Isaiah 28–30

Warnings to Israel

28How terrible it will be for Samaria, the pride of Israel’s drunken people!

That beautiful crown of flowers is just a dying plant

set on a hill above a rich valley where drunkards live.

²Look, the Lord has someone who is strong and powerful.

Like a storm of hail and strong wind,

like a sudden flood of water pouring over the country,

he will throw Samaria down to the ground.

³That city, the pride of Israel’s drunken people,

will be trampled underfoot.

⁴That beautiful crown of flowers is just a dying plant

set on a hill above a rich valley.

That city will be like the first fig of summer.

Anyone who sees it

quickly picks it and eats it.

⁵At that time the Lord All-Powerful

will be like a beautiful crown,

like a wonderful crown of flowers

for his people who are left alive.

⁶Then he will give wisdom to the judges who must decide cases

and strength to those who battle at the city gate.

⁷But now those leaders are drunk with wine;

they stumble from drinking too much beer.

The priests and prophets are drunk with beer

and are filled with wine.

They stumble from too much beer.

The prophets are drunk when they see their visions;

the judges stumble when they make their decisions.

⁸Every table is covered with vomit,

so there is not a clean place anywhere.

⁹The Lord is trying to teach the people a lesson;

he is trying to make them understand his teachings.

But the people are like babies too old for breast milk,

like those who no longer nurse at their mother’s breast.

¹⁰So they make fun of the Lord’s prophet and say:

“A command here, a command there.

A rule here, a rule there.

A little lesson here, a little lesson there.”

¹¹So the Lord will use strange words and foreign languages

to speak to these people.

¹²God said to them,

“Here is a place of rest;

let the tired people come and rest.

This is the place of peace.”

But the people would not listen.

¹³So the words of the Lord will be,

“A command here, a command there.

A rule here, a rule there.

A little lesson here, a little lesson there.”

They will fall back and be defeated;

they will be trapped and captured.

¹⁴So listen to the Lord’s message, you who brag,

you leaders in Jerusalem.

¹⁵You say, “We have made an agreement with death;

we have a contract with death.

When terrible punishment passes by,

it won’t hurt us.

Our lies will keep us safe,

and our tricks will hide us.”

¹⁶Because of these things, this is what the Lord God says:

“I will put a stone in the ground in Jerusalem,

a tested stone.

Everything will be built on this important and precious rock.

Anyone who trusts in it will never be disappointed.

¹⁷I will use justice as a measuring line

and goodness as the standard.

The lies you hide behind will be destroyed as if by hail.

They will be washed away as if in a flood.

¹⁸Your agreement with death will be erased;

your contract with death will not help you.

When terrible punishment comes,

you will be crushed by it.

¹⁹Whenever punishment comes, it will take you away.

It will come morning after morning;

it will defeat you by day and by night.

Those who understand this punishment will be terrified.”

²⁰You will be like the person who tried to sleep

on a bed that was too short

and with a blanket that was too narrow

to wrap around himself.

²¹The Lord will fight as he did at Mount Perazim.

He will be angry as he was in the Valley of Gibeon.

He will do his work, his strange work.

He will finish his job, his strange job.

²²Now, you must not make fun of these things,

or the ropes around you will become tighter.

The Lord God All-Powerful has told me

how the whole earth will be destroyed.

The Lord Punishes Fairly

²³Listen closely to what I tell you;

listen carefully to what I say.

²⁴A farmer does not plow his field all the time;

he does not go on working the soil.

²⁵He makes the ground flat and smooth.

Then he plants the dill and scatters the cumin.

He plants the wheat in rows,

the barley in its special place,

and other wheat as a border around the field.

²⁶His God teaches him

and shows him the right way.

²⁷A farmer doesn’t use heavy boards to crush dill;

he doesn’t use a wagon wheel to crush cumin.

He uses a small stick to break open the dill,

and with a stick he opens the cumin.

²⁸The grain is ground to make bread.

People do not ruin it by crushing it forever.

The farmer separates the wheat from the chaff with his cart,

but he does not let his horses grind it.

²⁹This lesson also comes from the Lord All-Powerful,

who gives wonderful advice, who is very wise.

Warnings to Jerusalem

29How terrible it will be for you, Jerusalem,

the city where David camped.

Your festivals have continued

year after year.

²I will attack Jerusalem,

and that city will be filled with sadness and crying.

It will be like an altar to me.

³I will put armies all around you, Jerusalem;

I will surround you with towers

and with devices to attack you.

⁴You will be pulled down and will speak from the ground;

I will hear your voice rising from the ground.

It will sound like the voice of a ghost;

your words will come like a whisper from the dirt.

