Isaiah 28

1 Woe to the majestic crown of Ephraim’s drunkards, to the fading flower of his glorious splendor, set on the summit above the fertile valley, the pride of those overcome by wine.

2 Behold, the Lord has one who is strong and mighty. Like a hailstorm or destructive tempest, like a driving rain or flooding downpour, he will smash that crown to the ground.

3 The majestic crown of Ephraim’s drunkards will be trampled underfoot.

4 The fading flower of his beautiful splendor, set on the summit above the fertile valley, will be like a ripe fig before the summer harvest: Whoever sees it will take it in his hand and swallow it.

5 On that day the LORD of Hosts will be a crown of glory, a diadem of splendor to the remnant of His people,

6 a spirit of justice to him who sits in judgment, and a strength to those who repel the onslaught at the gate.

7 These also stagger from wine and stumble from strong drink: Priests and prophets reel from strong drink and are befuddled by wine. They stumble because of strong drink, muddled in their visions and stumbling in their judgments.

8 For all their tables are covered with vomit; there is not a place without filth.

9 Whom is He trying to teach? To whom is He explaining His message? To infants just weaned from milk? To babies removed from the breast?

10 For they hear: “Order on order, order on order, line on line, line on line; a little here, a little there.”

11 Indeed, with mocking lips and foreign tongues, He will speak to this people

12 to whom He has said: “This is the place of rest, let the weary rest; this is the place of repose.” But they would not listen.

13 Then the word of the LORD to them will become: “Order on order, order on order, line on line, line on line; a little here, a little there,” so that they will go stumbling backward and will be injured, ensnared, and captured.

14 Therefore hear the word of the LORD, O scoffers who rule this people in Jerusalem.

15 For you said, “We have made a covenant with death; we have fashioned an agreement with Sheol. When the overwhelming scourge passes through it will not touch us, because we have made lies our refuge and falsehood our hiding place.”

16 So this is what the Lord GOD says: “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; the one who believes will never be shaken.

17 I will make justice the measuring line and righteousness the level. Hail will sweep away your refuge of lies, and water will flood your hiding place.

18 Your covenant with death will be dissolved, and your agreement with Sheol will not stand. When the overwhelming scourge passes through, you will be trampled by it.

19 As often as it passes through, it will carry you away; it will sweep through morning after morning, by day and by night.” The understanding of this message will bring sheer terror.

20 Indeed, the bed is too short to stretch out on, and the blanket too small to wrap around you.

21 For the LORD will rise up as at Mount Perazim. He will rouse Himself as in the Valley of Gibeon, to do His work, His strange work, and to perform His task, His disturbing task.

22 So now, do not mock, or your shackles will become heavier. Indeed, I have heard from the Lord GOD of Hosts a decree of destruction against the whole land.

23 Listen and hear my voice. Pay attention and hear what I say.

24 Does the plowman plow for planting every day? Does he continuously loosen and harrow the soil?

25 When he has leveled its surface, does he not sow caraway and scatter cumin? He plants wheat in rows and barley in plots, and rye within its border.

26 For his God instructs and teaches him properly.

27 Surely caraway is not threshed with a sledge, and the wheel of a cart is not rolled over the cumin. But caraway is beaten out with a stick, and cumin with a rod.

28 Grain for bread must be ground, but it is not endlessly threshed. Though the wheels of the cart roll over it, the horses do not crush it.

29 This also comes from the LORD of Hosts, who is wonderful in counsel and excellent in wisdom.

1 ¶ Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, whose glorious beauty [is] a fading flower, which [are] on the head of the fat valleys of them that are overcome with wine!

2 Behold, the Lord hath a mighty and strong one, [which] as a tempest of hail [and] a destroying storm, as a flood of mighty waters overflowing, shall cast down to the earth with the hand.

3 The crown of pride, the drunkards of Ephraim, shall be trodden under feet:

4 And the glorious beauty, which [is] on the head of the fat valley, shall be a fading flower, [and] as the hasty fruit before the summer; which [when] he that looketh upon it seeth, while it is yet in his hand he eateth it up.

5 In that day shall the LORD of hosts be for a crown of glory, and for a diadem of beauty, unto the residue of his people,

6 And for a spirit of judgment to him that sitteth in judgment, and for strength to them that turn the battle to the gate.

7 But they also have erred through wine, and through strong drink are out of the way; the priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink, they are swallowed up of wine, they are out of the way through strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble [in] judgment.

8 For all tables are full of vomit [and] filthiness, [so that there is] no place [clean].

9 ¶ Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? [them that are] weaned from the milk, [and] drawn from the breasts.

10 For precept [must be] upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, [and] there a little:

11 For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people.

12 To whom he said, This [is] the rest [wherewith] ye may cause the weary to rest; and this [is] the refreshing: yet they would not hear.

13 But the word of the LORD was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, [and] there a little; that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.

14 ¶ Wherefore hear the word of the LORD, ye scornful men, that rule this people which [is] in Jerusalem.

