Isaiah 28
1 Terrible things will happen to [Samaria city, the capital of Israel]! It is on a hill above a fertile valley; the people who live there, who get drunk by drinking too much wine, are very proud; it is a beautiful and glorious city, but some day that beauty will disappear like [MET] a flower that wilts and dries up.
Woe to the crown of pride of the drunkards of Ephraim, and to the fading flower of his glorious beauty, which is on the head of the fat valley of them that are smitten down with wine!
2 Listen to this: Yahweh will cause a great army to attack Samaria. Their soldiers will be like [SIM] a huge hailstorm [or] a very strong wind; they will be everywhere, like the water of a huge flood, and they will smash to the ground [the buildings in Samaria].
Behold, the Lord hath a mighty and strong one, as a storm of hail, a tempest of destruction, as a storm of mighty waters overflowing, that casteth down to the earth with violence.
3 The people of Samaria are proud, but everything that the drunks who live there think is wonderful/glorious will be trampled on by their enemies.
The crown of pride of the drunkards of Ephraim shall be trodden under foot;
4 [Yes], Samaria is beautiful, set on a hill above a fertile valley, but that beauty will disappear like [MET] a flower that wilts and dries up. Whenever someone sees a good fig at the beginning of the season [when figs become ripe], he quickly picks and eats it; [similarly, when the enemies of Israel see all the beautiful things in Samaria], [they will quickly conquer the city and take away all those things].
And the fading flower of his glorious beauty, which is on the head of the fat valley, shall be as the first-ripe fig before the summer, which when one looketh upon it, while it is yet in his hand he eateth it up.
5 At that time, the Commander of the armies of angels will be [like] a glorious wreath of flowers for [us] Israeli people who are still alive [after being exiled].
In that day shall the LORD of hosts be for a crown of glory, and for a diadem of beauty, unto the residue of His people;
6 He will cause our judges to want to do what is fair/just when they decide people’s cases. He will enable the soldiers who stand at the city gates to strongly defend [the city when our enemies attack it].
And for a spirit of judgment to him that sitteth in judgment, and for strength to them that turn back the battle at the gate.
7 [But now, ] our leaders stagger/stumble because they have drunk a lot of wine and [other] alcoholic drinks. The priests and prophets also stagger because of drinking a lot of wine and other alcoholic drinks. They are not able to think right; they see visions but they cannot understand what they mean; they are unable to decide things correctly.
But these also reel through wine, and stagger through strong drink; the priest and the prophet reel through strong drink, they are confused because of wine, they stagger because of strong drink; they reel in vision, they totter in judgment.
8 All their tables are covered with [their] vomit; filth is everywhere.
For all tables are full of filthy vomit, and no place is clean.
9 They ridicule Yahweh saying, “Who does he think that he is teaching? Why is he talking to us like this? [Does he think that] we are little children who have recently been weaned?
Whom shall one teach knowledge? And whom shall one make to understand the message? Them that are weaned from the milk, them that are drawn from the breasts?
10 [He continually tells us], ‘Do this, do that;’ first he tells us one rule, then another rule, he tells us only one line at a time.”
For it is precept by precept, precept by precept, line by line, line by line; here a little, there a little.
11 So now, Yahweh will need to force them to listen to [Assyrians] speaking to them in a language that they do not understand.
For with stammering lips and with a strange tongue shall it be spoken to this people;
12 Yahweh told his people [long ago], “[This is] a place where you can rest; you are exhausted [from all your travels through the desert], but you will be able to rest [in this land].” But they refused to pay attention to what he said.
To whom it was said: 'This is the rest, give ye rest to the weary; and this is the refreshing'; yet they would not hear.
13 So Yahweh continues to tell the people of Samaria, one line at a time, “Do this, do that,” first one rule and then another rule. But because [of their ignoring what God said], they will be attacked and defeated; they will be wounded and snared and captured.
And so the word of the LORD is unto them precept by precept, precept by precept, line by line, line by line; here a little, there a little; that they may go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.
