Isaiah 28–30

CHAPTER 28

Woe to Ephraim

¹Woe to the proud crown of the ^adrunkards of ^bEphraim,

And to the fading flower of its glorious beauty,

Which is at the head of the ¹fertile valley

Of those who are ²overcome with wine!

²Behold, the Lord has a strong and ^acourageous agent;

As a storm of ^bhail, a tempest of destruction,

Like a storm of ^cmighty overflowing waters,

He has set it down to the earth with His hand.

³The proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim is ^atrodden under foot.

⁴And the fading flower of its glorious beauty,

Which is at the head of the ¹fertile valley,

Will be like the ^afirst-ripe fig prior to summer,

Which ²one sees,

And ³as soon as it is in his ⁴hand,

He swallows it.

⁵In that day ^aYahweh of hosts will become a beautiful ^bcrown

And a glorious diadem to the remnant of His people;

⁶A ^aspirit of just judgment for him who sits in judgment,

A ^bmight to those who turn back the ¹onslaught at the gate.

⁷And these also ^areel with wine and stagger from strong drink:

^bThe priest and ^cthe prophet reel with strong drink;

They are swallowed up by wine, they stagger from ^dstrong drink;

They reel while ¹having ^evisions;

They totter when rendering a verdict.

⁸For all the tables are full of filthy ^avomit, without a single clean place.

⁹“^aWhom would He instruct in knowledge,

And whom would He provide understanding about the report?

Those just ^bweaned from milk?

Those just taken from the breast?

¹⁰“For He says,

‘^1aOrder on order, order on order,

Line on line, line on line,

A little here, a little there.’”

¹¹Indeed, He will speak to this people

Through ^astammering lips and a foreign tongue,

¹²He who said to them, “Here is ^arest, give rest to the weary,”

And, “Here is repose,” but they would not listen.

¹³So the word of Yahweh to them will be,

“¹Order on order, order on order,

Line on line, line on line,

A little here, a little there,”

That they may go and ^astumble backward, be broken, snared, and taken captive.

A Cornerstone in Zion

¹⁴Therefore, ^ahear the word of Yahweh, O ^bscoffers,

Who rule this people who are in Jerusalem,

¹⁵Because you have said, “We have cut a ^acovenant with death,

And with Sheol we have made a ¹pact.

^bThe overflowing ²scourge will not reach us when it passes by,

For we have made ^cfalsehood our refuge and we have ^dhidden ourselves with lying.”

¹⁶Therefore thus says Lord Yahweh,

“^aBehold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a tested ^bstone,

A costly cornerstone for the foundation, ¹firmly placed.

He who believes in it will not be ²disturbed.

¹⁷“I will make ^ajustice the measuring line

And righteousness the level;

Then ^bhail will sweep away the refuge of falsehood,

And the waters will overflow the secret place.

¹⁸“Your ^acovenant with death will be ^1bcanceled,

And your pact with Sheol will not stand;

When the ^coverflowing scourge passes through,

Then you will become its ^dtrampling place.

¹⁹“As ^aoften as it passes through, it will take you;

For ^bmorning after morning it will pass through, anytime during the day or night,

And it will be ¹sheer ^cterror to understand the report.”

²⁰The bed is too short on which to stretch out,

And the ^ablanket is too narrow to wrap oneself in.

²¹For Yahweh will rise up as at Mount ^aPerazim;

He will be stirred up as in the valley of ^bGibeon,

To work His ^cwork, His ^1dunusual work,

And to labor in His labor, His ²exceptional labor.

²²So now do not carry on as ^ascoffers,

Lest your fetters be made stronger;

For I have heard from Lord Yahweh of hosts

Of complete ^bdestruction, one that is decreed, on all the earth.

²³Give ear and hear my voice,

Pay attention and hear my words.

²⁴Does the ¹farmer plow ²continually to plant seed?

Does he continually ³turn and harrow his ground?

²⁵Does he not level its surface

And sow dill and scatter ^acumin

And ¹plant ^bwheat in rows,

Barley in its place and rye within its ²area?

²⁶For his God disciplines and teaches him proper judgment.

²⁷For dill is not threshed with a ^athreshing sledge,

Nor is the wheel of a cart ¹driven over cumin;

But dill is beaten out with a staff, and cumin with a rod.

²⁸Grain for bread is crushed,

But he does not continue to thresh it forever.

Because the wheel of his cart and his horses eventually ¹disturb it,

He does not crush it longer.

²⁹This also comes from Yahweh of hosts,

Who has made His counsel ^awonderful and His wisdom ^bgreat.

CHAPTER 29

Woe to Ariel

¹Woe, O ¹Ariel, ²Ariel the city where David once ^acamped!

Add year to year, ^3bobserve your feasts on schedule.

²I will bring distress to ¹Ariel,

And she will be a city of mourning and ^amoaning;

And she will be like an Ariel to me.

³And I will ^acamp against you ¹encircling you,

And I will fortify siegeworks against you,

And I will raise up fortifications against you.

⁴Then you will ^abe brought low;

From the earth you will speak,

And from the dust where you are prostrate

Your words will come.

Your voice will also be like that of a ¹spirit from the ground,

And your speech will whisper from the dust.