15 Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves:

16 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner [stone], a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.

17 Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.

18 And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it.

19 From the time that it goeth forth it shall take you: for morning by morning shall it pass over, by day and by night: and it shall be a vexation only [to] understand the report.

20 For the bed is shorter than that [a man] can stretch himself [on it]: and the covering narrower than that he can wrap himself [in it].

21 For the LORD shall rise up as [in] mount Perazim, he shall be wroth as [in] the valley of Gibeon, that he may do his work, his strange work; and bring to pass his act, his strange act.

22 Now therefore be ye not mockers, lest your bands be made strong: for I have heard from the Lord GOD of hosts a consumption, even determined upon the whole earth.

23 ¶ Give ye ear, and hear my voice; hearken, and hear my speech.

24 Doth the plowman plow all day to sow? doth he open and break the clods of his ground?

25 When he hath made plain the face thereof, doth he not cast abroad the fitches, and scatter the cummin, and cast in the principal wheat and the appointed barley and the rie in their place?

26 For his God doth instruct him to discretion, [and] doth teach him.

27 For the fitches are not threshed with a threshing instrument, neither is a cart wheel turned about upon the cummin; but the fitches are beaten out with a staff, and the cummin with a rod.

28 Bread [corn] is bruised; because he will not ever be threshing it, nor break [it with] the wheel of his cart, nor bruise it [with] his horsemen.

29 This also cometh forth from the LORD of hosts, [which] is wonderful in counsel, [and] excellent in working.

1 Woe to the glorious crown of the drunkards of Ephraim, to the withered flower of their lovely glory, which stands above a fat valley of those who stagger with wine!

2 Behold, a strong and mighty one from the LORD, like a hailstorm, like an evil weather, like a tempest of waters, which break in mightily, is let into the land with violence,

3 That the glorious crown of the drunken of Ephraim might be trodden under foot.

4 And the withered flower of her lovely glory, which is above a fat valley, shall be like the ripening before summer, which perisheth when it is yet clinging to his branch.

5 In that day shall the LORD of hosts be a crown of beauty and a garland of glory unto the remnant of his people.

6 And a spirit of judgment to him that sitteth in judgment, and strength to them that return from the battle unto the gate.

7 These also are mad with wine, and reel with strong drink. For both priests and prophets are mad with strong drink, and are drowned in wine, and reel with strong drink: they are mad in prophesying, and lick out judgments.

8 For all tables are full of spittle and filth in every place.

9 Whom then shall he teach knowledge? To whom shall he give understanding of the sermon? To them that are weaned from milk; to them that are weaned from breasts.

10 For (they say), Give hither, give hither; give hither, give hither; wait here, wait there; wait here, wait there; here a little, there a little.

11 Well, he shall speak with a different tongue and with a different mouth unto this people, to whom these things are preached:

12 Thus is there rest, thus is there rest for the weary, thus is there quietness; and yet they will not hear such preaching.

13 Therefore the word of the LORD shall be even so unto them: Give ye here, give ye here; give ye here, give ye here; wait here, wait there; wait here, wait there; here a little, there a little; that they may go, and fall back, and be broken, and snared, and taken.

14 Hear therefore the word of the LORD, ye scoffers that rule over this people which is at Jerusalem.

15 For ye say, We have made a covenant with death, and a covenant with hell: if a flood come, it shall not overtake us: for we have made falsehood our refuge, and hypocrisy our shield.

16 Therefore thus saith the LORD GOD; Behold, I lay in Zion a foundation, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, well established. He that believeth shall not flinch.

17 And I will make judgment the guide, and righteousness the weight: and the hail shall drive away the false refuge, and waters shall wash away the screen,

18 That your covenant with death may be loosed, and your understanding with hell be not established: and when a flood cometh, it shall tread you down; and when it cometh, it shall take you away.

19 If it come in the morning, it is in the morning: so also if it come in the day, or if it come in the night. For the temptation alone teacheth to mark the word.

20 For the bed is so narrow that there is nothing left, and the cover so short that one must nestle in it.

21 For the LORD will arise as in mount Prazim, and will be angry as in the valley of Gibeon, to do his work in another way, and to do his work in another manner.

22 Now therefore cease your mocking, lest your bonds be hardened: for I have heard a destruction and a taxation, which shall come upon all the earth from the LORD of hosts.

23 Give ear, and hear my voice: give ear, and hear my words.

24 Doth a husbandman also plow, or till, or work his field for seed continually?

25 Is it not so? And when he hath made it even, he shall scatter vetches, and cast caraway, and sow wheat and barley, every one where he will, and spelt in his place.

26 So also their God chasteneth them with judgment, and teacheth them.

27 For the vetches are not threshed with a threshing cart, neither is the cart wheel made to go over the caraway: but the vetches are beaten with a rod, and the caraway with a stick.

28 They grind it to make it bread, and do not crush it, when they thresh it with the wheels of chariots and with horses.

29 This also is done of the LORD of hosts: for his counsel is wonderful, and he bringeth it forth gloriously.