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Isaiah 28-29
New American Standard Bible 1995

Ephraim’s Captivity Predicted

28 Woe to the proud crown of the (A)drunkards of (B)Ephraim,
And to the fading flower of its glorious beauty,
Which is at the head of the [a]fertile valley
Of those who are [b]overcome with wine!
2 Behold, the Lord has a strong and (C)mighty agent;
As a storm of (D)hail, a tempest of destruction,
Like a storm of (E)mighty overflowing waters,
He has cast it down to the earth with His hand.
3 The proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim is (F)trodden under foot.
4 And the fading flower of its glorious beauty,
Which is at the head of the [c]fertile valley,
Will be like the (G)first-ripe fig prior to summer,
Which [d]one sees,
And [e]as soon as it is in his [f]hand,
He swallows it.
5 In that day the (H)Lord of hosts will become a beautiful (I)crown
And a glorious diadem to the remnant of His people;
6 A (J)spirit of justice for him who sits in judgment,
A (K)strength to those who repel the [g]onslaught at the gate.
7 And these also (L)reel with wine and stagger from strong drink:
(M)The priest and (N)the prophet reel with strong drink,
They are confused by wine, they stagger from (O)strong drink;
They reel while [h]having (P)visions,
They totter when rendering judgment.
8 For all the tables are full of filthy (Q)vomit, without a single clean place.

9 “To (R)whom would He teach knowledge,
And to whom would He interpret the message?
Those just (S)weaned from milk?
Those just taken from the breast?
10 “For He says,
‘[i](T)Order on order, order on order,
Line on line, line on line,
A little here, a little there.’”
11 Indeed, He will speak to this people
Through (U)stammering lips and a foreign tongue,
12 He who said to them, “Here is (V)rest, give rest to the weary,”
And, “Here is repose,” but they would not listen.
13 So the word of the Lord to them will be,
“[j]Order on order, order on order,
Line on line, line on line,
A little here, a little there,”
That they may go and (W)stumble backward, be broken, snared and taken captive.

Judah Is Warned

14 Therefore, (X)hear the word of the Lord, O (Y)scoffers,
Who rule this people who are in Jerusalem,
15 Because you have said, “We have made a (Z)covenant with death,
And with [k]Sheol we have made a [l]pact.
(AA)The overwhelming [m]scourge will not reach us when it passes by,
For we have made (AB)falsehood our refuge and we have (AC)concealed ourselves with deception.”

16 Therefore thus says the Lord [n]God,

“(AD)Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a tested (AE)stone,
A costly cornerstone for the foundation, [o]firmly placed.
He who believes in it will not be [p]disturbed.
17 “I will make (AF)justice the measuring line
And righteousness the level;
Then (AG)hail will sweep away the refuge of lies
And the waters will overflow the secret place.
18 “Your (AH)covenant with death will be [q](AI)canceled,
And your pact with Sheol will not stand;
When the (AJ)overwhelming scourge passes through,
Then you become its (AK)trampling place.
19 “As (AL)often as it passes through, it will [r]seize you;
For (AM)morning after morning it will pass through, anytime during the day or night,
And it will be [s]sheer (AN)terror to understand [t]what it means.”
20 The bed is too short on which to stretch out,
And the (AO)blanket is too [u]small to wrap oneself in.
21 For the Lord will rise up as at Mount (AP)Perazim,
He will be stirred up as in the valley of (AQ)Gibeon,
To do His (AR)task, His [v](AS)unusual task,
And to work His work, His [w]extraordinary work.
22 And now do not carry on as (AT)scoffers,
Or your fetters will be made stronger;
For I have heard from the Lord [x]God of hosts
Of decisive (AU)destruction on all the earth.

23 Give ear and hear my voice,
Listen and hear my words.
24 Does the [y]farmer plow [z]continually to plant seed?
Does he continually [aa]turn and harrow the ground?
25 Does he not level its surface
And sow dill and scatter (AV)cummin
And [ab]plant (AW)wheat in rows,
Barley in its place and rye within its [ac]area?
26 For his God instructs and teaches him properly.
27 For dill is not threshed with a (AX)threshing sledge,
Nor is the cartwheel [ad]driven over cummin;
But dill is beaten out with a rod, and cummin with a club.
28 Grain for bread is crushed,
Indeed, he does not continue to thresh it forever.
Because the wheel of his cart and his horses eventually [ae]damage it,
He does not thresh it longer.
29 This also comes from the Lord of hosts,
Who has made His counsel (AY)wonderful and His wisdom (AZ)great.