14 Because of [what will happen in Samaria], you rulers in Jerusalem who make fun of me, listen to this message from Yahweh:
Wherefore hear the word of the LORD, ye scoffers, the ballad-mongers of this people which is in Jerusalem:
15 You [boast] saying, “We have made an alliance with [the leaders of Egypt], so we will not be killed [in battles]; we will never go to the place where the dead people are. When the [army of Assyria] attacks us, they will never defeat us, because we have made [an agreement with Egypt] to protect us!” [But that agreement consists of] a lot of lies [DOU]. (Sheol h7585)
Because ye have said: 'We have made a covenant with death, and with the nether-world are we at agreement; when the scouring scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us; for we have made lies our refuge, and in falsehood have we hid ourselves'; (Sheol h7585)
16 Therefore, Yahweh [our] Lord says this: “Listen to this! I am going to place in Jerusalem [someone who is like] [MET] a foundation stone, [he is like] a stone that has been tested [to determine if it is solid]. [He will be like] a valuable cornerstone around which it will be safe to build a house; and whoever trusts in him will never be disappointed.
Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD: Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a costly corner-stone of sure foundation; he that believeth shall not make haste.
17 I will test you [people of Jerusalem] to find out if you will act justly and righteously [like] [MET] someone uses a plumb line [to determine if a wall is straight and vertical]. But because your agreement [with Egypt] to protect you [was made by leaders] lying to each other and deceiving each other, you will be defeated and taken away [from your country] by [an army that will come against you like] [MET] a flood.
And I will make justice the line, and righteousness the plummet; and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding-place.
18 I will annul/destroy the agreement that you made [with the leaders of Egypt]. You thought that [because of that agreement] you would not be killed, and you would not go to the place where the dead are. [But] when the vast [army of Assyria] overwhelms you like a flood, they will trample you into the ground. (Sheol h7585)
And your covenant with death shall be disannulled and your agreement with the nether-world shall not stand; when the scouring scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it, (Sheol h7585)
19 Their soldiers will come during the morning, at noontime, and at night, and they will carry you all away.” And when you understand this message, you will be terrified.
As often as it passeth through, it shall take you; for morning by morning shall it pass through, by day and by night; and it shall be sheer terror to understand the message.
20 [You have heard people say], “Your bed is very short, you will not be able to sleep in it; your blankets are very narrow; they will not cover you!” [That means for you that your agreement with Egypt is not going to save you].
For the bed is too short for a man to stretch himself; and the covering too narrow when he gathereth himself up.
21 Yahweh will come [and cause you to be defeated]; he will do to you like he did to the army of Philistia at Perizim Mountain and like he did to the Amor people-group at Gibeon Valley. What he will do will be [very] strange and unusual [DOU].
For the LORD will rise up as in mount Perazim, He will be wroth as in the valley of Gibeon; that He may do His work, strange is His work, and bring to pass His act, strange is His act.
22 The Commander of the armies of angels has told me that he is going to destroy the entire land. So do not ridicule [what I say any more], because if you do that he will punish you [even] more severely.
Now therefore be ye not scoffers, lest your bands be made strong; for an extermination wholly determined have I heard from the Lord, the GOD of hosts, upon the whole land.
23 Listen [IDM] to what I say; pay attention carefully.
Give ye ear, and hear my voice; attend, and hear my speech.
24 When a farmer plows some ground, does he never plant seeds [RHQ]? Does he continue to plow it and never plant anything [RHQ]?
Is the plowman never done with plowing to sow, with the opening and harrowing of his ground?
25 No, he makes the ground very level, and then he plants seeds— dill and cumin and wheat and barley. He plants each kind of seed in the correct manner.
When he hath made plain the face thereof, doth he not cast abroad the black cummin, and scatter the cummin, and put in the wheat in rows and the barley in the appointed place and the spelt in the border thereof?
26 [He does that] because God has taught him the correct way to do it.
For He doth instruct him aright; his God doth teach him.
27 [Farmers] never thresh caraway/dill with a heavy sledge/club; instead, they beat it only with a stick. [Farmers] never thresh cumin by driving a cart over it; instead, they hit it [only] with a rod.
For the black cummin is not threshed with a threshing-sledge, neither is a cart-wheel turned about upon the cummin; but the black cummin is beaten out with a staff, and the cummin with a rod.
28 And grain for baking bread is crushed easily, so the farmers do not continue to pound it for a long time. They sometimes cause their horses to pull a cart over it [to thresh it], [but] doing that does not grind the grain.
Is bread corn crushed? Nay, he will not ever be threshing it; and though the roller of his wagon and its sharp edges move noisily, he doth not crush it.
29 The Commander of the armies of angels gives [us] wonderful advice [about how to do things]; he causes [us] to be very wise. [So what the farmers do is very smart/wise, but what your leaders are doing is very stupid].
This also cometh forth from the LORD of hosts: Wonderful is His counsel, and great His wisdom.