⁵Your many enemies will become like fine dust;

the many cruel people will be like chaff that is blown away.

Everything will happen very quickly.

⁶The Lord All-Powerful will come

with thunder, earthquakes, and great noises,

with storms, strong winds, and a fire that destroys.

⁷Then all the nations that fight against Jerusalem

will be like a dream;

all the nations that attack her

will be like a vision in the night.

⁸They will be like a hungry man who dreams he is eating,

but when he awakens, he is still hungry.

They will be like a thirsty man who dreams he is drinking,

but when he awakens, he is still weak and thirsty.

It will be the same way with all the nations

who fight against Mount Zion.

⁹Be surprised and amazed.

Blind yourselves so that you cannot see.

Become drunk, but not from wine.

Trip and fall, but not from beer.

¹⁰The Lord has made you go into a deep sleep.

He has closed your eyes. (The prophets are your eyes.)

He has covered your heads. (The seers are your heads.)

¹¹This vision is like the words of a book that is closed and sealed. You may give the book to someone who can read and tell that person to read it. But he will say, “I can’t read the book, because it is sealed.” ¹²Or you may give the book to someone who cannot read and tell him to read it. But he will say, “I don’t know how to read.”

¹³The Lord says:

“These people worship me with their mouths,

and honor me with their lips,

but their hearts are far from me.

Their worship is based on

nothing but human rules.

¹⁴So I will continue to amaze these people

by doing more and more miracles.

Their wise men will lose their wisdom;

their wise men will not be able to understand.”

Warnings About Other Nations

¹⁵How terrible it will be for those who try

to hide things from the Lord

and who do their work in darkness.

They think no one will see them or know what they do.

¹⁶You are confused.

You think the clay is equal to the potter.

You think that an object can tell the one who made it,

“You didn’t make me.”

This is like a pot telling its maker,

“You don’t know anything.”

A Better Time Is Coming

¹⁷In a very short time, Lebanon will become rich farmland,

and the rich farmland will seem like a forest.

¹⁸At that time the deaf will hear the words in a book.

Instead of having darkness and gloom, the blind will see.

¹⁹The Lord will make the poor people happy;

they will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.

²⁰Then the people without mercy will come to an end;

those who do not respect God will disappear.

Those who enjoy doing evil will be gone:

²¹those who lie about others in court,

those who trap people in court,

those who lie and take justice from innocent people in court.

²²This is what the Lord who set Abraham free says to the family of Jacob:

“Now the people of Jacob will not be ashamed

or disgraced any longer.

²³When they see all their children,

the children I made with my hands,

they will say my name is holy.

They will agree that the Holy One of Jacob is holy,

and they will respect the God of Israel.

²⁴People who do wrong will now understand.

Those who complain will accept being taught.”

Warnings to the Stubborn Nation

30The Lord said,

“How terrible it will be for these stubborn children.

They make plans, but they don’t ask me to help them.

They make agreements with other nations, without asking my Spirit.

They are adding more and more sins to themselves.

²They go down to Egypt for help

without asking me about it first.

They hope they will be saved by the king of Egypt;

they want Egypt to protect them.

³But hiding in Egypt will bring you only shame;

Egypt’s protection will only disappoint you.

⁴Your officers have gone to Zoan,

and your messengers have gone to Hanes,

⁵but they will be put to shame,

because Egypt is useless to them.

It will give no help and will be of no use;

it will cause them only shame and embarrassment.”

God’s Message to Judah

⁶This is a message about the animals in southern Judah:

Southern Judah is a dangerous place

full of lions and lionesses,

poisonous snakes and darting snakes.

The messengers travel through there with their wealth on the backs of donkeys

and their treasure on the backs of camels.

They carry them to a nation that cannot help them,

⁷to Egypt whose help is useless.

So I call that country Rahab the Do-Nothing.

⁸Now write this on a sign for the people,

write this on a scroll,

so that for the days to come

this will be a witness forever.

⁹These people are like children who lie and refuse to obey;

they refuse to listen to the Lord’s teachings.

¹⁰They tell the seers,

“Don’t see any more visions!”

They say to the prophets,

“Don’t tell us the truth!

Say things that will make us feel good;

see only good things for us.

¹¹Stop blocking our path.

Get out of our way.

Stop telling us

about God, the Holy One of Israel.”

¹²So this is what the Holy One of Israel says:

“You people have refused to accept this message

and have depended on cruelty and lies to help you.

¹³You are guilty of these things.

So you will be like a high wall with cracks in it

that falls suddenly and breaks into small pieces.

¹⁴You will be like a clay jar that breaks,

smashed into many pieces.

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