Isaiah 28

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.