Isaiah 28

Judgment on Ephraim and Jerusalem

¹Ah, the proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim,

and the fading flower of its glorious beauty,

which is on the head of the rich valley of those overcome with wine!

²Behold, the Lord has one who is mighty and strong;

like a storm of hail, a destroying tempest,

like a storm of mighty, overflowing waters,

he casts down to the earth with his hand.

³The proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim

will be trodden underfoot;

⁴and the fading flower of its glorious beauty,

which is on the head of the rich valley,

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

when someone sees it, he swallows it

as soon as it is in his hand.

⁵In that day the Lord of hosts will be a crown of glory,

and a diadem of beauty, to the remnant of his people,

⁶and a spirit of justice to him 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 swallowed by wine,

they stagger with strong drink,

they reel in vision,

they stumble in giving judgment.

⁸For all tables are full of filthy vomit,

with no space left.

⁹“To whom will he teach knowledge,

and to whom will he explain the message?

Those who are weaned from the 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.”

¹¹For by people of strange lips

and with a foreign tongue

the Lord 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.

¹³And 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,

that they may go, and fall backward,

and be broken, and snared, and taken.

A Cornerstone in Zion

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 whip 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,

“Behold, I am the one who has laid as a foundation in Zion,

a stone, a tested stone,

a precious cornerstone, of a sure foundation:

‘Whoever believes will not be in haste.’

¹⁷And I will make justice the line,

and righteousness the plumb line;

and 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,

and the covering too narrow to wrap oneself in.

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

as in the Valley of Gibeon he will be roused;

to do his deed—strange is his deed!

and to work his work—alien is his work!

²²Now therefore do not scoff,

lest your bonds be made strong;

for I have heard a decree of destruction

from the Lord God of hosts against the whole land.

²³Give ear, and hear my voice;

give attention, and hear my speech.

²⁴Does he who plows for sowing plow continually?

Does he continually open and harrow his ground?

²⁵When he has leveled its surface,

does he not scatter dill, sow cumin,

and put in wheat in rows

and barley in its proper place,

and emmer as the border?

²⁶For he is rightly instructed;

his God teaches him.

²⁷Dill 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.

²⁸Does one crush grain for bread?

No, he does not thresh it forever;

when he drives his cart wheel over it

with his horses, he does not crush it.

²⁹This also comes from the Lord of hosts;

he is wonderful in counsel

and excellent in wisdom.