Isaiah 28
1(p) AH! the crown of haughtiness! The mercenaries of Ephraim! That flower which hath fallen from the glory on the top of the fertile mountain! Ye who are drunk without wine!
2Behold the wrath of the Lord is a harsh and terrible thing. Like a tempest of hail furiously driven when there is no shelter, like a mighty deluge sweeping a country. In this land it will put a stop to the labour of hands;
3and with the feet shall be trampled down the crown of your pride, O mercenaries of Ephraim.
4And the flower which hath dropped from the hope of the Glory, on the top of the lofty mountain, shall be like the early fruit of a fig tree, which he who seeth it will wish to devour, before he can get it into his hand.
5In that day the Lord of Hosts will be the crown of hope—the diadem of glory to the remnant of the people.
6They shall be left for the spirit of Justice—to administer justice and destroy the power of the opposers. For by wine these were made transgressors;
7they were led astray by strong drink. Priest and prophet were stupefied with strong drink; they were gorged with wine—they were agitated by drunkenness; they reeled to and fro. This is oracling!
8A curse shall devour their counsel; for their counsel is for the sake of gain.
9To whom, [say they*] have we announced evils? And to whom have we announced a message—we who have been weaned from milk, we who have been withdrawn from the breasts?
10Expect affliction on affliction; hope on hope, yet a little while—yet a little while.
11On account of the mockery of their lips—because they will speak to this people with a strange tongue, saying to them,
12This is the rest for him who is hungry: and this is the destruction, but they would not hear.
13Therefore the oracle of God will be to them: Affliction on affliction; hope on hope, yet a little while, yet a little while, that they may proceed on and fall backwards; and they shall be broken and snared and caught.
14Therefore hear the word of the Lord, ye afflicted men, and ye rulers of this people in Jerusalem!
15Because you said, We have made a covenant with death: and with the grave we have made a treaty: though the furious tempest may pass through, it will by no means reach us. We have made falsehood our refuge and by this falsehood we shall be saved,—
16therefore thus saith the Sovereign Lord: Behold I lay for the foundation of Sion a stone of inestimable worth—a chosen, precious corner stone for the foundations of it, and he who believeth shall not be ashamed.
17And I will establish judgment for hope, and My mercy shall be for scales. But as for you who have vainly trusted in falsehood, that the tempest would not reach you;
18and that it would not break your treaty with death; the hope which you have with respect to the grave shall not last: when the furious tempest cometh, by it you shall be beaten down.
19When it cometh it will overtake you. Early, very early in the morning it will come, and at night your hope will be wretched.
20Learn to hear: We are straitened for room, we cannot fight. We are weakened by Your pressing upon us.
21Like a mountain of wicked men the Lord will rise up; and He will be in the valley of Gabaon. With wrath He will execute His work—a work of bitterness; and His wrath will attack in a strange manner; and its severity will be unusual.
22As for you therefore, be not filled with joy, yet let not your bonds gather strength. For the things are complete and decisive which I have heard from the Lord of Hosts—which He will execute on all this land.
23Listen and hear my voice; attend and hearken to these words of mine.
24Will the ploughman plough the whole day? Or prepare seed before he hath tilled the ground?
25Doth he not, when he hath levelled the face of the soil, then sow the small dill or cummin? and again sow wheat and barley and millet and rye in all thy borders?
26So thou shalt be corrected by the judgment of God; and be made glad.
27For the dill is not cleaned with a corn drag; nor is the wheel of a wain to turn round on the cummin; but with a rod are beaten out the dill and the cummin.
28(J) Yet with bread they will be eaten. For I, The I Am, will not be angry with you forever, nor shall the voice of My severity destroy you. These wonders have indeed proceeded from the Lord of Hosts.