Isaiah 28–30

Judgment against the Leaders of Ephraim

28Ah! The garland of the pride of the drunkards of Ephraim

and the withering flower of the glory of his beauty,

which is at the head of the rich valley,^a

ones overcome^b with wine!

²Look! The Lord has a mighty and strong one,

like a rainstorm of hail, a wind storm of destruction,

like a rainstorm of mighty overflowing waters,

he will put them to the earth with his hand.

³The garland of the pride of the drunkards of Ephraim

will be trampled^c by feet,

⁴and the withering flower of the glory of its beauty

which is at the head of the rich valley^d

will be like its early fig before summer,

which the one who sees it swallows^e while it is still in his hand.

⁵In that day, Yahweh of hosts will become a garland of glory

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

⁶and a spirit of justice to the one who sits over judgment,

and strength to those who turn back the battle at the gate.

⁷And these also stagger because of wine

and stagger because of strong drink;

priest and prophet stagger because of strong drink;

they are confused^f because of wine.

They stagger because of strong drink;

they err in vision.

They stagger in the rendering of a decision,

⁸for all the tables are full of disgusting vomit, with no place left.^g

⁹To whom will he teach knowledge,

and to whom will he explain the message?

Those who are weaned from milk,

those taken from the breast?

¹⁰For it is blah-blah upon blah-blah,

blah-blah upon blah-blah,

gah-gah upon gah-gah,

gah-gah upon gah-gah,^h

a little here, a little there.

¹¹For he will speak with stammeringⁱ and another tongue to this people, ¹²to whom he has said,

“This is rest; give rest to the weary;

and this is repose”; yet^j they were not willing to hear.

¹³And to them the word of Yahweh will be

blah-blah upon blah-blah

blah-blah upon blah-blah

gah-gah upon gah-gah

gah-gah upon gah-gah,^k

a little here, a little there,

so that they may go and stumble backward

and be broken and ensnared and captured.

The Cornerstone of Zion

¹⁴Therefore hear the word of Yahweh, men of mockery,

rulers of these people in Jerusalem:

¹⁵Because you have said,

“We have made^l a covenant with death,

and we have made an agreement with Sheol.

The overwhelming flood, when it passes through, will not come to us,

for we have made lies^m our refuge,

and we have hidden ourselves in falsehood.”

¹⁶Therefore the Lord Yahweh says this:

“Look! I am laying a stone in Zion,

a testedⁿ stone,

a precious cornerstone,

a founded foundation:

‘The one who trusts will not panic.’^o

¹⁷And I will make justice the measuring line,

and righteousness the plumb line;

and hail will sweep away the refuge of lies,^p

and waters will flood over the hiding place.

¹⁸And your covenant with death will be annulled,

and your agreement with Sheol will not stand;

you will become a trampling place for the overwhelming flood when it passes through.

¹⁹As often as it passes through,^q it will take you,

for morning by morning^r it will pass through,

in the day and in the night,

and understanding the message will be only terror.”

²⁰For the bed is too short to stretch out on,^s

and the covering is too narrow when wrapping oneself.

²¹For Yahweh will rise up as at Mount Perazim;

he will rave as in the valley at Gibeon

to do his deed—his deed is strange—

and to work his work—his work is alien!

²²And now you must not scoff,

or your bonds will be strong,

for I have heard from the Lord, Yahweh of hosts:

complete destruction

decreed upon all the land.

A Parable of Yahweh’s Work

²³Listen, and hear my voice!

Listen attentively, and hear my word!

²⁴Is it all day that the plowman plows,

opens to sow seed, harrows his ground?

²⁵When he has leveled its surface,^t does he not scatter dill,

and sow cumin seed,

and plant^u wheat in planted rows,^v

and barley in an appointed place,

and spelt grain as its border?

²⁶And his God instructs him about the prescription;^w

he teaches him.

²⁷For dill is not threshed with a threshing sledge,

nor is a wheel of a utility cart rolled^x over cumin,

but dill is beaten out with a stick,

and cumin with a rod.

²⁸Grain is crushed fine,

but certainly one does not thresh it forever;

and one drives the wheel of his cart,

but his horses do not crush it.

²⁹This also comes forth from Yahweh of hosts.

He is wonderful in advice;

he makes great wisdom.

Woe to Jerusalem

29Ah! Ariel, Ariel, the city where David encamped!

Add year to year,

let festivals recur.

²Yet^a I will inflict Ariel,

and there shall be mourning and lamentation,

and it shall be to me like an altar hearth.^b

³And I will encamp in a circle^c against you,

and I will lay siege to you with towers^d

and I will raise up siegeworks against you.

⁴Then^e you shall be low;

you shall speak from the earth,

and your words^f will be low, from dust.

And your voice will be from the earth, like a ghost,

and your word will whisper from the dust.

