Isaiah 28

1Woe to the proud crown of Ephraim’s drunkards, to the fading flower of its glorious beauty, set on the head of the fertile valley of those overcome by wine!

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

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

4The fading flower of its glorious beauty, set on the head of the fertile valley, will be like a first-ripe fig before the summer harvest: whoever sees it swallows it as soon as it is in his hand.

5On that day Yahweh of Armies will be a crown of glory and a diadem of beauty for the remnant of his people,

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

7These also reel with wine and stagger with beer: priest and prophet reel with beer; they are swallowed up by wine; they stagger with beer; they reel while seeing visions; they stumble when giving judgment.

8For all the tables are covered with vomit and filth; not a place is left clean.

9Whom is he trying to teach knowledge? To whom is he explaining the message? To those just weaned from milk, just taken from the breast?

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

11Indeed, with stammering lips and a foreign tongue he will speak to this people,

12to whom he said, “This is rest; give rest to the weary; this is the place of repose,” but they would not listen.

13So the word of Yahweh will be to them command on command, command on command, line on line, line on line, a little here, a little there, so that they will go and fall backward, and be broken, snared, and captured.

14Therefore hear the word of Yahweh, you scoffers who rule this people 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 reach us, for we have made lies our refuge, and we have hidden ourselves in falsehood,”

16therefore this is what Lord Yahweh says: Look, I am laying in Zion a stone, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, a firm foundation; whoever believes will not panic.

17I will make justice the measuring line and righteousness the plumb line; hail will sweep away the refuge of lies, and waters will overflow the hiding place.

18Your covenant with death will be annulled, and your agreement with Sheol will not stand; when the overwhelming scourge passes through, you will be beaten down by it.

19As often as it passes through, it will take you; for morning after morning it will pass through, by day and by night. Understanding the message will bring sheer terror.

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

21For Yahweh will rise up as on Mount Perazim; he will rage as in the Valley of Gibeon, to do his deed—strange is his deed!—and to perform his work—alien is his work!

22So now, do not scoff, or your chains will be made heavier; for I have heard from Lord Yahweh of Armies of a destruction decreed against the whole land.

23Listen and hear my voice; pay attention and hear what I say.

24Does the plowman plow all day in order to sow? Does he keep on breaking up and harrowing his ground?

25When he has leveled its surface, does he not scatter dill and sow cumin, put wheat in rows and barley in its place, and spelt along its border?

26His God instructs him in the right way; he teaches him.

27Dill is not threshed with a threshing sledge, nor is a cartwheel rolled over cumin; dill is beaten out with a stick, and cumin with a rod.

28Grain for bread is crushed, but no one keeps threshing it forever; though he drives the wheel of his cart and his horses over it, he does not crush it.

29This also comes from Yahweh of Armies; he is wonderful in counsel and great in wisdom.