wash away your hiding place. 

¹⁸Your treaty with death will be wiped away. 

Your agreement with the grave will not stand. 

When the overwhelming disaster passes by, 

you will be trampled by it. 

¹⁹Each time it passes by it will take you. 

It will pass by morning after morning, 

during the day and during the night. 

Understanding this message brings only terror. 

²⁰The bed is too short to stretch out on. 

The blanket is too narrow to serve as a cover. 

²¹The Lord will rise as he did on Mount Perazim. 

He will wake up as he did in Gibeon Valley. 

He will do his work, his unexpected work, 

and perform his deeds, his mysterious deeds. 

²²Now stop laughing, or your chains will be tightened, 

because I have heard that the Almighty Lord of Armies 

has finally determined to destroy the whole land. 

²³Open your ears, and listen to me! 

Pay attention, and hear me! 

²⁴Does a farmer go on plowing every day so he can plant? 

Does he continue to break up the soil and make furrows in the ground? 

²⁵When he has smoothed its surface, 

doesn’t he scatter black cumin seed and plant cumin? 

Doesn’t he plant wild wheat in rows? 

Doesn’t he put barley in its own area 

and winter wheat at its borders? 

²⁶God will guide him in judgment, 

and his God will teach him. 

²⁷Black cumin isn’t threshed^bwith a sledge, 

and wagon wheels aren’t rolled over cumin. 

Black cumin is beaten with a rod 

and cumin with a stick. 

²⁸Grain is ground into flour, but the grinding eventually stops. 

It will be threshed. 

The wheels of his cart will roll over it, 

but his horses won’t crush it. 

²⁹All of this has come from the Lord of Armies. 

His counsel is wonderful, and his wisdom is great.