Font Size
Isaiah 28:23-29
New Living Translation
Isaiah 28:23-29
New Living Translation
23 Listen to me;
listen, and pay close attention.
24 Does a farmer always plow and never sow?
Is he forever cultivating the soil and never planting?
25 Does he not finally plant his seeds—
black cumin, cumin, wheat, barley, and emmer wheat—
each in its proper way,
and each in its proper place?
26 The farmer knows just what to do,
for God has given him understanding.
27 A heavy sledge is never used to thresh black cumin;
rather, it is beaten with a light stick.
A threshing wheel is never rolled on cumin;
instead, it is beaten lightly with a flail.
28 Grain for bread is easily crushed,
so he doesn’t keep on pounding it.
He threshes it under the wheels of a cart,
but he doesn’t pulverize it.
29 The Lord of Heaven’s Armies is a wonderful teacher,
and he gives the farmer great wisdom.
Isaiah 28:23-29
Common English Bible
Isaiah 28:23-29
Common English Bible
Plowing and threshing
23 Listen and hear my voice;
pay attention and hear my word:
24 Does the plowman plow without stopping for planting,
opening and harrowing their ground?
25 When he has smoothed its surface,
doesn’t he scatter fennel,[a] and sow cumin,
and plant wheat and barley in their places,
and spelt as a border?
26 They are properly ordered;
their God directs them.[b]
27 Fennel[c] isn’t threshed with a threshing sledge,
nor is a cart wheel rolled over cumin,
but fennel[d] is beaten with a staff,
and cumin with a rod.
28 Bread grain is crushed,
but the thresher[e] doesn’t thresh it forever.
He drives the cart wheel over it;
he spreads it out but doesn’t crush it.
29 This also comes from the Lord of heavenly forces,
who gives wondrous counsel and increases wisdom.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 28:25 Or black cumin
- Isaiah 28:26 Or waters them
- Isaiah 28:27 Or black cumin
- Isaiah 28:27 Or black cumin
- Isaiah 28:28 DSS (1QIsaa)
Isaiah 28:23-29
New International Version
Isaiah 28:23-29
New International Version
23 Listen(A) and hear my voice;
pay attention and hear what I say.
24 When a farmer plows for planting,(B) does he plow continually?
Does he keep on breaking up and working the soil?
25 When he has leveled the surface,
does he not sow caraway and scatter cumin?(C)
Does he not plant wheat in its place,[a]
barley(D) in its plot,[b]
and spelt(E) in its field?
26 His God instructs him
and teaches(F) him the right way.
27 Caraway is not threshed(G) with a sledge,(H)
nor is the wheel of a cart rolled over cumin;
caraway is beaten out with a rod,(I)
and cumin with a stick.
28 Grain must be ground to make bread;
so one does not go on threshing it forever.
The wheels of a threshing cart(J) may be rolled over it,
but one does not use horses to grind grain.
29 All this also comes from the Lord Almighty,
whose plan is wonderful,(K)
whose wisdom is magnificent.(L)
Footnotes
- Isaiah 28:25 The meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain.
- Isaiah 28:25 The meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain.
Isaiah 28:23-29
King James Version
Isaiah 28:23-29
King James Version
23 Give ye ear, and hear my voice; hearken, and hear my speech.
24 Doth the plowman plow all day to sow? doth he open and break the clods of his ground?
25 When he hath made plain the face thereof, doth he not cast abroad the fitches, and scatter the cummin, and cast in the principal wheat and the appointed barley and the rie in their place?
26 For his God doth instruct him to discretion, and doth teach him.
27 For the fitches are not threshed with a threshing instrument, neither is a cart wheel turned about upon the cummin; but the fitches are beaten out with a staff, and the cummin with a rod.
28 Bread corn is bruised; because he will not ever be threshing it, nor break it with the wheel of his cart, nor bruise it with his horsemen.
29 This also cometh forth from the Lord of hosts, which is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working.
Read full chapter
New Living Translation (NLT)
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Common English Bible (CEB)
Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible
New International Version (NIV) 
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.