23 Give ear, and hear my voice;
    give attention, and hear my speech.
24 Does he who plows for sowing plow continually?
    Does he continually open and harrow his ground?
25 (A)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[a] as the border?
26 (B)For he is rightly instructed;
    his God teaches him.

27 Dill 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.
28 Does one crush grain for bread?
    No, he does not thresh it forever;[b]
when he drives his cart wheel over it
    with his horses, he does not crush it.
29 This also comes from the Lord of hosts;
    he is (C)wonderful in counsel
    and excellent in wisdom.

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Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 28:25 A type of wheat
  2. Isaiah 28:28 Or Grain is crushed for bread; he will surely thresh it, but not forever

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.

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