⁵But^g the multitude of your strangers shall be like fine dust,

and the multitude of tyrants like chaff that passes by.

And it will happen in an instant, suddenly.

⁶You will be punished by Yahweh of hosts

with thunder and earthquake and great sound,

storm wind and tempest and the flame of a devouring fire.

⁷And the multitude of all the nations who fight against Ariel,

all those who fight against her and her stronghold,

and those who inflict her shall be like a dream, a vision of the night.

⁸And it shall be as when the hungry person dreams—look, he is eating!

And he wakes up and his inner self is empty.

Or^h as when the thirsty person dreams—look, he is drinking!

And he wakes up and look, he is faint,

and his inner self is longing for water.

So shall be the multitude of all the nations who fight against Mount Zion.

⁹Be astonished and be amazed!

Blind yourselves and be blinded!

They are drunk butⁱ not from wine;

they stagger but^j not from strong drink.

¹⁰For Yahweh has poured out upon you a spirit of deep sleep,

and he has shut your eyes, the prophets,

and he has covered your heads, the seers.

¹¹And the vision of all this has become for you like the words of a sealed document. When they give it to one who knows the^k document, saying, “Read^l this now!” He says, “I am not able, for it is sealed.” ¹²And if the document is given to one who does not know how to read,^m saying, “Readⁿ this now!” he says, “I do not know how to read.”^o

¹³And the Lord said,

“Because this people draw near with its mouth,

and with its lips it honors me,

and its heart is far from me,

and their fear of me is a commandment of men that has been taught,

¹⁴therefore look, I am again doing something spectacular

and a spectacle with this spectacular people.

And the wisdom of its wise men shall perish,

and the discernment of its discerning ones shall keep itself hidden.”

¹⁵Ah! Those who make a plan deep, to hide it from Yahweh,

and their deeds are^p in a dark place.

And they say, “Who sees us?

And who knows us?”

¹⁶Your perversity!

As if a potter^q shall be regarded as the clay!

That the product of its maker says,

“He did not make me,”

and the thing made into shape says of its potter,^r

“He has no understanding.”

Blessing after Punishment

¹⁷In a very little while^s shall not Lebanon change into a fruitful land,

and the fruitful land be regarded as a forest?

¹⁸And on that day, the deaf shall hear the words of a scroll,

and the eyes of the blind shall see out of gloom and darkness.

¹⁹And the meek have joy after joy^t in Yahweh,

and the needy of the people shall rejoice in the holy one of Israel.

²⁰For the tyrant shall be no more,

and the scoffer shall come to an end.

And all those lying in wait for evil shall be cut off;

²¹those who mislead a person into sin with a word

and set a trap for the arbitrator^u in the gate

and guide away the righteous by emptiness.

²²Therefore Yahweh, who redeemed Abraham, says this to the house of Jacob:

“Jacob will no longer be ashamed,

and his face will no longer grow pale.

²³For when he sees his children,

the work of my hands, in his midst,

they will treat my name as holy,

and they will treat the holy one of Jacob as holy,

and they will stand in awe of the God of Israel.

²⁴And those who err in spirit will acquire^v understanding,

and those who grumble will learn instruction.

Warning against Alliance with Egypt

30“Oh rebellious children!” declares^a Yahweh,

“to make a plan, but^b not from me,

and pour out a libation, but^c not from my Spirit,

so as to add^d sin to sin.

²Who go to go down to Egypt,

but^e they do not ask of my mouth,

to take refuge in the protection of Pharaoh

and to take refuge in the shadow of Egypt.

³And the protection of Pharaoh shall be shame to you,

and the refuge in the shadow of Egypt, humiliation.

⁴For his officials are at Zoan,

and his envoys reach to Hanes.

⁵Everyone will start to stink because of a people that cannot profit them,

not for help and not for profiting,

but for shame and also for disgrace.”

Oracle regarding the Negev

⁶An oracle of the animals of the Negev:

Through a land of trouble and distress,

of lioness and lion,

among^f them are snake and flying serpent;

they carry their wealth on the backs^g of male donkeys

and their treasures on the humps^h of camels,

to a people that cannot profit them.

⁷Forⁱ Egyptians^j help with vanity and emptiness,

therefore I have called this one “Rahab, they are sitting.”

⁸Now go, write it on a tablet with them,

and inscribe it on a scroll,

that^k it may be for the time to come,^l

forever, forever.

⁹For it is a people of rebellion, deceitful children,

children who are not willing to hear the instruction of Yahweh,

¹⁰who say to those who do see, “You must not see!”

and to the seers, “You must not see truth for us;

speak smooth things to us,

see illusions,

¹¹turn aside from the way, turn aside from the path,

put an end to the holy one of Israel from our face.”

¹²Therefore the holy one of Israel says this:

“Because you are rejecting this word

and you trust in oppression and cunning^m

and you rely on it,

¹³therefore this iniquity shall come for you like a breach…