Isaiah 28:14-30:11
English Standard Version
A Cornerstone in Zion
14 Therefore hear the word of the Lord, you (A)scoffers,
who rule this people in Jerusalem!
15 Because you have said, “We have made a covenant with death,
and with Sheol we have an agreement,
when the (B)overwhelming whip passes through
it will not come to us,
for we have made (C)lies our refuge,
and in falsehood we have taken shelter”;
16 therefore thus says the Lord God,
(D)“Behold, I am the one who has laid[a] as a foundation (E)in Zion,
a stone, a tested stone,
a precious cornerstone, of a sure foundation:
‘Whoever believes will not be in haste.’
17 And I will make justice (F)the line,
and righteousness (G)the plumb line;
and hail will sweep away the refuge of lies,
and waters will overwhelm the shelter.”
18 Then (H)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.
19 As often as it passes through it will take you;
(I)for morning by morning it will pass through,
by day and by night;
and it will be (J)sheer terror to understand the message.
20 For the bed is too short to stretch oneself on,
and the covering too narrow to wrap oneself in.
21 For the Lord will rise up (K)as on Mount Perazim;
(L)as in the Valley of (M)Gibeon he will be roused;
to do his deed—strange is his deed!
and to work his work—alien is his work!
22 Now therefore do not (N)scoff,
lest your bonds be made strong;
for I have heard (O)a decree of destruction
from the Lord God of hosts against the whole land.
23 Give ear, and hear my voice;
give attention, and hear my speech.
24 Does he who plows for sowing plow continually?
Does he continually open and harrow his ground?
25 (P)When 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[b] as the border?
26 (Q)For he is rightly instructed;
his God teaches him.
27 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.
28 Does one crush grain for bread?
No, he does not thresh it forever;[c]
when he drives his cart wheel over it
with his horses, he does not crush it.
29 This also comes from the Lord of hosts;
he is (R)wonderful in counsel
and excellent in wisdom.
The Siege of Jerusalem
29 Ah, Ariel, Ariel,
the city (S)where David encamped!
Add year to year;
let the feasts run their round.
2 Yet I will distress Ariel,
and there shall be moaning and lamentation,
and she shall be to me like an Ariel.[d]
3 (T)And I will encamp against you all around,
and will besiege you (U)with towers
and I will raise siegeworks against you.
4 (V)And you will be brought low; from the earth you shall speak,
and from the dust your speech will be bowed down;
your voice shall come from the ground like (W)the voice of a ghost,
and from the dust your speech shall whisper.
5 But the multitude of your foreign foes shall be like (X)small dust,
and the multitude of the ruthless like passing chaff.
(Y)And in an instant, suddenly,
6 (Z)you will be visited by the Lord of hosts
with thunder and with earthquake and great noise,
with whirlwind and tempest, and the flame of a devouring fire.
7 And (AA)the multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel,
all that fight against her and her stronghold and distress her,
shall be (AB)like a dream, a vision of the night.
8 (AC)As when a hungry man dreams, and behold, he is eating,
and awakes with his hunger not satisfied,
or as when a thirsty man dreams, and behold, he is drinking,
and awakes faint, with his thirst not quenched,
so shall the multitude of all the nations be
that fight against Mount Zion.
9 Astonish yourselves[e] and be astonished;
blind yourselves and be blind!
Be drunk,[f] but not with wine;
(AD)stagger,[g] but not with strong drink!
10 (AE)For the Lord has poured out upon you
a spirit of deep sleep,
and has closed your eyes (the prophets),
and covered your heads (the seers).
11 And the vision of all this has become to you like the words of a book that is (AF)sealed. When men give it to one who can read, saying, “Read this,” he says, “I cannot, for it is sealed.” 12 And when they give the book to one who cannot read, saying, “Read this,” he says, “I cannot read.”
