Isaiah 28–30

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.^*

The Siege of Jerusalem

²⁹Woe to Ariel, Ariel,

the city where David encamped!

Add year to year;

let the festivals run their round.^*

²Yet I will oppress Ariel,

and there shall be moaning and lamentation,

and you^u shall be to me like an Ariel.^v*

³And like David^w I will encamp against you;

I will besiege you with towers

and raise siegeworks against you.^*

⁴Then deep from the earth you shall speak;

from low in the dust your words shall come;

your voice shall come from the ground like the voice of a ghost,

and your speech shall whisper out of the dust.^*

⁵But the multitude of your arrogant ones^x shall be like fine dust

and the multitude of tyrants like flying chaff.

And in an instant, suddenly,^*

⁶you will be visited by the Lord of hosts

with thunder and earthquake and great noise,

with whirlwind and tempest and the flame of a devouring fire.^*

⁷And the multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel,

all that fight against her and her stronghold and who distress her,

shall be like a dream, a vision of the night.^*

⁸Just as when a hungry person dreams of eating

and wakes up still hungry

or a thirsty person dreams of drinking

and wakes up faint, still thirsty,

so shall the multitude of all the nations be

that fight against Mount Zion.^*

⁹Be astounded and stunned;

blind yourselves and be blind!

Be drunk but not from wine;

stagger but not from strong drink!^*

¹⁰For the Lord has poured out upon you

a spirit of deep sleep;

he has closed your eyes (the prophets)

and covered your heads (the seers).^*

¹¹The vision of all this has become for you like the words of a sealed document. If it is given to those who can read with the command, “Read this,” they say, “We cannot, for it is sealed.”^{* 12}And if it is given to those who cannot read, saying, “Read this,” they say, “We cannot read.”

¹³The Lord said:

Because these people draw near with their mouths

and honor me with their lips,

while their hearts are far from me

and their worship of me is a human commandment learned by rote,^*

¹⁴so I will again do

amazing things with this people,

shocking and amazing.

The wisdom of their wise shall perish,

and the discernment of the discerning shall be hidden.^*

¹⁵Woe to those who hide a plan too deep for the Lord,

whose deeds are in the dark,

and who say, “Who sees us? Who knows us?”^*

¹⁶You turn things upside down!

Shall the potter be regarded as the clay?

Shall the thing made say of its maker,

“He did not make me,”

or the thing formed say of the one who formed it,

“He has no understanding”?^*

Hope for the Future

¹⁷Shall not Lebanon in a very little while

become a fruitful field

and the fruitful field be regarded as a forest?^*

¹⁸On that day the deaf shall hear

the words of a scroll,

and freed from gloom and darkness

the eyes of the blind shall see.^*

¹⁹The meek shall obtain fresh joy in the Lord,

and the neediest people shall exult in the Holy One of Israel.^*

²⁰For the tyrant shall be no more,

and the scoffer shall cease to be;

all those alert to do evil shall be cut off—^*

²¹those who cause a person to lose a lawsuit,

who set a trap for the arbiter in the gate

and undermine justice for the one in the right.^*

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

“No longer shall Jacob be ashamed;

no longer shall his face grow pale.^*

²³For when he sees his children,

the work of my hands, in his midst,

they will sanctify my name;

they will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob

and will stand in awe of the God of Israel.^*

²⁴And those who err in spirit will come to understanding,

and those who grumble will accept instruction.”^*

The Futility of Reliance on Egypt

³⁰Woe to the rebellious children, says the Lord,

who carry out a plan but not mine;

who make an alliance but against my will,

adding sin to sin;^*

²who set out to go down to Egypt

without asking for my counsel,

to take refuge in the protection of Pharaoh

and to seek shelter in the shadow of Egypt.^*

³Therefore the protection of Pharaoh shall become your shame,

and the shelter in the shadow of Egypt your humiliation.^*

⁴For though his officials are at Zoan

and his envoys reach Hanes,^*

⁵everyone comes to shame

through a people that cannot profit them,

that brings neither help nor profit,

only shame and disgrace.^*

⁶An oracle concerning the animals of the Negeb.

Through a land of trouble and distress,

of lioness and roaring^y lion,

of viper and flying serpent,

they carry their riches on the backs of donkeys

and their treasures on the humps of camels

to a people that cannot profit them.^*

⁷For Egypt’s help is worthless and empty;

therefore I have called her,

“Rahab who sits still.”^z*

A Rebellious People

⁸Go now, write it before them on a tablet,

and inscribe it on a scroll,

so that it may be for the time to come

as a witness forever.^*

⁹For they are a rebellious people,

faithless children,

children who will not hear

the instruction of the Lord;^*

¹⁰who say to the seers, “Do not see,”

and to the prophets, “Do not prophesy to us what is right;

speak to us smooth things;

prophesy illusions;^*

¹¹leave the way; turn aside from the path;

let us hear no more about the Holy One of Israel.”^*

¹²Therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel:

Because you reject this word

and put your trust in oppression and deceit

and rely on them,^*

¹³therefore this iniquity shall become for you

like a break in a high wall, bulging out and about to collapse,

whose crash comes suddenly, in an instant;^*

¹⁴its breaking is like that of a potter’s vessel

that is smashed so ruthlessly

that among its fragments not a sherd is found

for taking fire from the hearth

or dipping water out of the cistern.^*

¹⁵For thus said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel:

In returning and rest you shall be saved;

in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.

But you refused^{* 16}and said,

“No! We will flee upon horses”—

therefore you shall flee!

and, “We will ride upon swift steeds”—

therefore…