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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,[a] does he not scatter dill,
    and sow cumin seed,
    and plant[b] wheat in planted rows,[c]
    and barley in an appointed place,
    and spelt grain as its border?
26 And his God instructs him about the prescription;[d]
    he teaches him.
27 For dill is not threshed with a threshing sledge,
    nor is a wheel of a utility cart rolled[e] 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.

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Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 28:25 Literally “face”
  2. Isaiah 28:25 Literally “place”
  3. Isaiah 28:25 Hebrew “row”
  4. Isaiah 28:26 That is, “the proper way”
  5. Isaiah 28:27 Literally “turned”

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)

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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.