Jerusalem Is Warned

29 Woe, O [af]Ariel, [ag]Ariel the city where David once (BA)camped!
Add year to year, [ah](BB)observe your feasts on schedule.
2 I will bring distress to Ariel,
And she will be a city of lamenting and (BC)mourning;
And she will be like an Ariel to me.
3 I will (BD)camp against you [ai]encircling you,
And I will set siegeworks against you,
And I will raise up battle towers against you.
4 Then you will (BE)be brought low;
From the earth you will speak,
And from the dust where you are prostrate
Your words will come.
Your voice will also be like that of a [aj]spirit from the ground,
And your speech will whisper from the dust.

5 But the multitude of your [ak]enemies will become like fine (BF)dust,
And the multitude of the (BG)ruthless ones like the chaff which [al]blows away;
And it will happen (BH)instantly, suddenly.
6 From the Lord of hosts you will be (BI)punished with (BJ)thunder and earthquake and loud noise,
With whirlwind and tempest and the flame of a consuming fire.
7 And the (BK)multitude of all the nations who wage war against [am]Ariel,
Even all who wage war against her and her stronghold, and who distress her,
Will be like a dream, a (BL)vision of the night.
8 It will be as when a hungry man dreams—
And behold, he is eating;
But when he awakens, his [an]hunger is not satisfied,
Or as when a thirsty man dreams—
And behold, he is drinking,
But when he awakens, behold, he is faint
And his [ao]thirst is not quenched.
(BM)Thus the multitude of all the nations will be
Who wage war against Mount Zion.

9 (BN)Be delayed and wait,
Blind yourselves and be blind;
They (BO)become drunk, but not with wine,
They stagger, but not with strong drink.
10 For the Lord has poured over you a spirit of deep (BP)sleep,
He has (BQ)shut your eyes, the prophets;
And He has covered your heads, the seers.

11 The entire vision will be to you like the words of a sealed [ap](BR)book, which when they give it to the one who [aq]is literate, saying, “Please read this,” he will say, “I cannot, for it is sealed.” 12 Then the [ar]book will be given to the one who [as]is illiterate, saying, “Please read this.” And he will say, “I [at]cannot read.”

13 Then the Lord said,

“Because (BS)this people draw near with their [au]words
And honor Me with their [av]lip service,
But they remove their hearts far from Me,
And their [aw]reverence for Me [ax]consists of [ay]tradition learned by rote,
14 Therefore behold, I will once again deal (BT)marvelously with this people, wondrously marvelous;
And (BU)the wisdom of their wise men will perish,
And the discernment of their discerning men will be concealed.”

15 Woe to those who deeply (BV)hide their [az]plans from the Lord,
And whose (BW)deeds are done in a dark place,
And they say, “(BX)Who sees us?” or “Who knows us?”
16 You turn things around!
Shall the potter be considered [ba]as equal with the clay,
That (BY)what is made would say to its maker, “He did not make me”;
Or what is formed say to him who formed it, “He has no understanding”?

Blessing after Discipline

17 Is it not yet just a little while
[bb]Before Lebanon will be turned into a (BZ)fertile field,
And the fertile field will be considered as a forest?
18 On that day the (CA)deaf will hear (CB)words of a book,
And out of their gloom and darkness the (CC)eyes of the blind will see.
19 The (CD)afflicted also will increase their gladness in the Lord,
And the (CE)needy of mankind will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.
20 For the (CF)ruthless will come to an end and the (CG)scorner will be finished,
Indeed (CH)all who [bc]are intent on doing evil will be cut off;
21 Who [bd]cause a person to be indicted by a word,
And (CI)ensnare him who adjudicates at the gate,
And [be](CJ)defraud the one in the right with [bf]meaningless arguments.

