Isaiah 28:1–35:10

Ephraim’s Captivity Predicted

1 Woe 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!

2 Behold, the Lord has a strong and amighty agent;

As a storm of bhail, a tempest of destruction,

Like a storm of cmighty overflowing waters,

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

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

4 And 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.

5 In that day the aLord of hosts will become a beautiful bcrown

And a glorious diadem to the remnant of His people;

6 A aspirit of justice for him who sits in judgment,

A bstrength to those who repel the 1onslaught at the gate.

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

bThe priest and cthe prophet reel with strong drink,

They are confused by wine, they stagger from dstrong drink;

They reel while 1having evisions,

They totter when rendering judgment.

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

9 “To awhom would He teach knowledge,

And to whom would He interpret the message?

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.’ ”

11 Indeed, He will speak to this people

Through astammering lips and a foreign tongue,

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

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

13 So the word of the Lord 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.

Judah Is Warned

14 Therefore, ahear the word of the Lord, O bscoffers,

Who rule this people who are in Jerusalem,

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

And with 1Sheol we have made a 2pact.

bThe overwhelming 3scourge will not reach us when it passes by,

For we have made cfalsehood our refuge and we have dconcealed ourselves with deception.”

16 Therefore thus says the Lord 1God,

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

A costly cornerstone for the foundation, 2firmly placed.

He who believes in it will not be 3disturbed.

17 “I will make ajustice the measuring line

And righteousness the level;

Then bhail will sweep away the refuge of lies

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 aoverwhelming scourge passes through,

Then you become its ctrampling place.

19 “As aoften as it passes through, it will 1seize you;

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

And it will be 2sheer cterror to understand 3what it means.”

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

And the ablanket is too 1small to wrap oneself in.

21 For the Lord will rise up as at Mount aPerazim,

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

To do His ctask, His 1dunusual task,

And to work His work, His 2extraordinary work.

22 And now do not carry on as ascoffers,

Or your fetters will be made stronger;

For I have heard from the Lord 1God of hosts

Of decisive bdestruction on all the earth.

23 Give ear and hear my voice,

Listen and hear my words.

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

Does he continually 3turn and harrow the ground?

25 Does he not level its surface

And sow dill and scatter acummin

And 1plant bwheat in rows,

Barley in its place and rye within its 2area?

26 For his God instructs and teaches him properly.

27 For dill is not threshed with a athreshing sledge,

Nor is the cartwheel 1driven over cummin;

But dill is beaten out with a rod, and cummin with a club.

28 Grain for bread is crushed,

Indeed, he does not continue to thresh it forever.

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

He does not thresh it longer.

29 This also comes from the Lord of hosts,

Who has made His counsel awonderful and His wisdom bgreat.

Chapter 29

Jerusalem Is Warned

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

Add year to year, 2bobserve your feasts on schedule.

2 I will bring distress to Ariel,

And she will be a city of lamenting and amourning;

And she will be like an Ariel to me.

3 I will acamp against you 1encircling you,

And I will set siegeworks against you,

And I will raise up battle towers against you.

4 Then 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.

5 But 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.

6 From the Lord of hosts you will be apunished with bthunder and earthquake and loud noise,

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

7 And 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.

8 It will be as when a hungry man dreams—

And behold, he is eating;

But when he awakens, his 1hunger is not satisfied,

Or as when a thirsty man dreams—

And behold, he is drinking,

But when he awakens, behold, he is faint

And his 1thirst is not quenched.

aThus the multitude of all the nations will be

Who wage war against Mount Zion.

9 aBe delayed and wait,

Blind yourselves and be blind;

They bbecome drunk, but not with wine,

They stagger, but not with strong drink.

10 For the Lord has poured over you a spirit of deep asleep,

He has bshut your eyes, the prophets;

And He has covered your heads, the seers.

11 The 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.”

12 Then the 1book will be given to the one who 2is illiterate, saying, “Please read this.” And he will say, “I 3cannot read.”

13 Then the Lord said,

“Because athis people draw near with their 1words

And honor Me with their 2lip service,

But they remove their hearts far from Me,

And their 3reverence for Me 4consists of 5tradition learned by rote,

14 Therefore 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 concealed.”

15 Woe to those who deeply ahide their 1plans from the Lord,

And whose bdeeds are done in a dark place,

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

16 You 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”?

Blessing after Discipline

17 Is it not yet just a little while

1Before Lebanon will be turned into a afertile field,

And the fertile field will be considered as a forest?

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

And out of their gloom and darkness the ceyes of the blind will see.

19 The aafflicted also will increase their gladness in the Lord,

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

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

Indeed call who 1are intent on doing evil will be cut off;

21 Who 1cause a person to be indicted by a word,

And aensnare him who adjudicates at the gate,

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

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

“Jacob bshall not now be ashamed, nor shall his face now turn pale;

23 But 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 in awe of the God of Israel.

24 “Those who aerr in 1mind will bknow 2the truth,

And those who 3criticize will 4caccept instruction.

Chapter 30

Judah Warned against Egyptian Alliance

1 “Woe to the arebellious children,” declares the Lord,

“Who bexecute a plan, but not Mine,

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

In order to add sin to sin;

2 Who aproceed down to Egypt

Without bconsulting 1Me,

cTo take refuge in the safety of Pharaoh

And to seek shelter in the shadow of Egypt!

3 “Therefore the safety of Pharaoh will be ayour shame

And the shelter in the shadow of Egypt, your humiliation.

4 “For atheir princes are at Zoan

And their ambassadors arrive at 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.”

6 The 1oracle concerning the abeasts of the bNegev.

Through a land of cdistress and anguish,

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

They ecarry their riches on the 3backs of young donkeys

And their treasures on fcamels’ humps,

To a people who cannot profit them;

7 Even Egypt, whose ahelp is vain and empty.

Therefore, I have called 1her

“2bRahab who has been exterminated.”

8 Now go, awrite it on a tablet before them

And inscribe it on a scroll,

That it may 1serve in the time to come

2As a witness forever.

9 For this is a arebellious people, bfalse sons,

Sons who 1refuse to clisten

To the 2instruction of the Lord;

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

And to the prophets, “You must not bprophesy to us what is right,

cSpeak to us 1pleasant words,

Prophesy illusions.

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

1bLet us hear no more about the Holy One of Israel.”

12 Therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel,

“aSince you have rejected this word

And have put your trust in boppression and guile, and have …