Isaiah 28
Lexham English Bible
Judgment against the Leaders of Ephraim
28 Ah! The garland of the pride of the drunkards of Ephraim
and the withering flower of the glory of his beauty,
which is at the head of the rich valley,[a]
ones overcome[b] with wine!
2 Look! The Lord has a mighty and strong one,
like a rainstorm of hail, a wind storm of destruction,
like a rainstorm of mighty overflowing waters,
he will put them to the earth with his hand.
3 The garland of the pride of the drunkards of Ephraim
will be trampled[c] by feet,
4 and the withering flower of the glory of its beauty
which is at the head of the rich valley[d]
will be like its early fig before summer,
which the one who sees it swallows[e] while it is still in his hand.
5 In that day, Yahweh of hosts will become a garland of glory
and a diadem of beauty to the remnant of his people,
6 and a spirit of justice to the one who sits over judgment,
and strength to those who turn back the battle at the gate.
7 And these also stagger because of wine
and stagger because of strong drink;
priest and prophet stagger because of strong drink;
they are confused[f] because of wine.
They stagger because of strong drink;
they err in vision.
They stagger in the rendering of a decision,
8 for all the tables are full of disgusting vomit, with no place left.[g]
9 To whom will he teach knowledge,
and to whom will he explain the message?
Those who are weaned from milk,
those taken from the breast?
10 For it is blah-blah upon blah-blah,
blah-blah upon blah-blah,
gah-gah upon gah-gah,
gah-gah upon gah-gah,[h]
a little here, a little there.
11 For he will speak with stammering[i] and another tongue to this people, 12 to whom he has said,
“This is rest; give rest to the weary;
and this is repose”; yet[j] they were not willing to hear.
13 And to them the word of Yahweh will be
blah-blah upon blah-blah
blah-blah upon blah-blah
gah-gah upon gah-gah
gah-gah upon gah-gah,[k]
a little here, a little there,
so that they may go and stumble backward
and be broken and ensnared and captured.
The Cornerstone of Zion
14 Therefore hear the word of Yahweh, men of mockery,
rulers of these people in Jerusalem:
15 Because you have said,
“We have made[l] a covenant with death,
and we have made an agreement with Sheol.
The overwhelming flood, when it passes through, will not come to us,
for we have made lies[m] our refuge,
and we have hidden ourselves in falsehood.”
16 Therefore the Lord Yahweh says this:
“Look! I am laying a stone in Zion,
a tested[n] stone,
a precious cornerstone,
a founded foundation:
‘The one who trusts will not panic.’[o]
17 And I will make justice the measuring line,
and righteousness the plumb line;
and hail will sweep away the refuge of lies,[p]
and waters will flood over the hiding place.
18 And your covenant with death will be annulled,
and your agreement with Sheol will not stand;
you will become a trampling place for the overwhelming flood when it passes through.
19 As often as it passes through,[q] it will take you,
for morning by morning[r] it will pass through,
in the day and in the night,
and understanding the message will be only terror.”
20 For the bed is too short to stretch out on,[s]
and the covering is too narrow when wrapping oneself.
21 For Yahweh will rise up as at Mount Perazim;
he will rave as in the valley at Gibeon
to do his deed—his deed is strange—
and to work his work—his work is alien!
22 And now you must not scoff,
or your bonds will be strong,
for I have heard from the Lord, Yahweh of hosts:
complete destruction
decreed upon all the land.
A Parable of Yahweh’s Work
23 Listen, and hear my voice!
Listen attentively, and hear my word!
24 Is it all day that the plowman plows,
opens to sow seed, harrows his ground?
25 When he has leveled its surface,[t] does he not scatter dill,
and sow cumin seed,
and plant[u] wheat in planted rows,[v]
and barley in an appointed place,
and spelt grain as its border?
26 And his God instructs him about the prescription;[w]
he teaches him.
27 For dill is not threshed with a threshing sledge,
nor is a wheel of a utility cart rolled[x] over cumin,
but dill is beaten out with a stick,
and cumin with a rod.
28 Grain is crushed fine,
but certainly one does not thresh it forever;
and one drives the wheel of his cart,
but his horses do not crush it.