⁵But it will be that the multitude of your ¹enemies will become like fine ^adust,

And the multitude of the ^bruthless ones like the chaff which ²blows away;

And it will happen ^cinstantly, suddenly.

⁶From Yahweh of hosts you will be ^apunished with ^bthunder and earthquake and loud noise,

With whirlwind and tempest and the flame of a consuming fire.

⁷And it will be that the ^amultitude of all the nations who wage war against ¹Ariel,

Even all who wage war against her and her stronghold, and who distress her,

Will be like a dream, a ^bvision of the night.

⁸And it will be as when a hungry man dreams—

And behold, he is eating;

But he awakens, and his soul is empty,

Or as when a thirsty man dreams—

And behold, he is drinking,

But he awakens, and behold, he is faint,

And his soul is not quenched.

^aThus the multitude of all the nations will be

Who wage war against Mount Zion.

^9aAstonish yourselves and be astonished,

Blind yourselves and be blind;

They ^bbecome drunk, but not with wine;

They stagger, but not with strong drink.

¹⁰For Yahweh has poured over you a spirit of deep ^asleep;

He has ^bshut your eyes, the prophets;

And He has covered your heads, the seers.

¹¹The entire vision will be to you like the words of a sealed ^1abook, which when they give it to the one who ²is literate, saying, “Please read this,” he will say, “I cannot, for it is sealed.”

¹²Then the ¹book will be given to the one who ²does not know how to read a book, saying, “Please read this.” And he will say, “I ³do not know how to read a book.”

¹³Then the Lord said,

“Because ^athis people draw near with their mouth

And honor Me with their lips,

But they remove their hearts far from Me,

And their fear of Me is in the command of men learned by rote,

¹⁴Therefore behold, I will once again deal ^amarvelously with this people, wondrously marvelous;

And ^bthe wisdom of their wise men will perish,

And the discernment of their discerning men will be hidden.”

¹⁵Woe to those who deeply ^ahide their counsel from Yahweh,

And whose ^bdeeds are done in a dark place,

And they say, “^cWho sees us?” or “Who knows us?”

¹⁶You turn things around!

Shall the potter be considered ¹as equal with the clay,

That ^awhat is made would say to its maker, “He did not make me”;

Or what is formed say to him who formed it, “He has no understanding”?

The Afflicted Will Rejoice

¹⁷Is it not yet just a little while

¹Before Lebanon will be turned into a ^afruitful orchard,

And the fruitful orchard will be counted as a forest?

¹⁸On that day the ^adeaf will hear ^bwords of a book,

And out of ¹darkness and thick darkness the ^ceyes of the blind will see.

¹⁹The ^aafflicted also will increase their gladness in Yahweh,

And the ^bneedy of mankind will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.

²⁰For the ^aruthless will come to an end and the ^bscoffer will be finished,

Indeed ^call who are watching out to do evil will be cut off;

²¹Who ¹cause a person to sin by a word,

And ^aensnare him who reproves at the gate,

And ^2bdefraud the one in the right with ³meaningless arguments.

²²Therefore thus says Yahweh, who redeemed ^aAbraham, concerning the house of Jacob:

“Jacob ^bshall not now be ashamed, and now his face shall not turn pale;

²³But when ¹he sees his ^achildren, the ^bwork of My hands, in his midst,

They will sanctify My name;

Indeed, they will ^csanctify the Holy One of Jacob

And will stand trembling before the God of Israel.

²⁴“Those who ^aerr in spirit will ^bknow discernment,

And those who ¹criticize will ^2cgain learning.

CHAPTER 30

Alliance with Egypt Condemned

¹“Woe to the ^arebellious children,” declares Yahweh,

“Who ^bexecute counsel, but not Mine,

And ^1cmake an alliance, but not of My Spirit,

In order to add sin to sin,

²Who ^ago down to Egypt—

But did not ^bask ¹Me—

^cTo find strength in the strong defense of Pharaoh

And to take refuge in the shadow of Egypt!

³“Therefore the strong defense of Pharaoh will be ^ayour shame

And the refuge in the shadow of Egypt, your dishonor.

⁴“For ^atheir princes are at Zoan

And their messengers reach Hanes.

⁵“Everyone will be ^aashamed because of a people who cannot profit them,

Who are ^bnot for help or profit, but for shame and also for reproach.”

⁶The ¹oracle concerning the ^abeasts of the ^bNegev.

Through a land of ^cdistress and anguish,

From ²where come lioness and lion, viper and ^dflying fiery serpent,

They ^ecarry their wealth on the ³backs of young donkeys

And their treasures on ^fcamels’ humps,

To a people who cannot profit them;

⁷Even Egypt, whose ^ahelp is vain and empty.

Therefore, I have called ¹her

“^2bRahab who has ceased.”

⁸Now go, ^awrite it on a tablet before them

And inscribe it on a scroll,

That it may be in the time to come

¹As a witness forever.

⁹For this is a ^arebellious people, ^bfalse sons,

Sons who are not willing to ^clisten

To the law of Yahweh,

¹⁰Who say to the ^aseers, “You must not see,”

And to those who have visions, “You must not ^bbehold visions for us of what is right,

^cSpeak to us ¹pleasant words,

Behold visions of illusions.

¹¹“Get out of the way, ^aturn aside from the path,

^1bCease speaking before us about the Holy One of Israel.”

¹²Therefore thus says the…