Isaiah 28-29

Isaiah 28

¹Woe to the crown of pride of the drunkards of Ephraim, and to the fading flower of his glorious beauty, 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 tempest of hail, a destroying storm, as a tempest of mighty waters overflowing, shall he cast down to the earth with the hand.

³The crown of pride of the drunkards of Ephraim shall be trodden under foot:

⁴and the fading flower of his glorious beauty, which is on the head of the fat valley, shall be as the firstripe fig before the summer; which when he that looketh upon it seeth, while it is yet in his hand he eateth it up.

⁵In 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:

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

⁷But these also have erred through wine, and through strong drink are gone astray; the priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink, they are swallowed up of wine, they are gone astray through strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble in judgment.

⁸For all tables are full of vomit and filthiness, so that there is no place clean.

⁹Whom will he teach knowledge? and whom will he make to understand the message? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts?

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

¹¹Nay, but by men of strange lips and with another tongue will he speak to this people:

¹²to whom he said, This is the rest, give ye rest to him that is weary; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear.

¹³Therefore shall the word of the LORD be unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, there a little; that they may go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.

¹⁴Wherefore hear the word of the LORD, ye scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem:

¹⁵Because 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:

¹⁶therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone of sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.

¹⁷And I will make judgment the line, and righteousness the 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 disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it.

¹⁹As often as it passeth through, it shall take you; for morning by morning shall it pass through, by day and by night: and it shall be nought but terror to understand the message.

²⁰For 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.

²¹For 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.

²²Now therefore be ye not scorners, lest your bands be made strong: for a consummation, and that determined, have I heard from the Lord, the LORD of hosts, upon the whole earth.

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

²⁴Doth the plowman plow continually to sow? doth he continually open and break the clods of his ground?

²⁵When he hath made plain the face thereof, doth he not cast abroad the fitches, and scatter the cummin, and put in the wheat in rows and the barley in the appointed place and the spelt in the border thereof?

²⁶For his God doth instruct him aright, and doth teach him.

²⁷For the fitches are not threshed with a sharp 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.

²⁸Bread corn is ground; for he will not ever be threshing it: and though the wheel of his cart and his horses scatter it, he doth not grind it.

²⁹This also cometh forth from the LORD of hosts, which is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in wisdom.

Isaiah 29

¹Ho Ariel, Ariel, the city where David encamped! add ye year to year; let the feasts come round:

²then will I distress Ariel, and there shall be mourning and lamentation: and she shall be unto me as Ariel.

³And I will camp against thee round about, and will lay siege against thee with a fort, and I will raise siege works against thee.

⁴And thou shalt be brought down, and shalt speak out of the ground, and thy speech shall be 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.

⁵But the multitude of thy foes shall be like small dust, and the multitude of the terrible ones as chaff that passeth away: yea, it shall be at an instant suddenly.

⁶She shall be visited of the LORD of hosts with thunder, and with earthquake, and great noise, with whirlwind and tempest, and the flame of a devouring fire.

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

⁸And it shall be as when an hungry man dreameth, and, behold, he eateth; but he awaketh, and his soul is empty: or as when a thirsty man dreameth, and, behold, he drinketh; but he awaketh, and, behold, he is faint, and his soul hath appetite: so shall the multitude of all the nations be, that fight against mount Zion.

⁹Tarry ye and wonder, take your pleasure and be blind: they are drunken, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with strong drink.

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

¹¹And all vision is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I cannot, for it is sealed:

¹²and the book is delivered to him that is not learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I am not learned.

¹³And the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw nigh unto me, and with their mouth and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment of men which hath been taught them:

¹⁴therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvelous work among this people, even a marvelous work and a wonder: and the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid.

¹⁵Woe unto them that seek deep to hide their counsel from the LORD, and their works are in the dark, and they say, Who seeth us? and who knoweth us?

¹⁶Ye turn things upside down! Shall the potter be counted as clay; that the thing made should say of him that made it, He made me not; or the thing framed say of him that framed 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 counted for a forest?

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

¹⁹The meek also shall increase their joy in the LORD, and the poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.

²⁰For the terrible one is brought to nought, and the scorner ceaseth, and all they that watch for iniquity are cut off:

²¹that make a man an offender in a cause, and lay a snare for him that reproveth in the gate, and turn aside the just with a thing of nought.

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

²³But when he seeth his children, the work of mine hands, in the midst of him, they shall sanctify my name; yea, they shall sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and shall stand in awe of the God of Israel.

²⁴They also that err in spirit shall come to understanding, and they that murmur shall learn doctrine.