Isaiah 27–28

Israel’s Redemption

²⁷On that day the Lord with his cruel and great and strong sword will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent, Leviathan the twisting serpent, and he will kill the dragon that is in the sea.^*

²On that day:

A pleasant vineyard—sing about it!^*

³I, the Lord, am its keeper;

every moment I water it.

I guard it night and day

so that no one can harm it;^*

⁴I have no wrath.

If it gives me thorns and briers,

I will march to battle against it.

I will burn it up.^*

⁵Or else let it cling to me for protection;

let it make peace with me;

let it make peace with me.^*

⁶In days to come^m Jacob shall take root;

Israel shall blossom and put forth shoots

and fill the whole world with fruit.^*

⁷Has he struck them down as he struck down those who struck them?

Or have they been killed as their killersⁿ were killed?^*

⁸By expulsion,^o by exile you struggled against them;

with his fierce blast he removed them in the day of the east wind.^*

⁹Therefore by this the guilt of Jacob will be expiated,

and this will be the full fruit of the removal of his sin:

when he makes all the stones of the altars

like chalkstones crushed to pieces;

no sacred poles^p or incense altars will remain standing.^*

¹⁰For the fortified city is solitary,

a habitation deserted and forsaken, like the wilderness;

the calves graze there;

there they lie down and strip its branches.^*

¹¹When its boughs are dry, they are broken;

women come and make a fire of them.

For this is a people without understanding;

therefore he who made them will not have compassion on them;

he who formed them will show them no favor.^*

¹²On that day the Lord will thresh from the channel of the Euphrates to the Wadi of Egypt, and you will be gathered one by one, O people of Israel.^{* 13}And on that day a great trumpet will be blown, and those who were lost in the land of Assyria and those who were driven out to the land of Egypt will come and worship the Lord on the holy mountain at Jerusalem.^*

Judgment on Corrupt Rulers, Priests, and Prophets

²⁸Woe to the proud garland of the drunkards of Ephraim

and the fading flower of its glorious beauty,

at the head of the fertile valley,

those overcome with wine!^*

²See, the Lord has one who is mighty and strong,

like a storm of hail, a destroying tempest,

like a storm of mighty, overflowing waters;

with force he will hurl them down to the earth.^*

³Trampled under foot will be

the proud garland of the drunkards of Ephraim.^*

⁴And the fading flower of its glorious beauty,

at the head of the fertile valley,

will be like a first-ripe fig before the summer;

whoever sees it eats it up

as soon as it comes to hand.^*

⁵On that day the Lord of hosts will be a garland of glory

and a diadem of beauty to the remnant of his people^*

⁶and a spirit of justice to the one who sits in judgment

and strength to those who turn back the battle at the gate.^*

⁷These also reel with wine

and stagger with strong drink;

the priest and the prophet reel with strong drink;

they are confused with wine;

they stagger with strong drink;

they err in vision;

they stumble in giving judgment.^*

⁸All tables are covered with filthy vomit;

no place is clean.^*

⁹“Whom will he teach knowledge,

and to whom will he explain the message?

Those who are weaned from milk,

those taken from the breast?^*

¹⁰For it is precept upon precept, precept upon precept,

line upon line, line upon line,

here a little, there a little.”^q*

¹¹Truly, with stammering lip

and with another tongue

he will speak to this people,^*

¹²to whom he has said,

“This is rest;

give rest to the weary,

and this is repose,”

yet they would not hear.^*

¹³Therefore the word of the Lord will be to them,

“Precept upon precept, precept upon precept,

line upon line, line upon line,

here a little, there a little,”^r

in order that they may go and fall backward

and be broken and snared and taken.^*

¹⁴Therefore hear the word of the Lord, you scoffers

who rule this people in Jerusalem.^*

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

and with Sheol we have an agreement;

when the overwhelming scourge passes through

it will not come to us,

for we have made lies our refuge,

and in falsehood we have taken shelter”;^*

¹⁶therefore thus says the Lord God,

“See, I am laying^s in Zion a foundation stone,

a tested stone,

a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation:

‘One who trusts will not panic.’^*

¹⁷And I will make justice the line

and righteousness the plummet;

hail will sweep away the refuge of lies,

and waters will overwhelm the shelter.^*

¹⁸Then your covenant with death will be annulled,

and your agreement with Sheol will not stand;

when the overwhelming scourge passes through,

you will be beaten down by it.^*

¹⁹As often as it passes through, it will take you,

for morning by morning it will pass through,

by day and by night,

and it will be sheer terror to understand the message.”^*

²⁰For the bed is too short to stretch oneself on it,

and the covering is too narrow to wrap oneself in it.

²¹For the Lord will rise up as on Mount Perazim;

he will rage as in the valley of Gibeon

to do his deed—strange is his deed!—

and to work his work—alien is his work!^*

²²Now therefore do not scoff,

or your bonds will be made stronger,

for I have heard a decree of destruction

from the Lord God of hosts upon the whole land.^*

²³Listen and hear my voice;

Pay attention and hear my speech.

²⁴Do those who plow for sowing plow continually?

Do they continually open and harrow their ground?

²⁵When they have leveled its surface,

do they not scatter dill, sow cumin,

and plant wheat in rows

and barley in its proper place^t

and spelt as the border?

²⁶For they are well instructed;

their God teaches them.

²⁷For dill is not threshed with a threshing sledge,

nor is a cart wheel rolled over cumin,

but dill is beaten out with a stick

and cumin with a rod.^*

²⁸Grain is crushed for bread,

but one does not thresh it forever;

one drives the cart wheel and horses over it

but does not pulverize it.

²⁹This also comes from the Lord of hosts;

he is wonderful in counsel

and excellent in wisdom.^*