22 Therefore thus says the Lord, who redeemed (CK)Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob:

“Jacob (CL)shall not now be ashamed, nor shall his face now turn pale;
23 But when [bg]he sees his (CM)children, the (CN)work of My hands, in his midst,
They will sanctify My name;
Indeed, they will (CO)sanctify the Holy One of Jacob
And will stand in awe of the God of Israel.
24 “Those who (CP)err in [bh]mind will (CQ)know [bi]the truth,
And those who [bj]criticize will [bk](CR)accept instruction.

Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 28:1 Lit valley of fatness
  2. Isaiah 28:1 Lit smitten
  3. Isaiah 28:4 Lit valley of fatness
  4. Isaiah 28:4 Lit the one seeing sees
  5. Isaiah 28:4 Lit while it is yet
  6. Isaiah 28:4 Lit palm
  7. Isaiah 28:6 Lit battle
  8. Isaiah 28:7 Lit seeing
  9. Isaiah 28:10 Heb Sav lasav, sav lasav, Kav lakav, kav lakav, Ze’ er sham, ze’ er sham These Hebrew monosyllables, imitating the babbling of a child, mock the prophet’s preaching
  10. Isaiah 28:13 V 10, note 1 The Lord responds to their scoffing by imitating their mockery, to represent the unintelligible language of a conqueror
  11. Isaiah 28:15 I.e. the nether world
  12. Isaiah 28:15 So some ancient versions; Heb seer
  13. Isaiah 28:15 Or flood
  14. Isaiah 28:16 Heb YHWH, usually rendered Lord
  15. Isaiah 28:16 Lit well-laid
  16. Isaiah 28:16 Lit in a hurry
  17. Isaiah 28:18 Lit covered over
  18. Isaiah 28:19 Lit take
  19. Isaiah 28:19 Lit only
  20. Isaiah 28:19 Lit the report, or, the message
  21. Isaiah 28:20 Lit narrow
  22. Isaiah 28:21 Lit task is strange
  23. Isaiah 28:21 Lit work is alien
  24. Isaiah 28:22 Heb YHWH, usually rendered Lord
  25. Isaiah 28:24 Lit plowman
  26. Isaiah 28:24 Lit all day
  27. Isaiah 28:24 Lit open
  28. Isaiah 28:25 Lit put
  29. Isaiah 28:25 Lit region
  30. Isaiah 28:27 Lit rolled
  31. Isaiah 28:28 Lit discomfit
  32. Isaiah 29:1 I.e. Lion of God, or Jerusalem
  33. Isaiah 29:1 I.e. Lion of God, or Jerusalem
  34. Isaiah 29:1 Lit let your feasts run their round
  35. Isaiah 29:3 Lit like a circle
  36. Isaiah 29:4 Or ghost
  37. Isaiah 29:5 Lit strangers
  38. Isaiah 29:5 Lit passes away
  39. Isaiah 29:7 V 1, note 1
  40. Isaiah 29:8 Lit soul
  41. Isaiah 29:8 Lit soul
  42. Isaiah 29:11 Or scroll
  43. Isaiah 29:11 Lit knows books
  44. Isaiah 29:12 Or scroll
  45. Isaiah 29:12 Lit does not know books
  46. Isaiah 29:12 Lit do not know books
  47. Isaiah 29:13 Lit mouth
  48. Isaiah 29:13 Lit lips
  49. Isaiah 29:13 Lit fear of Me
  50. Isaiah 29:13 Lit is
  51. Isaiah 29:13 Lit commandment of rulers
  52. Isaiah 29:15 Lit counsel
  53. Isaiah 29:16 Lit like
  54. Isaiah 29:17 Lit And
  55. Isaiah 29:20 Lit watch evil
  56. Isaiah 29:21 Lit bring a person under condemnation
  57. Isaiah 29:21 Lit turn aside
  58. Isaiah 29:21 Lit confusion
  59. Isaiah 29:23 Or his children see
  60. Isaiah 29:24 Lit spirit
  61. Isaiah 29:24 Lit understanding
  62. Isaiah 29:24 Lit murmur
  63. Isaiah 29:24 Lit learn
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Isaiah 27
Isaiah 30
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New American Standard Bible 1995 (NASB1995)

New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.

New American Standard Bible is made available by The Lockman Foundation