Isaiah 28:14-29

English Standard Version

A Cornerstone in Zion

¹⁴Therefore hear the word of the Lord, you ^(A)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 ^(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”;
¹⁶therefore 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.’
¹⁷And 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.”
¹⁸Then ^(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.
¹⁹As 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.
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 ^(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!
²²Now 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.

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?
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.

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;^[c]
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 ^(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.
²Yet 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.

⁵But 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.
⁷And ^(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.

⁹Astonish 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).

¹¹And 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.” ¹²And when they give the book to one who cannot read, saying, “Read this,” he says, “I cannot read.”

¹³And 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,
¹⁴therefore, 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.”

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