Isaiah 28 :: English Standard Version (ESV)

Judgment on Ephraim and Jerusalem

Isa 28:1Ah, 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!

Isa 28:2

Isa 28:2Behold, 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.

Isa 28:3

Isa 28:3The proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim
will be trodden underfoot;

Isa 28:4

Isa 28:4and 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.

Isa 28:5

Isa 28:5In that day the LORD of hosts will be a crown of glory,[fn]
and a diadem of beauty, to the remnant of his people,

Isa 28:6

Isa 28:6and a spirit of justice to him who sits in judgment,
and strength to those who turn back the battle at the gate.

Isa 28:7

Isa 28:7These 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.

Isa 28:8

Isa 28:8For all tables are full of filthy vomit,
with no space left.

Isa 28:9

Isa 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?

Isa 28:10

Isa 28:10For it is precept upon precept, precept upon precept,
line upon line, line upon line,
here a little, there a little.”

Isa 28:11

Isa 28:11For by people of strange lips
and with a foreign tongue
the LORD will speak to this people,

Isa 28:12

Isa 28:12to whom he has said,
“This is rest;
give rest to the weary;
and this is repose”;
yet they would not hear.

Isa 28:13

Isa 28:13And 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

Isa 28:14

Isa 28:14Therefore hear the word of the LORD, you scoffers,
who rule this people in Jerusalem!

Isa 28:15

Isa 28:15Because 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”;

Isa 28:16

Isa 28:16therefore 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.’

Isa 28:17

Isa 28:17And 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.”

Isa 28:18

Isa 28:18Then 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.

Isa 28:19

Isa 28:19As 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.

Isa 28:20

Isa 28:20For the bed is too short to stretch oneself on,
and the covering too narrow to wrap oneself in.

Isa 28:21

Isa 28:21For 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!

Isa 28:22

Isa 28:22Now 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.

Isa 28:23

Isa 28:23Give ear, and hear my voice;
give attention, and hear my speech.

Isa 28:24

Isa 28:24Does he who plows for sowing plow continually?
Does he continually open and harrow his ground?

Isa 28:25

Isa 28:25When 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?

Isa 28:26

Isa 28:26For he is rightly instructed;
his God teaches him.

Isa 28:27

Isa 28:27Dill 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.

Isa 28:28

Isa 28:28Does 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.

Isa 28:29

Isa 28:29This also comes from the LORD of hosts;
he is wonderful in counsel
and excellent in wisdom.

See the ESV Preface (Especially for Parenthesis, Brackets, & Asterisks).

ESV Footnotes

(28:4)

Or fruit

(28:5)

The Hebrew words for glory and hosts sound alike

(28:7)

Or confused by

(28:16)

Dead Sea Scroll I am laying

(28:25)

A type of wheat

(28:28)

Or Grain is crushed for bread; he will surely thresh it, but not forever

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