God’s Wonderful Advice

23 Listen and hear my voice.
Pay attention and hear what I say.
24 Does the plowman plow every day to plant seed?
Does he continuously break up and cultivate the soil?
25 When he has leveled its surface,
does he not then scatter black cumin and sow cumin?
He plants wheat in rows and barley in plots,
with spelt as their border.
26 His God teaches him order;
he instructs him.
27 Certainly black cumin is not threshed
with a threshing board,
and a cart wheel is not rolled over the cumin.
But black cumin is beaten out with a stick,
and cumin with a rod.
28 Bread grain is crushed,
but is not threshed endlessly.
Though the wheel of the farmer’s cart rumbles,
his horses do not crush it.
29 This also comes from the Lord of Armies.
He gives wondrous advice;
he gives great wisdom.(A)

Read full chapter

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)

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 28:25 The meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain.
  2. Isaiah 28:25 The meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain.