Isaiah 28-29
New King James Version
Woe to Ephraim and Jerusalem
28 Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim,
Whose glorious beauty is a fading flower
Which is at the head of the [a]verdant valleys,
To those who are overcome with wine!
2 Behold, the Lord has a mighty and strong one,
(A)Like a tempest of hail and a destroying storm,
Like a flood of mighty waters overflowing,
Who will bring them down to the earth with His hand.
3 The crown of pride, the drunkards of Ephraim,
Will be trampled underfoot;
4 And the glorious beauty is a fading flower
Which is at the head of the [b]verdant valley,
Like the first fruit before the summer,
Which an observer sees;
He eats it up while it is still in his hand.
5 In that day the Lord of hosts will be
For a crown of glory and a diadem of beauty
To the remnant of His people,
6 For a spirit of justice to him who sits in judgment,
And for strength to those who turn back the battle at the gate.
7 But they also (B)have erred through wine,
And through intoxicating drink are out of the way;
(C)The priest and the prophet have erred through intoxicating drink,
They are swallowed up by wine,
They are out of the way through intoxicating drink;
They err in vision, they stumble in judgment.
8 For all tables are full of vomit and filth;
No place is clean.
9 “Whom(D) will he teach knowledge?
And whom will he make to understand the message?
Those just weaned from milk?
Those just drawn from the breasts?
10 (E)For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept,
Line upon line, line upon line,
Here a little, there a little.”
11 For with (F)stammering lips and another tongue
He will speak to this people,
12 To whom He said, “This is the (G)rest with which
You may cause the weary to rest,”
And, “This is the refreshing”;
Yet they would not hear.
13 But the word of the Lord was to them,
“Precept upon precept, precept upon precept,
Line upon line, line upon line,
Here a little, there a little,”
That they might go and fall backward, and be broken
And snared and caught.
14 Therefore hear the word of the Lord, you scornful men,
Who rule this people who are in Jerusalem,
15 Because you have said, “We have made a covenant with death,
And with Sheol we are in agreement.
When the overflowing scourge passes through,
It will not come to us,
(H)For we have made lies our refuge,
And under falsehood we have hidden ourselves.”
A Cornerstone in Zion
16 Therefore thus says the Lord God:
“Behold, I lay in Zion (I)a stone for a foundation,
A tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation;
Whoever believes will not act hastily.
17 Also I will make justice the measuring line,
And righteousness the plummet;
The hail will sweep away the refuge of lies,
And the waters will overflow the hiding place.
18 Your covenant with death will be annulled,
And your agreement with Sheol will not stand;
When the overflowing scourge passes through,
Then you will be trampled down by it.
19 As often as it goes out it will take you;
For morning by morning it will pass over,
And by day and by night;
It will be a terror just to understand the report.”
20 For the bed is too short to stretch out on,
And the covering so narrow that one cannot wrap himself in it.
21 For the Lord will rise up as at Mount (J)Perazim,
He will be angry as in the Valley of (K)Gibeon—
That He may do His work, (L)His awesome work,
And bring to pass His act, His [c]unusual act.
22 Now therefore, do not be mockers,
Lest your bonds be made strong;
For I have heard from the Lord God of hosts,
(M)A [d]destruction determined even upon the whole earth.
Listen to the Teaching of God
23 Give ear and hear my voice,
Listen and hear my speech.
24 Does the plowman keep plowing all day to sow?
Does he keep turning his soil and breaking the clods?
25 When he has leveled its surface,
Does he not sow the black cummin
And scatter the cummin,
Plant the wheat in rows,
The barley in the appointed place,
And the [e]spelt in its place?
26 For He instructs him in right judgment,
His God teaches him.
27 For the black cummin is not threshed with a threshing sledge,
Nor is a cartwheel rolled over the cummin;
But the black cummin is beaten out with a stick,
And the cummin with a rod.
28 Bread flour must be ground;
Therefore he does not thresh it forever,
Break it with his cartwheel,
Or crush it with his horsemen.
29 This also comes from the Lord of hosts,
(N)Who is wonderful in counsel and excellent in [f]guidance.
Woe to Jerusalem
29 “Woe (O)to [g]Ariel, to Ariel, the city (P)where David dwelt!
Add year to year;
Let feasts come around.
2 Yet I will distress Ariel;
There shall be heaviness and sorrow,
And it shall be to Me as Ariel.
3 I will encamp against you all around,
I will lay siege against you with a mound,
And I will raise siegeworks against you.
4 You shall be brought down,
You shall speak out of the ground;
Your speech shall be low, out of the dust;
Your voice shall be like a medium’s, (Q)out of the ground;
And your speech shall whisper out of the dust.
5 “Moreover the multitude of your (R)foes
Shall be like fine dust,
And the multitude of the terrible ones
Like (S)chaff that passes away;
Yes, it shall be (T)in an instant, suddenly.
6 (U)You will be punished by the Lord of hosts
With thunder and (V)earthquake and great noise,
With storm and tempest
And the flame of devouring fire.
7 (W)The multitude of all the nations who fight against [h]Ariel,
Even all who fight against her and her fortress,
And distress her,
Shall be (X)as a dream of a night vision.
8 (Y)It shall even be as when a hungry man dreams,
And look—he eats;
But he awakes, and his soul is still empty;
Or as when a thirsty man dreams,
And look—he drinks;
But he awakes, and indeed he is faint,
And his soul still craves:
So the multitude of all the nations shall be,
Who fight against Mount Zion.”
The Blindness of Disobedience
9 Pause and wonder!
Blind yourselves and be blind!
(Z)They are drunk, (AA)but not with wine;
They stagger, but not with intoxicating drink.
10 For (AB)the Lord has poured out on you
The spirit of deep sleep,
And has (AC)closed your eyes, namely, the prophets;
And He has covered your heads, namely, (AD)the seers.
11 The whole vision has become to you like the words of a [i]book (AE)that is sealed, which men deliver to one who is literate, saying, “Read this, please.”
(AF)And he says, “I cannot, for it is sealed.”
12 Then the book is delivered to one who [j]is illiterate, saying, “Read this, please.”
And he says, “I am not literate.”
13 Therefore the Lord said:
(AG)“Inasmuch as these people draw near with their mouths
And honor Me (AH)with their lips,
But have removed their hearts far from Me,
And their fear toward Me is taught by the commandment of men,
14 (AI)Therefore, behold, I will again do a marvelous work
Among this people,
A marvelous work and a wonder;
(AJ)For the wisdom of their wise men shall perish,
And the understanding of their prudent men shall be hidden.”
15 (AK)Woe to those who seek deep to hide their counsel far from the Lord,
And their works are in the dark;
(AL)They say, “Who sees us?” and, “Who knows us?”
16 Surely you have things turned around!
Shall the potter be esteemed as the clay;
For shall the (AM)thing made say of him who made it,
“He did not make me”?
Or shall the thing formed say of him who formed it,
“He has no understanding”?
Future Recovery of Wisdom
17 Is it not yet a very little while
Till (AN)Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field,
And the fruitful field be esteemed as a forest?
18 (AO)In that day the deaf shall hear the words of the book,
And the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity and out of darkness.
19 (AP)The humble also shall increase their joy in the Lord,
And (AQ)the poor among men shall rejoice
In the Holy One of Israel.
20 For the [k]terrible one is brought to nothing,
(AR)The scornful one is consumed,
And all who (AS)watch for iniquity are cut off—
21 Who make a man an offender by a word,
And (AT)lay a snare for him who reproves in the gate,
And turn aside the just (AU)by empty words.
22 Therefore thus says the Lord, (AV)who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob:
“Jacob shall not now be (AW)ashamed,
Nor shall his face now grow pale;
23 But when he sees his children,
(AX)The work of My hands, in his midst,
They will hallow My name,
And hallow the Holy One of Jacob,
And fear the God of Israel.
24 These also (AY)who erred in spirit will come to understanding,
And those who complained will learn doctrine.”
Footnotes
- Isaiah 28:1 Lit. valleys of fatness
- Isaiah 28:4 Lit. valley of fatness
- Isaiah 28:21 Lit. foreign
- Isaiah 28:22 Lit. complete end
- Isaiah 28:25 rye
- Isaiah 28:29 sound wisdom
- Isaiah 29:1 Jerusalem, lit. Lion of God
- Isaiah 29:7 Jerusalem
- Isaiah 29:11 scroll
- Isaiah 29:12 Lit. does not know books
- Isaiah 29:20 terrifying
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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