Fluent Translation · Read & Reflect
Isaiah 28
Woe to Ephraim and Jerusalem
Woe to the proud crown of Ephraim’s drunkards,
the fading flower of its glorious beauty,
set above a fertile valley—
to those struck down by wine!
Look! The Lord has someone strong and mighty.
Like a hailstorm, a destructive tempest,
like a torrent of mighty, flooding waters,
he will hurl it to the ground with his hand.
The proud crown of Ephraim’s drunkards
will be trampled underfoot.
That fading flower of glorious beauty,
set above a fertile valley,
will be like an early fig before summer:
whoever sees it swallows it
as soon as it reaches the hand.
On that day the LORD of hosts
will be a beautiful crown, a glorious wreath,
for the remnant of his people,
a spirit of justice for the one who sits in judgment,
and strength for those who turn battle back at the gate.
These too reel from wine and stagger from strong drink:
priest and prophet reel from strong drink,
swallowed by wine, staggering from strong drink.
They reel in their visions and stumble in judgment.
Every table is covered with vomit and filth;
no spot is clean.
“Whom is he teaching knowledge?
To whom is he explaining the message?
Children just weaned from milk,
just taken from the breast?
For it is rule upon rule, rule upon rule,
line upon line, line upon line,
a little here, a little there!”
Indeed, with stammering lips and another tongue
he will speak to this people,
to whom he said, “This is rest; let the weary rest.
This is refreshment.”
But they refused to listen.
So the LORD’s word will become for them
rule upon rule, rule upon rule,
line upon line, line upon line,
a little here, a little there—
so they go and stumble backward,
are broken, snared, and captured.
Therefore hear the LORD’s word, you mockers
who rule this people in Jerusalem.
You say, “We have made a covenant with death,
an agreement with Sheol.
When the sweeping scourge passes through, it will not reach us,
for we have made lies our shelter
and hidden ourselves in falsehood.”
So the Lord GOD says:
“Look, I am laying a stone in Zion,
a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, a firm foundation.
Whoever trusts will not rush in panic.
I will make justice the measuring line
and righteousness the plumb line.
Hail will sweep away the shelter of lies;
water will flood the hiding place.
Your covenant with death will be annulled;
your agreement with Sheol will not stand.
When the sweeping scourge passes through,
you will be trampled beneath it.
Every time it passes through, it will take you.
Morning after morning it will pass through, by day and by night.
Understanding the message will bring sheer terror.”
The bed is too short to stretch out on;
the blanket too narrow to wrap yourself in.
The LORD will rise as at Mount Perazim,
will rage as in Gibeon’s valley,
to do his deed—his strange deed,
to perform his work—his foreign work.
Now stop mocking, lest your bonds grow tighter.
For I have heard from the Lord GOD of hosts
of destruction decreed against all the earth.
Listen closely to my voice;
pay attention and hear what I say.
Does a plowman plow all day to sow,
continually opening and harrowing his soil?
Once he has leveled its surface, does he not scatter black cumin,
sow cumin, plant wheat in rows,
barley in its place, and spelt along the edge?
His God instructs him in the right way
and teaches him.
Black cumin is not threshed with a threshing sledge,
nor is a cartwheel rolled over cumin.
Black cumin is beaten with a stick,
and cumin with a rod.
Grain for bread is crushed,
but one does not thresh it forever.
He drives his cartwheel and horses over it
without grinding it to pieces.
This too comes from the LORD of hosts,
wonderful in counsel, great in resourcefulness.