IsaiahChapter 28

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¹How terrible it will be for the proud crown of Ephraim's drunks!
How terrible for its fading flower of glorious beauty!
It sits on the hilltop above the rich valley.
It is the pride of those who are overcome by wine. ²Look, the Lord has someone who is strong and mighty.
He is like a hailstorm or a destroying storm.
He is like a pounding rain or a flood.
He will throw that crown down to the ground. ³The proud crown of Ephraim's drunks
will be trampled under feet. ⁴Its fading flower of beautiful glory
sits on the hilltop above the rich valley.
It will be like a fig that is ripe before the summer harvest.
Whoever sees it picks it
and swallows it right away. ⁵On that day the LORD of Hosts will be a glorious crown.
He will be a beautiful headband
for the few of his people who are left. ⁶He will give a spirit of justice to the one who sits as judge.
He will give strength to those who push back the attack at the gate. ⁷These also stagger from wine.
They stumble from beer.
Priests and prophets stagger from beer.
They are confused by wine.
They stumble because of beer.
They are mixed up in their visions.
They stumble when they make decisions. ⁸All their tables are covered with vomit.
There is not one clean place left. ⁹Who is he trying to teach?
Who is he explaining his message to?
To babies just finished drinking milk?
To babies just taken from the breast? ¹⁰For they hear:
"Rule on rule, rule on rule,
line on line, line on line,
a little here, a little there."a ¹¹So now God will speak to this people
with mocking lips and foreign languages. ¹²He had said to them,
"This is the place of rest.
Let the tired people rest.
This is the place of peace."
But they would not listen. ¹³So the word of the LORD to them will become:
"Rule on rule, rule on rule,
line on line, line on line,
a little here, a little there,"
so that they will go and fall backward.
They will be hurt and trapped and captured. ¹⁴So hear the word of the LORD,
you mockers who rule this people in Jerusalem. ¹⁵For you said, "We have made a covenant with death.
We have made a deal with the grave.
When the flooding disaster sweeps through,
it will not touch us,
because we have made lies our safe place.
We have made falsehood our hiding place."b ¹⁶So this is what the Lord GOD says:
"Look, I am laying a stone in Zion.
It is a tested stone,
a precious cornerstone,
a sure foundation.
The one who believes will never be shaken. ¹⁷I will make justice the measuring line.
I will make what is right the level.
Hail will sweep away your safe place of lies.
Water will flood your hiding place. ¹⁸Your covenant with death will be canceled.
Your deal with the grave will not stand.
When the flooding disaster sweeps through,
it will trample you down.c ¹⁹Every time it sweeps through, it will carry you away.
It will come morning after morning,
by day and by night."
When people understand this message,
it will bring them pure terror. ²⁰Yes, the bed is too short to stretch out on.
The blanket is too small to wrap around you. ²¹The LORD will rise up as he did at Mount Perazim.
He will stir himself up as he did in the Valley of Gibeon.
He will do his work, his strange work.
He will do his task, his troubling task. ²²So now, stop mocking,
or your chains will get heavier.
I have heard from the Lord GOD of Hosts
that he has ordered the whole land destroyed. ²³Listen and hear my voice.
Pay attention and hear what I say. ²⁴Does the farmer plow every day to get ready for planting?
Does he keep on breaking up and smoothing the soil? ²⁵When he has made the ground level,
doesn't he plant caraway and scatter cumin?
He plants wheat in rows and barley in its place.
He plants rye along its edges. ²⁶For his God shows him what to do.
God teaches him the right way. ²⁷Caraway is not threshed with a heavy sled.
A cart wheel is not rolled over cumin.
Caraway is beaten out with a stick.
Cumin is beaten out with a rod. ²⁸Grain for bread must be ground.
But it is not threshed forever.
The cart wheels may roll over it,
but the horses do not crush it. ²⁹This also comes from the LORD of Hosts.
His advice is wonderful,
and his wisdom is great.