29 This also comes forth from Yahweh of hosts.
He is wonderful in advice;
he makes great wisdom.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 28:1 Literally “a valley of fat”
- Isaiah 28:1 Literally “ones struck”
- Isaiah 28:3 The Hebrew is plural
- Isaiah 28:4 Literally “a valley of fat”
- Isaiah 28:4 Literally “Which, when the one who sees it sees it, he swallows it”
- Isaiah 28:7 Or “swallowed”
- Isaiah 28:8 Literally “without a place”
- Isaiah 28:10 In this context, the Hebrew expressions tsaw-tsaw and qaw-qaw are likely meant to sound like baby talk, but they could mean “command upon command” and “rule upon rule”
- Isaiah 28:11 Literally “stammer of lip”
- Isaiah 28:12 Or “and”
- Isaiah 28:13 In this context, the Hebrew expressions tsaw-tsaw and qaw-qaw are likely meant to sound like baby talk, but they could mean “command upon command” and “rule upon rule”
- Isaiah 28:15 Literally “cut”
- Isaiah 28:15 Hebrew “lie”
- Isaiah 28:16 Literally “testing”
- Isaiah 28:16 Literally “hurry”
- Isaiah 28:17 Hebrew “lie”
- Isaiah 28:19 Literally “From enough his passing through”
- Isaiah 28:19 Literally “in the morning in the morning”
- Isaiah 28:20 Literally “from stretching oneself”
- Isaiah 28:25 Literally “face”
- Isaiah 28:25 Literally “place”
- Isaiah 28:25 Hebrew “row”
- Isaiah 28:26 That is, “the proper way”
- Isaiah 28:27 Literally “turned”
Isaiah 28
New Living Translation
A Message about Samaria
28 What sorrow awaits the proud city of Samaria—
the glorious crown of the drunks of Israel.[a]
It sits at the head of a fertile valley,
but its glorious beauty will fade like a flower.
It is the pride of a people
brought down by wine.
2 For the Lord will send a mighty army against it.
Like a mighty hailstorm and a torrential rain,
they will burst upon it like a surging flood
and smash it to the ground.
3 The proud city of Samaria—
the glorious crown of the drunks of Israel[b]—
will be trampled beneath its enemies’ feet.
4 It sits at the head of a fertile valley,
but its glorious beauty will fade like a flower.
Whoever sees it will snatch it up,
as an early fig is quickly picked and eaten.
5 Then at last the Lord of Heaven’s Armies
will himself be Israel’s glorious crown.
He will be the pride and joy
of the remnant of his people.
6 He will give a longing for justice
to their judges.
He will give great courage
to their warriors who stand at the gates.
7 Now, however, Israel is led by drunks
who reel with wine and stagger with alcohol.
The priests and prophets stagger with alcohol
and lose themselves in wine.
They reel when they see visions
and stagger as they render decisions.
8 Their tables are covered with vomit;
filth is everywhere.
9 “Who does the Lord think we are?” they ask.
“Why does he speak to us like this?
Are we little children,
just recently weaned?
10 He tells us everything over and over—
one line at a time,
one line at a time,
a little here,
and a little there!”
11 So now God will have to speak to his people
through foreign oppressors who speak a strange language!
12 God has told his people,
“Here is a place of rest;
let the weary rest here.
This is a place of quiet rest.”
But they would not listen.
13 So the Lord will spell out his message for them again,
one line at a time,
one line at a time,
a little here,
and a little there,
so that they will stumble and fall.
They will be injured, trapped, and captured.
14 Therefore, listen to this message from the Lord,
you scoffing rulers in Jerusalem.
15 You boast, “We have struck a bargain to cheat death
and have made a deal to dodge the grave.[c]
The coming destruction can never touch us,
for we have built a strong refuge made of lies and deception.”
16 Therefore, this is what the Sovereign Lord says:
“Look! I am placing a foundation stone in Jerusalem,[d]
a firm and tested stone.
It is a precious cornerstone that is safe to build on.
Whoever believes need never be shaken.[e]
17 I will test you with the measuring line of justice
and the plumb line of righteousness.
Since your refuge is made of lies,
a hailstorm will knock it down.
Since it is made of deception,
a flood will sweep it away.
18 I will cancel the bargain you made to cheat death,
and I will overturn your deal to dodge the grave.
When the terrible enemy sweeps through,
you will be trampled into the ground.
19 Again and again that flood will come,
morning after morning,
day and night,
until you are carried away.”
This message will bring terror to your people.
20 The bed you have made is too short to lie on.
The blankets are too narrow to cover you.
21 The Lord will come as he did against the Philistines at Mount Perazim
and against the Amorites at Gibeon.
He will come to do a strange thing;
he will come to do an unusual deed:
22 For the Lord, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies,
has plainly said that he is determined to crush the whole land.
So scoff no more,
or your punishment will be even greater.
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.
Footnotes
- 28:1 Hebrew What sorrow awaits the crowning glory of the drunks of Ephraim, referring to Samaria, capital of the northern kingdom of Israel.
- 28:3 Hebrew The crowning glory of the drunks of Ephraim; see note on 28:1.
- 28:15 Hebrew Sheol; also in 28:18.
- 28:16a Hebrew in Zion.
- 28:16b Greek version reads Look! I am placing a stone in the foundation of Jerusalem [literally Zion], / a precious cornerstone for its foundation, chosen for great honor. / Anyone who trusts in him will never be disgraced. Compare Rom 9:33; 1 Pet 2:6.
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