Isaiah 28

1Woe to the proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim, and to the fading flower of his glorious beauty, which is on the head of the fertile valley, those overcome by wine.

2Behold, the Lord has one who is mighty and strong; like a storm of hail, a destroying tempest, like a storm of mighty, overflowing waters, he casts it down to the earth with his hand.

3The proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim will be trampled underfoot.

4And the fading flower of his glorious beauty, which is on the head of the fertile valley, will be like an early fig before summer: whoever sees it, while it is still in his palm, swallows it down.

5In that day Yahweh of Armies will be a crown of beauty and a diadem of splendor for the remnant of his people.

6and a spirit of justice to the one who sits in judgment, and strength to those who turn back the battle at the gate.

7And even these reel with wine and stagger from strong drink: priest and prophet reel with strong drink, they are swallowed up by wine, they stagger from strong drink; they reel in vision, they totter in judgment.

8For all the tables are full of vomit and filth, with no place left.

9Whom will he teach knowledge, and to whom will he explain the message? Those weaned from milk, those taken from the breasts?

10For it is, “Command on command, command on command, line on line, line on line, a little here, a little there.”

11For with mocking lips and with another tongue he will speak to this people,

12to whom he said, “This is rest; give rest to the weary, and this is repose,” yet they were not willing to hear.

13So the word of Yahweh will be to them, “Order on order, order on order, line on line, line on line, a little here, a little there,” so that they may go, and stumble backward, and be broken, and snared, and captured.

14Therefore hear the word of Yahweh, you scoffing men, rulers of this people who are in Jerusalem.

15Because you have said, “We have made a covenant with death, and with Sheol we have made an agreement. When the overwhelming scourge passes through, it will not come to us, because we have made falsehood our refuge and have hidden ourselves in deceit.”

16Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; the one who believes will not be in haste.

17And I will make justice the measuring line, and righteousness the plumb line; hail will sweep away the refuge of lies, and waters will flood the shelter.

18And your covenant with death will be annulled, and your agreement with Sheol will not stand; when the overwhelming scourge passes through, you will become a trampling place for it.

19As often as it passes through, it will seize you; for morning by morning it will pass through, by day and by night; and it will be sheer terror to understand the message.

20For the bed is too short to stretch oneself out on, and the covering too narrow to wrap oneself in.

21For Yahweh will rise up as at Mount Perazim; he will be stirred up as in the Valley of Gibeon, to do his work—his strange work—and to perform his task—his foreign task.

22So now, do not scoff, lest your bonds be made stronger; for I have heard from the Lord GOD of Armies a complete destruction decreed against the whole land.

23Give ear and hear my voice; pay attention and hear my word.

24Does the plowman plow all day to sow? Does he keep opening and harrowing his ground?

25Does he not, when he has leveled its surface, scatter black cumin and sow cumin, and put wheat in rows, and barley in its appointed place, and spelt at its border?

26For his God instructs him in justice; he teaches him.

27For black cumin is not threshed with a sledge, nor is a cart wheel rolled over cumin; rather, black cumin is beaten out with a staff, and cumin with a rod.

28Bread grain is crushed, but not forever does one keep threshing it; though the wheel of his cart and his horses rumble over it, he does not crush it fine.

29This also has come from Yahweh of hosts; he is wonderful in counsel and great in wisdom.