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The Blue Letter Bible

Isaiah 28 :: English Standard Version (ESV)

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Judgment on Ephraim and Jerusalem

Unchecked Copy BoxIsa 28:1 - Ah, the proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim,
and the fading flower of its glorious beauty,
which is on the head of the rich valley of those overcome with wine!
Unchecked Copy BoxIsa 28:2 - Behold, the Lord has one who is mighty and strong;
like a storm of hail, a destroying tempest,
like a storm of mighty, overflowing waters,
he casts down to the earth with his hand.
Unchecked Copy BoxIsa 28:3 - The proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim
will be trodden underfoot;
Unchecked Copy BoxIsa 28:4 - and the fading flower of its glorious beauty,
which is on the head of the rich valley,
will be like a first-ripe fig[fn] before the summer:
when someone sees it, he swallows it
as soon as it is in his hand.
Unchecked Copy BoxIsa 28:5 - In that day the LORD of hosts will be a crown of glory,[fn]
and a diadem of beauty, to the remnant of his people,
Unchecked Copy BoxIsa 28:6 - and a spirit of justice to him who sits in judgment,
and strength to those who turn back the battle at the gate.
Unchecked Copy BoxIsa 28:7 - These also reel with wine
and stagger with strong drink;
the priest and the prophet reel with strong drink,
they are swallowed by[fn] wine,
they stagger with strong drink,
they reel in vision,
they stumble in giving judgment.
Unchecked Copy BoxIsa 28:8 - For all tables are full of filthy vomit,
with no space left.
Unchecked Copy BoxIsa 28:9 - “To whom will he teach knowledge,
and to whom will he explain the message?
Those who are weaned from the milk,
those taken from the breast?
Unchecked Copy BoxIsa 28:10 - For it is precept upon precept, precept upon precept,
line upon line, line upon line,
here a little, there a little.”
Unchecked Copy BoxIsa 28:11 - For by people of strange lips
and with a foreign tongue
the LORD will speak to this people,
Unchecked Copy BoxIsa 28:12 - to whom he has said,
“This is rest;
give rest to the weary;
and this is repose”;
yet they would not hear.
Unchecked Copy BoxIsa 28:13 - And the word of the LORD will be to 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.

A Cornerstone in Zion

Unchecked Copy BoxIsa 28:14 - Therefore hear the word of the LORD, you scoffers,
who rule this people in Jerusalem!
Unchecked Copy BoxIsa 28:15 - Because you have said, “We have made a covenant with death,
and with Sheol we have an agreement,
when the overwhelming whip passes through
it will not come to us,
for we have made lies our refuge,
and in falsehood we have taken shelter”;
Unchecked Copy BoxIsa 28:16 - therefore thus says the Lord GOD,
“Behold, I am the one who has laid[fn] as a foundation in Zion,
a stone, a tested stone,
a precious cornerstone, of a sure foundation:
‘Whoever believes will not be in haste.’
Unchecked Copy BoxIsa 28:17 - And I will make justice the line,
and righteousness the plumb line;
and hail will sweep away the refuge of lies,
and waters will overwhelm the shelter.”
Unchecked Copy BoxIsa 28:18 - Then your covenant with death will be annulled,
and your agreement with Sheol will not stand;
when the overwhelming scourge passes through,
you will be beaten down by it.
Unchecked Copy BoxIsa 28:19 - As often as it passes through it will take you;
for morning by morning it will pass through,
by day and by night;
and it will be sheer terror to understand the message.
Unchecked Copy BoxIsa 28:20 - For the bed is too short to stretch oneself on,
and the covering too narrow to wrap oneself in.
Unchecked Copy BoxIsa 28:21 - For the LORD will rise up as on Mount Perazim;
as in the Valley of Gibeon he will be roused;
to do his deed—strange is his deed!
and to work his work—alien is his work!
Unchecked Copy BoxIsa 28:22 - Now therefore do not scoff,
lest your bonds be made strong;
for I have heard a decree of destruction
from the Lord GOD of hosts against the whole land.
Unchecked Copy BoxIsa 28:23 - Give ear, and hear my voice;
give attention, and hear my speech.
Unchecked Copy BoxIsa 28:24 - Does he who plows for sowing plow continually?
Does he continually open and harrow his ground?
Unchecked Copy BoxIsa 28:25 - When he has leveled its surface,
does he not scatter dill, sow cumin,
and put in wheat in rows
and barley in its proper place,
and emmer[fn] as the border?
Unchecked Copy BoxIsa 28:26 - For he is rightly instructed;
his God teaches him.
Unchecked Copy BoxIsa 28:27 - Dill is not threshed with a threshing sledge,
nor is a cart wheel rolled over cumin,
but dill is beaten out with a stick,
and cumin with a rod.
Unchecked Copy BoxIsa 28:28 - Does one crush grain for bread?
No, he does not thresh it forever;[fn]
when he drives his cart wheel over it
with his horses, he does not crush it.
Unchecked Copy BoxIsa 28:29 - This also comes from the LORD of hosts;
he is wonderful in counsel
and excellent in wisdom.
ESV Footnotes
Or fruit
The Hebrew words for glory and hosts sound alike
Or confused by
Dead Sea Scroll I am laying
A type of wheat
Or Grain is crushed for bread; he will surely thresh it, but not forever
ESV

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version copyright © 2001, 2007, 2011, 2016 by Crossway Books and Bibles, a Publishing Ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

See detailed copyright information.

For more information on this translation, see the ESV Preface.

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Isaiah Chapter 28 — Additional Translations: