Isaiah 28:14-29

New American Standard Bible

Judah Is Warned

¹⁴Therefore, ^(A)hear the word of the Lord, you ^(B)scoffers,
Who rule this people who are in Jerusalem,
¹⁵Because you have said, “We have made a ^(C)covenant with death,
And with ^[a]Sheol we have made a ^[b]pact.
^(D)The ^[c]gushing flood will not reach us when it passes by,
Because we have made ^(E)falsehood our refuge and we have ^(F)concealed ourselves with deception.”

¹⁶Therefore this is what the Lord ^[d]God says:

“^(G)Behold, I am laying a stone in Zion, a tested ^(H)stone,
A precious cornerstone for the foundation, ^[e]firmly placed.
The one who believes in it will not be ^[f]disturbed.
¹⁷I will make ^(I)justice the measuring line
And righteousness the level;
Then ^(J)hail will sweep away the refuge of lies,
And the waters will overflow the secret place.
¹⁸Your ^(K)covenant with death will be ^[g]^(L)canceled,
And your pact with Sheol will not stand;
When the ^(M)^[h]gushing flood passes through,
Then you will become its ^(N)trampling ground.
¹⁹As ^(O)often as it passes through, it will ^[i]seize you;
For ^(P)morning after morning it will pass through, anytime during the day or night,
And it will be ^[j]sheer ^(Q)terror to understand ^[k]what it means.”
²⁰The bed is too short on which to stretch out,
And the ^(R)blanket is too ^[l]small to wrap oneself in.
²¹For the Lord will rise up as at Mount ^(S)Perazim,
He will be stirred up as in the Valley of ^(T)Gibeon,
To do His ^(U)task, His ^[m]^(V)unusual task,
And to work His work, His ^[n]extraordinary work.
²²And now do not carry on as ^(W)scoffers,
Or your shackles will be made stronger;
For I have heard from the Lord ^[o]God of armies
Of decisive ^(X)destruction on all the earth.

²³Listen and hear my voice,
Pay attention and hear my words.
²⁴Does the ^[p]farmer plow ^[q]continually to plant seed?
Does he continually ^[r]turn and break up his ground?
²⁵Does he not level its surface
And sow dill and scatter ^(Y)cumin
And ^[s]plant ^(Z)wheat in rows,
Barley in its place and rye within its ^[t]area?
²⁶For his God instructs and teaches him properly.
²⁷For dill is not threshed with a ^(AA)threshing sledge,
Nor is the cartwheel ^[u]driven over cumin;
But dill is beaten out with a rod, and cumin with a club.
²⁸Grain for bread is crushed,
Indeed, he does not continue to thresh it forever.
Because the wheel of his cart and his horses eventually ^[v]damage it,
He does not thresh it longer.
²⁹This also comes from the Lord of armies,
Who has made His counsel ^(AB)wonderful and His wisdom ^(AC)great.