LEB ISA Chapter 28

Judgment against the Leaders of Ephraim

• and the withering flower of the glory of his beauty,

which is at the head of the rich valley,[fn] ones overcome[fn] with wine!

• 2 Look! The Lord has a mighty and strong one, like a rainstorm of hail, a wind storm of destruction,
• like a rainstorm of mighty overflowing waters,

he will put them to the earth with his hand.

• 3 The garland of the pride of the drunkards of Ephraim will be trampled[fn] by feet,

4 and the withering flower of the glory of its beauty which is at the head of the rich valley[fn] will be like its early fig before summer, which the one who sees it swallows[fn] while it is still in his hand.

• 5 In that day, Yahweh of hosts will become a garland of glory and a diadem of beauty to the remnant of his people,
• 6 and a spirit of justice to the one who sits over judgment, and strength to those who turn back the battle at the gate.
• 7 And these also stagger because of wine and stagger because of strong drink;
• priest and prophet stagger because of strong drink;
  • they are confused[fn] because of wine.
• They stagger because of strong drink;
  • they err in vision.
• They stagger in the rendering of a decision,
  • 8 for all the tables are full of disgusting vomit, with no place left .[fn]
  • 9 To whom will he teach knowledge, and to whom will he explain the message?
• Those who are weaned from milk,
  • those taken from the breast?
  • 10 For it is blah-blah upon blah-blah, blah-blah upon blah-blah,
• gah-gah upon gah-gah,
  • gah-gah upon gah-gah,[fn]
• a little here, a little there.

11 For he will speak with stammering[fn] and another tongue to this people,

• 12 to whom he has said,“This is rest; give rest to the weary;
  • and this is repose”; yet[fn] they were not willing to hear.
• 13 And to them the word of Yahweh will beblah-blah upon blah-blah
  • blah-blah upon blah-blah
• gah-gah upon gah-gah
  • gah-gah upon gah-gah,[fn]
• a little here, a little there,
• so that they may go and stumble backward
  • and be broken and ensnared and captured.

The Cornerstone of Zion

• 14 Therefore hear the word of Yahweh, men of mockery, rulers of these people in Jerusalem:
• 15 Because you have said,“We have made[fn] a covenant with death,
  • and we have made an agreement with Sheol.

The overwhelming flood, when it passes through, will not come to us,

• for we have made lies[fn] our refuge,
• and we have hidden ourselves in falsehood.”
• 16 Therefore the Lord Yahweh says this:“Look! I am laying a stone in Zion,
  • a tested[fn] stone,
• a precious cornerstone,
  • a founded foundation:

‘The one who trusts will not panic.’[fn]

• 17 And I will make justice the measuring line, and righteousness the plumb line;
• and hail will sweep away the refuge of lies,[fn]
  • and waters will flood over the hiding place.
  • 18 And your covenant with death will be annulled, and your agreement with Sheol will not stand;
• you will become a trampling place for the overwhelming flood when it passes through.
• 19 As often as it passes through ,[fn] it will take you, for morning by morning[fn] it will pass through,
  • in the day and in the night,

and understanding the message will be only terror.”

• 20 For the bed is too short to stretch out on ,[fn] and the covering is too narrow when wrapping oneself.
• 21 For Yahweh will rise up as at Mount Perazim; he will rave as in the valley at Gibeon
• to do his deed—his deed is strange—
  • and to work his work—his work is alien!
  • 22 And now you must not scoff, or your bonds will be strong,

for I have heard from the Lord, Yahweh of hosts:

• complete destruction
  • decreed upon all the land.

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