Isaiah / Woe to Ephraim and Judah: Drunkenness and Judgment

Woe to Ephraim and Judah: Drunkenness and Judgment

Isaiah 28:1-29

Chapter 28

¹ Alas for the crown of pride, the drunkards of Ephraim, and the blossom of the withering glory of his splendor, which is on the head of the valley of fat ones, beaten by wine. ² Behold, a strong and mighty one comes for my lords, like a stream of hail, a sweeping ruin of frost, like a stream of mighty waters overflowing. He will grant the land in hand. ³ They will trample the crown of the pride of the drunkards of Ephraim with their feet. ⁴ And the blossom of the withering one, his splendor of glory, which is on the head of the valley of fat ones, will be like the first-ripe fruit of the firstborn before summer—which the one seeing it sees it while it is still in his palm; they will swallow it. ⁵ In that day the LORD of hosts will be a crown of splendor and a diadem of glory to the remnant of his people. ⁶ And for the spirit of justice to the one sitting in judgment, and for might to those who turn back the battle to the gate. ⁷ And God also has gone astray in wine and has wandered in strong drink; priest and prophet have gone astray in strong drink, they have been swallowed by the wine, they have wandered from the strong drink, they have gone astray in vision, they have stumbled in judgment. ⁸ For all the tables are full of vomit and spew, with no clean place. ⁹ Whom will he teach knowledge, and whom will he make understand the report—weaned from fat portions, ancients from breasts? ¹⁰ For command upon command, command upon command, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little. ¹¹ For with stammering lips and a foreign tongue he will speak to this people. ¹² which he said to them, "This is the rest; give rest to the weary, and this is the repose." But they were not willing to hear. ¹³ And the word of the LORD will be to them: rule upon rule, rule upon rule, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little, so that they go and stumble backward and are broken and snared and captured. ¹⁴ Therefore hear the word of the LORD, you scoffers who rule this people in Jerusalem. ¹⁵ Because you said, "We have cut a covenant with Death, and with Sheol we have made a vision. Overflowing scourge—for when it passes, it will not come to us; for we have set a lie as our refuge, and in falsehood we have hidden." ¹⁶ Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: "Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a tested cornerstone, precious foundation stone; the one who believes will not hasten." ¹⁷ And I will set justice as the line and righteousness as the plummet, and hail will be a destroying refuge of lies, and waters will sweep away the hiding place. ¹⁸ And he will annul your covenant with Death and your visions with Sheol; it will not stand. When the overflowing scourge passes through, then you will be trampled by it. ¹⁹ From every passing it will take you all, for morning by morning it will pass, by day and by night, and it will be only terror to understand the report. ²⁰ For the bed is too short to lie down on, and the covering is too narrow when one gathers it up. ²¹ For the LORD will arise as in the mountain of Perazim, he will rage as in the valley in Gibeon, to do his deed—strange his deed, and to work his work—foreign his work. ²² And now, do not mock, or your bonds will be strengthened. For I have heard from the Lord GOD of hosts a consummation and a decreed end upon the whole land. ²³ Listen and hear my voice; listen and hear my words. ²⁴ Does the plowman plow all day to sow? Does he open and harrow his ground? ²⁵ Is it not that when he levels its surface and scatters cumin and caraway, he throws and places wheat in rows and barley in designated plots, and rye as his territorial boundary? ²⁶ They were disciplined for justice; their God instructs them. ²⁷ For cumin is not threshed with a threshing sledge, nor is a cart wheel turned over cumin; but cumin is beaten with a staff, and cumin with a rod. ²⁸ He will thresh bread, for I will not thresh it forever, and he will crush it—the wheel of his cart and his judicial decisions—they will not thresh it. ²⁹ This also has come from the LORD of hosts. He wonderfully did counsel; he greatly did sound wisdom.