Isaiah

The book of the prophet Isaiah, chapter 28, New English Translation and King James Version

Chapter 28 New English Translation

The LORD Will Judge Samaria

   1 The splendid crown of Ephraim's drunkards is doomed, the withering flower, its beautiful splendor, situated at the head of a rich valley, the crown of those overcome with wine.
   2 Look, the sovereign master sends a strong, powerful one. With the force of a hailstorm or a destructive windstorm, with the might of a driving, torrential rainstorm, he will knock that crown to the ground with his hand.
   3 The splendid crown of Ephraim's drunkards will be trampled underfoot.
   4 The withering flower, its beautiful splendor, situated at the head of a rich valley, will be like an early fig before harvest - as soon as someone notices it, he grabs it and swallows it.
   5 At that time the LORD who commands armies will become a beautiful crown and a splendid diadem for the remnant of his people.
   6 He will give discernment to the one who makes judicial decisions, and strength to those who defend the city from attackers.
   7 Even these men stagger because of wine, they stumble around because of beer - priests and prophets stagger because of beer, they are confused because of wine, they stumble around because of beer; they stagger while seeing prophetic visions, they totter while making legal decisions.
   8 Indeed, all the tables are covered with vomit; no place is untouched.
   9 Who is the LORD trying to teach? To whom is he explaining a message? Those just weaned from milk! Those just taken from their mother's breast!
   10 Indeed, they will hear meaningless gibberish, senseless babbling, a syllable here, a syllable there.
   11 For with mocking lips and a foreign tongue he will speak to these people.
   12 In the past he said to them, "This is where security can be found. Provide security for the one who is exhausted! This is where rest can be found." But they refused to listen.
   13 So the LORD's word to them will sound like meaningless gibberish, senseless babbling, a syllable here, a syllable there. As a result, they will fall on their backsides when they try to walk, and be injured, ensnared, and captured.

The LORD Will Judge Jerusalem

   14 Therefore, listen to the LORD's word, you who mock, you rulers of these people who reside in Jerusalem!
   15 For you say, "We have made a treaty with death, with Sheol we have made an agreement. When the overwhelming judgment sweeps by it will not reach us. For we have made a lie our refuge, we have hidden ourselves in a deceitful word."
   16 Therefore, this is what the sovereign master, the LORD, says: "Look, I am laying a stone in Zion, an approved stone, set in place as a precious cornerstone for the foundation. The one who maintains his faith will not panic.
   17 I will make justice the measuring line, fairness the plumb line; hail will sweep away the unreliable refuge, the floodwaters will overwhelm the hiding place.
   18 Your treaty with death will be dissolved; your agreement with Sheol will not last. When the overwhelming judgment sweeps by, you will be overrun by it.
   19 Whenever it sweeps by, it will overtake you; indeed, every morning it will sweep by, it will come through during the day and the night." When this announcement is understood, it will cause nothing but terror.
   20 For the bed is too short to stretch out on, and the blanket is too narrow to wrap around oneself.
   21 For the LORD will rise up, as he did at Mount Perazim, he will rouse himself, as he did in the Valley of Gibeon, to accomplish his work, his peculiar work, to perform his task, his strange task.
   22 So now, do not mock, or your chains will become heavier! For I have heard a message about decreed destruction, from the sovereign master, the LORD who commands armies, against the entire land.
   23 Pay attention and listen to my message! Be attentive and listen to what I have to say!
   24 Does a farmer just keep on plowing at planting time? Does he keep breaking up and harrowing his ground?
   25 Once he has leveled its surface, does he not scatter the seed of the caraway plant, sow the seed of the cumin plant, and plant the wheat, barley, and grain in their designated places?
   26 His God instructs him; he teaches him the principles of agriculture.
   27 Certainly caraway seed is not threshed with a sledge, nor is the wheel of a cart rolled over cumin seed. Certainly caraway seed is beaten with a stick, and cumin seed with a flail.
   28 Grain is crushed, though one certainly does not thresh it forever. The wheel of one's wagon rolls over it, but his horses do not crush it.
   29 This also comes from the LORD who commands armies, who gives supernatural guidance and imparts great wisdom.

King James Version

   1 Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, whose glorious beauty is a fading flower, which are on the head of the fat valleys of them that are overcome with wine!
   2 Behold, the Lord hath a mighty and strong one, which as a tempest of hail and a destroying storm, as a flood of mighty waters overflowing, shall cast down to the earth with the hand.
   3 The crown of pride, the drunkards of Ephraim, shall be trodden under feet:
   4 And the glorious beauty, which is on the head of the fat valley, shall be a fading flower, and as the hasty fruit before the summer; which when he that looketh upon it seeth, while it is yet in his hand he eateth it up.
   5 ¶ In that day shall the LORD of hosts be for a crown of glory, and for a diadem of beauty, unto the residue of his people,
   6 And for a spirit of judgment to him that sitteth in judgment, and for strength to them that turn the battle to the gate.
   7 ¶ But they also have erred through wine, and through strong drink are out of the way; the priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink, they are swallowed up of wine, they are out of the way through strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble in judgment.
   8 For all tables are full of vomit and filthiness, so that there is no place clean.
   9 ¶ Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts.
   10 For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little:
   11 For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people.
   12 To whom he said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear.
   13 But the word of the LORD was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little; that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.
   14 ¶ Wherefore hear the word of the LORD, ye scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem.
   15 Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves:
   16 ¶ Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.
   17 Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.
   18 ¶ And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it.
   19 From the time that it goeth forth it shall take you: for morning by morning shall it pass over, by day and by night: and it shall be a vexation only to understand the report.
   20 For the bed is shorter than that a man can stretch himself on it: and the covering narrower than that he can wrap himself in it.
   21 For the LORD shall rise up as in mount Perazim, he shall be wroth as in the valley of Gibeon, that he may do his work, his strange work; and bring to pass his act, his strange act.
   22 Now therefore be ye not mockers, lest your bands be made strong: for I have heard from the Lord GOD of hosts a consumption, even determined upon the whole earth.
   23 ¶ Give ye ear, and hear my voice; hearken, and hear my speech.
   24 Doth the plowman plow all day to sow? doth he open and break the clods of his ground?
   25 When he hath made plain the face thereof, doth he not cast abroad the fitches, and scatter the cummin, and cast in the principal wheat and the appointed barley and the rie in their place?
   26 For his God doth instruct him to discretion, and doth teach him.
   27 For the fitches are not threshed with a threshing instrument, neither is a cart wheel turned about upon the cummin; but the fitches are beaten out with a staff, and the cummin with a rod.
   28 Bread corn is bruised; because he will not ever be threshing it, nor break it with the wheel of his cart, nor bruise it with his horsemen.
   29 This also cometh forth from the LORD of hosts, which is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working.