Bible-Reading.comIsaiah 28
1Woe to the majestic crown of Ephraim’s drunkards, to the fading flower of his glorious splendor, set on the summit above the fertile valley, the pride of those overcome by wine.
2Behold, the Lord has one who is strong and mighty. Like a hailstorm or destructive tempest, like a driving rain or flooding downpour, he will smash that crown to the ground.
3The majestic crown of Ephraim’s drunkards will be trampled underfoot.
4The fading flower of his beautiful splendor, set on the summit above the fertile valley, will be like a ripe fig before the summer harvest: Whoever sees it will take it in his hand and swallow it.
5On that day the LORD of Hosts will be a crown of glory, a diadem of splendor to the remnant of His people,
6a spirit of justice to him who sits in judgment, and a strength to those who repel the onslaught at the gate.
7These also stagger from wine and stumble from strong drink: Priests and prophets reel from strong drink and are befuddled by wine. They stumble because of strong drink, muddled in their visions and stumbling in their judgments.
8For all their tables are covered with vomit; there is not a place without filth.
9Whom is He trying to teach? To whom is He explaining His message? To infants just weaned from milk? To babies removed from the breast?
10For they hear: “Order on order, order on order, line on line, line on line; a little here, a little there.”
11Indeed, with mocking lips and foreign tongues, He will speak to this people
12to whom He has said: “This is the place of rest, let the weary rest; this is the place of repose.” But they would not listen.
13Then the word of the LORD to them will become: “Order on order, order on order, line on line, line on line; a little here, a little there,” so that they will go stumbling backward and will be injured, ensnared, and captured.
14Therefore hear the word of the LORD, O scoffers who rule this people in Jerusalem.
15For you said, “We have made a covenant with death; we have fashioned an agreement with Sheol. When the overwhelming scourge passes through it will not touch us, because we have made lies our refuge and falsehood our hiding place.”
16So this is what the Lord GOD says: “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; the one who believes will never be shaken.
17I will make justice the measuring line and righteousness the level. Hail will sweep away your refuge of lies, and water will flood your hiding place.
18Your covenant with death will be dissolved, and your agreement with Sheol will not stand. When the overwhelming scourge passes through, you will be trampled by it.
19As often as it passes through, it will carry you away; it will sweep through morning after morning, by day and by night.” The understanding of this message will bring sheer terror.
20Indeed, the bed is too short to stretch out on, and the blanket too small to wrap around you.
21For the LORD will rise up as at Mount Perazim. He will rouse Himself as in the Valley of Gibeon, to do His work, His strange work, and to perform His task, His disturbing task.
22So now, do not mock, or your shackles will become heavier. Indeed, I have heard from the Lord GOD of Hosts a decree of destruction against the whole land.
23Listen and hear my voice. Pay attention and hear what I say.
24Does the plowman plow for planting every day? Does he continuously loosen and harrow the soil?
25When he has leveled its surface, does he not sow caraway and scatter cumin? He plants wheat in rows and barley in plots, and rye within its border.
26For his God instructs and teaches him properly.
27Surely caraway is not threshed with a sledge, and the wheel of a cart is not rolled over the cumin. But caraway is beaten out with a stick, and cumin with a rod.
28Grain for bread must be ground, but it is not endlessly threshed. Though the wheels of the cart roll over it, the horses do not crush it.
29This also comes from the LORD of Hosts, who is wonderful in counsel and excellent in wisdom.
Isaiah 29
1Woe to you, O Ariel, the city of Ariel where David camped! Year upon year let your festivals recur.
2And I will constrain Ariel, and there will be mourning and lamentation; she will be like an altar hearth before Me.
3I will camp in a circle around you; I will besiege you with towers and set up siege works against you.
4You will be brought low, you will speak from the ground, and out of the dust your words will be muffled. Your voice will be like a spirit from the ground; your speech will whisper out of the dust.
5But your many foes will be like fine dust, the multitude of the ruthless like blowing chaff. Then suddenly, in an instant,
6you will be visited by the LORD of Hosts with thunder and earthquake and loud noise, with windstorm and tempest and consuming flame of fire.
7All the many nations going out to battle against Ariel— even all who war against her, laying siege and attacking her— will be like a dream, like a vision in the night,
8as when a hungry man dreams he is eating, then awakens still hungry; as when a thirsty man dreams he is drinking, then awakens faint and parched. So will it be for all the many nations who go to battle against Mount Zion.
9Stop and be astonished; blind yourselves and be sightless; be drunk, but not with wine; stagger, but not from strong drink.
10For the LORD has poured out on you a spirit of deep sleep. He has shut your eyes, O prophets; He has covered your heads, O seers.
11And the entire vision will be to you like the words sealed in a scroll. If it is handed to someone to read, he will say, “I cannot, because it is sealed.”
12Or if the scroll is handed to one unable to read, he will say, “I cannot read.”
13Therefore the Lord said: “These people draw near to Me with their mouths and honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me. Their worship of Me is but rules taught by men.
14Therefore I will again confound these people with wonder upon wonder. The wisdom of the wise will vanish, and the intelligence of the intelligent will be hidden.”
15Woe to those who dig deep to hide their plans from the LORD. In darkness they do their works and say, “Who sees us, and who will know?”
16You have turned things upside down, as if the potter were regarded as clay. Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, “He did not make me”? Can the pottery say of the potter, “He has no understanding”?
17In a very short time, will not Lebanon become an orchard, and the orchard seem like a forest?
18On that day the deaf will hear the words of the scroll, and out of the deep darkness the eyes of the blind will see.
19The humble will increase their joy in the LORD, and the poor among men will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.
20For the ruthless will vanish, the mockers will disappear, and all who look for evil will be cut down—
21those who indict a man with a word, who ensnare the mediator at the gate, and who with false charges deprive the innocent of justice.
22Therefore the LORD who redeemed Abraham says of the house of Jacob: “No longer will Jacob be ashamed and no more will his face grow pale.
23For when he sees his children around him, the work of My hands, they will honor My name, they will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and they will stand in awe of the God of Israel.
24Then the wayward in spirit will come to understanding, and those who grumble will accept instruction.”