13 And the Lord said:
“Because (AG)this people (AH)draw near with their mouth
and honor me with their lips,
while their hearts are far from me,
and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men,
14 therefore, behold, (AI)I will again
do wonderful things with this people,
with wonder upon wonder;
and (AJ)the wisdom of their wise men shall perish,
and the discernment of their discerning men shall be hidden.”
15 Ah, (AK)you who hide deep from the Lord your counsel,
whose deeds are (AL)in the dark,
and who say, “Who sees us? Who knows us?”
16 (AM)You turn things upside down!
Shall the potter be regarded as the clay,
that the thing made should say of its maker,
“He did not make me”;
or the thing formed say of him who formed it,
“He has no understanding”?
17 Is it not yet a very little while
(AN)until Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field,
and the fruitful field shall be regarded as a forest?
18 In that day (AO)the deaf shall hear
(AP)the words of a book,
and out of their gloom and darkness
(AQ)the eyes of the blind shall see.
19 (AR)The meek shall obtain fresh joy in the Lord,
and the poor among mankind shall exult in the Holy One of Israel.
20 For the ruthless shall come to nothing
and (AS)the scoffer cease,
and all who watch to do evil shall be cut off,
21 who by a word make a man out to be an offender,
and (AT)lay a snare for him who reproves in the gate,
and with an empty plea (AU)turn aside him who is in the right.
22 Therefore thus says the Lord, (AV)who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob:
“Jacob shall no more be ashamed,
no more shall his face grow pale.
23 For when he sees his children,
(AW)the work of my hands, in his midst,
they will sanctify my name;
(AX)they will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob
and will stand in awe of the God of Israel.
24 And those (AY)who go astray in spirit will come to understanding,
and those who murmur will accept instruction.”
Do Not Go Down to Egypt
30 “Ah, (AZ)stubborn children,” declares the Lord,
(BA)“who carry out a plan, but not mine,
and who make (BB)an alliance,[h] but not of my Spirit,
that they may add sin to sin;
2 (BC)who set out to go down to Egypt,
without asking for my direction,
to take refuge in the protection of Pharaoh
and to seek shelter in the shadow of Egypt!
3 (BD)Therefore shall the protection of Pharaoh turn to your shame,
and the shelter in the shadow of Egypt to your humiliation.
4 For though his officials are at (BE)Zoan
and (BF)his envoys reach (BG)Hanes,
5 everyone comes to shame
through (BH)a people that cannot profit them,
that brings neither help nor profit,
but shame and disgrace.”
6 An (BI)oracle on (BJ)the beasts of (BK)the Negeb.
Through a land of trouble and anguish,
from where come the lioness and the lion,
the adder and the (BL)flying fiery 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.
7 Egypt's (BM)help is worthless and empty;
therefore I have called her
(BN)“Rahab who sits still.”
A Rebellious People
8 And now, go, (BO)write it before them on a tablet
and inscribe it in a book,
that it may be for the time to come
as a witness forever.[i]
9 (BP)For they are a rebellious people,
lying children,
children unwilling to hear
the instruction of the Lord;
10 (BQ)who say to (BR)the seers, “Do not see,”
and to the prophets, “Do not prophesy to us what is right;
speak to us (BS)smooth things,
prophesy illusions,
11 leave the way, turn aside from the path,
let us hear no more about the Holy One of Israel.”
Footnotes
- Isaiah 28:16 Dead Sea Scroll I am laying
- Isaiah 28:25 A type of wheat
- Isaiah 28:28 Or Grain is crushed for bread; he will surely thresh it, but not forever
- Isaiah 29:2 Ariel could mean lion of God, or hero (2 Samuel 23:20), or altar hearth (Ezekiel 43:15–16)
- Isaiah 29:9 Or Linger awhile
- Isaiah 29:9 Or They are drunk
- Isaiah 29:9 Or they stagger
- Isaiah 30:1 Hebrew who weave a web
- Isaiah 30:8 Some Hebrew manuscripts, Syriac, Targum, Vulgate, and Greek versions; Masoretic Text forever and ever
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
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