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Isaiah 28 :: New American Standard Bible 1995 (NASB95)

Ephraim's Captivity Predicted

Isa 28:1Woe to the proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim,
And to the fading flower of its glorious beauty,
Which is at the head of the [fn]fertile valley
Of those who are [fn]overcome with wine!
Isa 28:2Behold, the Lord has a strong and mighty agent;
As a storm of hail, a tempest of destruction,
Like a storm of mighty overflowing waters,
He has cast it down to the earth with His hand.
Isa 28:3The proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim is trodden under foot.
Isa 28:4And the fading flower of its glorious beauty,
Which is at the head of the [fn]fertile valley,
Will be like the first-ripe fig prior to summer,
Which [fn]one sees,
And [fn]as soon as it is in his [fn]hand,
He swallows it.
Isa 28:5In that day the LORD of hosts will become a beautiful crown
And a glorious diadem to the remnant of His people;
Isa 28:6A spirit of justice for him who sits in judgment,
A strength to those who repel the [fn]onslaught at the gate.
Isa 28:7And these also reel with wine and stagger from strong drink:
The priest and the prophet reel with strong drink,
They are confused by wine, they stagger from strong drink;
They reel while [fn]having visions,
They totter when rendering judgment.
Isa 28:8For all the tables are full of filthy vomit, without a single clean place.
Isa 28:9“To whom would He teach knowledge,
And to whom would He interpret the message?
Those just weaned from milk?
Those just taken from the breast?
Isa 28:10“For He says,
[fn]Order on order, order on order,
Line on line, line on line,
A little here, a little there.’”
Isa 28:11Indeed, He will speak to this people
Through stammering lips and a foreign tongue,
Isa 28:12He who said to them, “Here is rest, give rest to the weary,”
And, “Here is repose,” but they would not listen.
Isa 28:13So the word of the LORD to them will be,
[fn]Order on order, order on order,
Line on line, line on line,
A little here, a little there,”
That they may go and stumble backward, be broken, snared and taken captive.

Judah Is Warned

Isa 28:14Therefore, hear the word of the LORD, O scoffers,
Who rule this people who are in Jerusalem,
Isa 28:15Because you have said, “We have made a covenant with death,
And with [fn]Sheol we have made a [fn]pact.
The overwhelming [fn]scourge will not reach us when it passes by,
For we have made falsehood our refuge and we have concealed ourselves with deception.”
Isa 28:16Therefore thus says the Lord [fn]GOD,
“Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a tested stone,
A costly cornerstone for the foundation, [fn]firmly placed.
He who believes in it will not be [fn]disturbed.
Isa 28:17“I will make justice the measuring line
And righteousness the level;
Then hail will sweep away the refuge of lies
And the waters will overflow the secret place.
Isa 28:18“Your covenant with death will be [fn]canceled,
And your pact with Sheol will not stand;
When the overwhelming scourge passes through,
Then you become its trampling place.
Isa 28:19“As often as it passes through, it will [fn]seize you;
For morning after morning it will pass through, anytime during the day or night,
And it will be [fn]sheer terror to understand [fn]what it means.”
Isa 28:20The bed is too short on which to stretch out,
And the blanket is too [fn]small to wrap oneself in.
Isa 28:21For the LORD will rise up as at Mount Perazim,
He will be stirred up as in the valley of Gibeon,
To do His task, His [fn]unusual task,
And to work His work, His [fn]extraordinary work.
Isa 28:22And now do not carry on as scoffers,
Or your fetters will be made stronger;
For I have heard from the Lord [fn]GOD of hosts
Of decisive destruction on all the earth.
Isa 28:23Give ear and hear my voice,
Listen and hear my words.
Isa 28:24Does the [fn]farmer plow [fn]continually to plant seed?
Does he continually [fn]turn and harrow the ground?
Isa 28:25Does he not level its surface
And sow dill and scatter cummin
And [fn]plant wheat in rows,
Barley in its place and rye within its [fn]area?
Isa 28:26For his God instructs and teaches him properly.
Isa 28:27For dill is not threshed with a threshing sledge,
Nor is the cartwheel [fn]driven over cummin;
But dill is beaten out with a rod, and cummin with a club.
Isa 28:28Grain for bread is crushed,
Indeed, he does not continue to thresh it forever.
Because the wheel of his cart and his horses eventually [fn]damage it,
He does not thresh it longer.
Isa 28:29This also comes from the LORD of hosts,
Who has made His counsel wonderful and His wisdom great.
NASB95 Footnotes
Literally: valley of fatness
Literally: smitten
Literally: valley of fatness
Literally: the one seeing sees
Literally: while it is yet
Literally: palm
Literally: battle
Literally: seeing
Hebrew: Sav lasav, sav lasav, Kav lakav, kav lakav, Ze' er sham, ze' er sham These Hebrew monosyllables, imitating the babbling of a child, mock the prophet's preaching
V 10, note 1 The LORD responds to their scoffing by imitating their mockery, to represent the unintelligible language of a conqueror
I.e. the nether world
So some ancient versions; Heb seer
Or, flood
Hebrew: YHWH, usually rendered LORD
Literally: well-laid
Literally: in a hurry
Literally: covered over
Literally: take
Literally: only
Literally: the report, or, the message
Literally: narrow
Literally: task is strange
Literally: work is alien
Hebrew: YHWH, usually rendered LORD
Literally: plowman
Literally: all day
Literally: open
Literally: put
Literally: region
Literally: rolled
Literally: discomfit
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New American Standard Bible 1995
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Isaiah Chapter 28 — Additional Translations: