Isaiah 28–30

Chapter 28

A Message about Samaria

¹What sorrow awaits the proud city of Samaria—

the glorious crown of the drunks of Israel.

It sits at the head of a fertile valley,

but its glorious beauty will fade like a flower.

It is the pride of a people

brought down by wine.

²For the Lord will send a mighty army against it.

Like a mighty hailstorm and a torrential rain,

they will burst upon it like a surging flood

and smash it to the ground.

³The proud city of Samaria—

the glorious crown of the drunks of Israel—

will be trampled beneath its enemies’ feet.

⁴It sits at the head of a fertile valley,

but its glorious beauty will fade like a flower.

Whoever sees it will snatch it up,

as an early fig is quickly picked and eaten.

⁵Then at last the Lord of Heaven’s Armies

will himself be Israel’s glorious crown.

He will be the pride and joy

of the remnant of his people.

⁶He will give a longing for justice

to their judges.

He will give great courage

to their warriors who stand at the gates.

⁷Now, however, Israel is led by drunks

who reel with wine and stagger with alcohol.

The priests and prophets stagger with alcohol

and lose themselves in wine.

They reel when they see visions

and stagger as they render decisions.

⁸Their tables are covered with vomit;

filth is everywhere.

⁹“Who does the Lord think we are?” they ask.

“Why does he speak to us like this?

Are we little children,

just recently weaned?

¹⁰He tells us everything over and over—

one line at a time,

one line at a time,

a little here,

and a little there!”

¹¹So now God will have to speak to his people

through foreign oppressors who speak a strange language!

¹²God has told his people,

“Here is a place of rest;

let the weary rest here.

This is a place of quiet rest.”

But they would not listen.

¹³So the Lord will spell out his message for them again,

one line at a time,

one line at a time,

a little here,

and a little there,

so that they will stumble and fall.

They will be injured, trapped, and captured.

¹⁴Therefore, listen to this message from the Lord,

you scoffing rulers in Jerusalem.

¹⁵You boast, “We have struck a bargain to cheat death

and have made a deal to dodge the grave.

The coming destruction can never touch us,

for we have built a strong refuge made of lies and deception.”

¹⁶Therefore, this is what the Sovereign Lord says:

“Look! I am placing a foundation stone in Jerusalem,

a firm and tested stone.

It is a precious cornerstone that is safe to build on.

Whoever believes need never be shaken.

¹⁷I will test you with the measuring line of justice

and the plumb line of righteousness.

Since your refuge is made of lies,

a hailstorm will knock it down.

Since it is made of deception,

a flood will sweep it away.

¹⁸I will cancel the bargain you made to cheat death,

and I will overturn your deal to dodge the grave.

When the terrible enemy sweeps through,

you will be trampled into the ground.

¹⁹Again and again that flood will come,

morning after morning,

day and night,

until you are carried away.”

This message will bring terror to your people.

²⁰The bed you have made is too short to lie on.

The blankets are too narrow to cover you.

²¹The Lord will come as he did against the Philistines at Mount Perazim

and against the Amorites at Gibeon.

He will come to do a strange thing;

he will come to do an unusual deed:

²²For the Lord, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies,

has plainly said that he is determined to crush the whole land.

So scoff no more,

or your punishment will be even greater.

²³Listen to me;

listen, and pay close attention.

²⁴Does a farmer always plow and never sow?

Is he forever cultivating the soil and never planting?

²⁵Does he not finally plant his seeds—

black cumin, cumin, wheat, barley, and emmer wheat—

each in its proper way,

and each in its proper place?

²⁶The farmer knows just what to do,

for God has given him understanding.

²⁷A heavy sledge is never used to thresh black cumin;

rather, it is beaten with a light stick.

A threshing wheel is never rolled on cumin;

instead, it is beaten lightly with a flail.

²⁸Grain for bread is easily crushed,

so he doesn’t keep on pounding it.

He threshes it under the wheels of a cart,

but he doesn’t pulverize it.

²⁹The Lord of Heaven’s Armies is a wonderful teacher,

and he gives the farmer great wisdom.

Chapter 29

A Message about Jerusalem

¹“What sorrow awaits Ariel, the City of David.

Year after year you celebrate your feasts.

²Yet I will bring disaster upon you,

and there will be much weeping and sorrow.

For Jerusalem will become what her name Ariel means—

an altar covered with blood.

³I will be your enemy,

surrounding Jerusalem and attacking its walls.

I will build siege towers

and destroy it.

⁴Then deep from the earth you will speak;

from low in the dust your words will come.

Your voice will whisper from the ground

like a ghost conjured up from the grave.

⁵“But suddenly, your ruthless enemies will be crushed

like the finest of dust.

Your many attackers will be driven away

like chaff before the wind.

Suddenly, in an instant,

⁶I, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, will act for you

with thunder and earthquake and great noise,

with whirlwind and storm and consuming fire.

⁷All the nations fighting against Jerusalem

will vanish like a dream!

Those who are attacking her walls

will vanish like a vision in the night.

⁸A hungry person dreams of eating

but wakes up still hungry.

A thirsty person dreams of drinking

but is still faint from thirst when morning comes.

So it will be with your enemies,

with those who attack Mount Zion.”

⁹Are you amazed and incredulous?

Don’t you believe it?

Then go ahead and be blind.

You are stupid, but not from wine!

You stagger, but not from liquor!

¹⁰For the Lord has poured out on you a spirit of deep sleep.

He has closed the eyes of your prophets and visionaries.

¹¹All the future events in this vision are like a sealed book to them. When you give it to those who can read, they will say, “We can’t read it because it is sealed.” ¹²When you give it to those who cannot read, they will say, “We don’t know how to read.”

¹³And so the Lord says,

“These people say they are mine.

They honor me with their lips,

but their hearts are far from me.

And their worship of me

is nothing but man-made rules learned by rote.

¹⁴Because of this, I will once again astound these hypocrites

with amazing wonders.

The wisdom of the wise will pass away,

and the intelligence of the intelligent will disappear.”

¹⁵What sorrow awaits those who try to hide their plans from the Lord,

who do their evil deeds in the dark!

“The Lord can’t see us,” they say.

“He doesn’t know what’s going on!”

¹⁶How foolish can you be?

He is the Potter, and he is certainly greater than you, the clay!

Should the created thing say of the one who made it,

“He didn’t make me”?

Does a jar ever say,

“The potter who made me is stupid”?

¹⁷Soon—and it will not be very long—

the forests of Lebanon will become a fertile field,

and the fertile field will yield bountiful crops.

¹⁸In that day the deaf will hear words read from a book,

and the blind will see through the gloom and darkness.

¹⁹The humble will be filled with fresh joy from the Lord.

The poor will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.

²⁰The scoffer will be gone,

the arrogant will disappear,

and those who plot evil will be killed.

²¹Those who convict the innocent

by their false testimony will disappear.

A similar fate awaits those who use trickery to pervert justice

and who tell lies to destroy the innocent.

²²That is why the Lord, who redeemed Abraham, says to the people of Israel,

“My people will no longer be ashamed

or turn pale with fear.

²³For when they see their many children

and all the blessings I have given them,

they will recognize the holiness of the Holy One of Jacob.

They will stand in awe of the God of Israel.

²⁴Then the wayward will gain understanding,

and complainers will accept instruction.

Chapter 30

Judah’s Worthless Treaty with Egypt

¹“What sorrow awaits my rebellious children,”

says the Lord.

“You make plans that are contrary to mine.

You make alliances not directed by my Spirit,

thus piling up your sins.

²For without consulting me,

you have gone down to Egypt for help.

You have put your trust in Pharaoh’s protection.

You have tried to hide in his shade.

³But by trusting Pharaoh, you will be humiliated,

and by depending on him, you will be disgraced.

⁴For though his power extends to Zoan

and his officials have arrived in Hanes,

⁵all who trust in him will be ashamed.

He will not help you.

Instead, he will disgrace you.”

⁶This message came to me concerning the animals in the Negev:

The caravan moves slowly

across the terrible desert to Egypt—

donkeys weighed down with riches

and camels loaded with treasure—

all to pay for Egypt’s protection.

They travel through the wilderness,

a place of lionesses and lions,

a place where vipers and poisonous snakes live.

All this, and Egypt will give you nothing in return.

⁷Egypt’s promises are worthless!

Therefore, I call her Rahab—

the Harmless Dragon.

A Warning for Rebellious Judah

⁸Now go and write down these words.

Write them in a book.

They will stand until the end of time

as a witness

⁹that these people are stubborn rebels

who refuse to pay attention to the Lord’s instructions.

¹⁰They tell the seers,

“Stop seeing visions!”

They tell the prophets,

“Don’t tell us what is right.

Tell us nice things.

Tell us lies.

¹¹Forget all this gloom.

Get off your narrow path.

Stop telling us about your

‘Holy One of Israel.’ ”

¹²This is the reply of the Holy One of Israel:

“Because you despise what I tell you

and trust instead in oppression and lies,

¹³calamity will come upon you suddenly—

like a bulging wall that bursts and falls.

In an instant it will collapse

and come crashing down.

¹⁴You will be smashed like a piece of pottery—

shattered so completely that

there won’t be a piece big enough

to carry coals from a fireplace

or a little water from the well.”

¹⁵This is what the Sovereign Lord,

the Holy One of Israel, says:

“Only…