Isaiah 28-29

Isaiah 28

¹Woe to the crown of pride of the drunkards of Ephraim, and to the fading flower of his glorious adornment, which is on the head of the fat valley of them that are overcome with wine.

²Behold, the Lord hath a mighty and strong one, as a storm of hail and a destroying tempest; as a storm of mighty waters overflowing, shall he cast down to the earth with might.

³The crown of pride of the drunkards of Ephraim shall be trodden under feet;

⁴and the fading flower of his glorious adornment which is on the head of the fat valley shall be like an early fig before the summer: as soon as he that seeth it perceiveth it, scarcely is it in his hand, he swalloweth it down.

⁵In that day will Jehovah of hosts be for a crown of glory, and for a diadem of beauty, unto the remnant of his people;

⁶and for a spirit of judgment to him that sitteth in judgment, and for strength to them that turn the battle to the gate.

⁷But these also have erred through wine, and through strong drink are they gone astray. The priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink; they are overpowered by wine, they are gone astray through strong drink; they have erred in vision, they have stumbled in judgment.

⁸For all tables are full of filthy vomit, so that there is no more place.

⁹Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand the report? Them that are weaned from the milk, withdrawn from the breasts?

¹⁰For it is precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, there a little. ...

¹¹For with stammering lips and a strange tongue will he speak to this people;

¹²to whom he said, This is the rest: cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing. But they would not hear.

¹³And the word of Jehovah was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little: that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.

¹⁴Therefore hear the word of Jehovah, ye scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem.

¹⁵For ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with Sheol have we made an 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.

¹⁶Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Behold, I lay for foundation in Zion a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner-stone, a sure foundation: he that trusteth shall not make haste.

¹⁷And I will appoint judgment for a line, and righteousness for a plummet; and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding-place.

¹⁸And your covenant with death shall be annulled, and your agreement with Sheol shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, ye shall be trodden down by it.

¹⁹As it passeth through it shall take you; for morning by morning shall it pass through, by day and by night; and it shall be terror only to understand the report.

²⁰For the bed is too short to stretch oneself on, and the covering too narrow when he would wrap himself in it.

²¹For Jehovah will rise up as on mount Perazim, he will be moved with anger as in the valley of Gibeon; that he may do his work, his strange work, and perform his act, his unwonted act.

²²Now therefore be ye not scorners, lest your bonds be made strong; for I have heard from the Lord Jehovah of hosts a consumption, and one determined, upon the whole land.

²³Give ear, and hear my voice; hearken, and hear my speech.

²⁴Doth the ploughman plough all day to sow? Is he all day opening and breaking the clods of his land?

²⁵Doth he not, when he hath levelled the face thereof, cast abroad dill, and scatter cummin, and set the wheat in rows, and the barley in an appointed place, and the rye in its border?

²⁶His God doth instruct him in his judgment, he doth teach him.

²⁷For the dill is not threshed with a threshing instrument, neither is a cart-wheel turned about upon the cummin; but dill is beaten out with a staff, and cummin with a rod.

²⁸Bread corn is crushed, because he will not ever be threshing it; and if he drove the wheels of his cart and his horses over it, he would not crush it.

²⁹This also cometh forth from Jehovah of hosts; he is wonderful in counsel, great in wisdom.

Isaiah 29

¹Woe to Ariel, to Ariel, the city of David's encampment! Add ye year to year; let the feasts come round.

²But I will distress Ariel, and there shall be sorrow and sadness; and it shall be unto me as an Ariel.

³And I will camp against thee round about, and will lay siege against thee with watch-posts, and I will raise forts against thee.

⁴And thou shalt be brought low, thou shalt speak out of the ground, and thy speech shall come low out of the dust, and thy voice shall be as of one that hath a familiar spirit, out of the ground, and thy speech shall whisper out of the dust.

⁵And the multitude of thine enemies shall be like small dust, and the multitude of the terrible ones as chaff that passeth away; and it shall be in an instant, suddenly.

⁶Thou shalt be visited by Jehovah of hosts with thunder and with earthquake and great noise, with whirlwind and tempest, and the flame of devouring fire.

⁷And the multitude of all the nations that war against Ariel, even all that war against her and her fortifications, and that distress her, shall be as a dream of a night vision.

⁸It shall even be as when the hungry dreameth, and, behold, he eateth; and he awaketh, and his soul is empty; or as when the thirsty dreameth, and, behold, he drinketh; and he awaketh, and, behold, he is faint, and his soul craveth: so shall the multitude of all the nations be that war against mount Zion.

⁹Be astounded and astonished, blind yourselves and be blind! They are drunken, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with strong drink.

¹⁰For Jehovah hath poured out upon you a spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes; the prophets and your chiefs, the seers, hath he covered.

¹¹And the whole vision is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which they give to one that can read, saying, Read this, I pray thee; and he saith, I cannot, for it is sealed.

¹²And they give the book to him that cannot read, saying, Read this, I pray thee; and he saith, I cannot read.

¹³And the Lord saith, Forasmuch as this people draw near with their mouth, and honour me with their lips, but their heart is removed far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment taught of men;

¹⁴therefore, behold, I will proceed to do marvellously with this people, to do marvellously, even with wonder, and the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their intelligent ones shall be hid.

¹⁵Woe unto them that hide deep, far from Jehovah, their counsel! And their works are in the dark, and they say, Who seeth us? and who knoweth us?

¹⁶Oh your perverseness! -- Shall the potter be esteemed as the clay, so that the work should say of him that made it, He made me not; or the thing formed say of him that formed it, He hath no understanding?

¹⁷Is it not yet a very little while, and Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall be esteemed as a forest?

¹⁸And in that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book, and, out of obscurity and out of darkness, the eyes of the blind shall see;

¹⁹and the meek shall increase their joy in Jehovah, and the needy among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.

²⁰For the terrible one shall come to nought, and the scorner shall be no more, and all that watch for iniquity shall be cut off,

²¹that make a man an offender for a word, and lay a snare for him that reproveth in the gate, and pervert the judgment of the righteous by futility.

²²Therefore thus saith Jehovah who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob: Jacob shall not now be ashamed, neither shall his face now be pale;

²³for when he seeth his children, the work of my hands, in the midst of him, they shall hallow my name, and hallow the Holy One of Jacob, and shall fear the God of Israel.

²⁴And they that are of erring spirit shall know understanding, and the disobedient shall learn doctrine.