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, the hirelings of Ephraim, the flower that has fallen from the glory of the top of the fertile mountain, they that are drunken without 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 anger of the Lord is strong and severe, as descending hail where there is no shelter, violently descending; as a great body of water sweeping away the soil, he shall make rest for the land.
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, the hirelings of Ephraim, shall be beaten down with the hands and with the feet.
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 the glorious hope on the top of the high mountain shall be as the early fig; he that sees it, before he takes it into his hand, will desire to swallow it down.
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 the Lord of hosts shall be the crown of hope, the woven [crown] of glory, to the remnant of the 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].
They shall be left in the spirit of judgment for judgment, and for the strength of them that hinder slaying.
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.
For these have trespassed through wine; they have erred through strong drink: the priest and the prophet are mad through strong drink, they are swallowed up by reason of wine, they have staggered through drunkenness; they have erred: this is [their] vision.
8 All their tables are covered with [their] vomit; filth is everywhere.
A curse shall devour this counsel, for this [is their] counsel for the sake of covetousness.
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?
To whom have we reported evils? and to whom have we reported a message? [even to those] that are weaned from the milk, who are drawn from the breast.
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.”
Expect you affliction on affliction, hope upon hope: yet a little, [and] yet 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.
by reason of the contemptuous [words] of the lips, by means of another language: for they shall speak to this people, saying to them,
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.
This is the rest to him that is hungry, and this is the calamity: but 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.
Therefore the oracle of God shall be to them affliction on affliction, hope on hope, yet a little, [and] yet a little, that they may go and fall backward; and they shall be crushed and shall be in danger, and shall be taken.
14 Because of [what will happen in Samaria], you rulers in Jerusalem who make fun of me, listen to this message from Yahweh:
Therefore hear you the word of the Lord, you afflicted men, and you princes of this people that 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 you have said, We have made a covenant with Hades, and agreements with death; if the rushing storm should pass, it shall not come upon us: we have made falsehood our hope, and by falsehood shall we be protected: (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 says the Lord, [even] the Lord, Behold, I lay for the foundations of Sion a costly stone, a choice, a corner-stone, a precious [stone], for its foundations; and he that believes [on him] shall by no means be ashamed.
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 cause judgment [to be] for hope, and my compassion shall be for [just] measures, and you that trust vainly in falsehood [shall fall]: for the storm shall by no means pass by you,
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)
except it also take away your covenant of death, and your trust in Hades shall by no means stand: if the rushing storm should come upon you, you shall be beaten 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.
Whenever it shall pass by, it shall take you; morning by morning it shall pass by in the day, and in the night there shall be an evil hope. Learn to hear,
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].
you that are distressed; we can’t fight, but we are ourselves too weak for you to be gathered.
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].
The Lord shall rise up as a mountain of ungodly [men], and shall be in the valley of Gabaon; he shall perform his works with wrath, [even] a work of bitterness, and his wrath shall deal strangely, and his destruction shall be strange.
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.
Therefore do not you rejoice, neither let your bands be made strong; for I have heard of works finished and cut short by the Lord of hosts, which he will execute upon all the earth.
23 Listen [IDM] to what I say; pay attention carefully.
Listen, and hear my voice; attend, and hear my words.
24 When a farmer plows some ground, does he never plant seeds [RHQ]? Does he continue to plow it and never plant anything [RHQ]?
Will the plowman plow all the day? or will he prepare the seed beforehand, before he tills the 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.
Does he not, when he has levelled the surface thereof, then sow the small black poppy, or cumin, and afterward sow wheat, and barley, and millet, and bread-corn in your borders?
26 [He does that] because God has taught him the correct way to do it.
So you shall be chastened by the judgment of your God, and shall rejoice.
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 poppy is not cleansed with harsh treatment, nor will a wagon-wheel pass over the cumin; but the black poppy is threshed with a rod, and the cumin shall be eaten with bread;
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.
for I will not be angry with you for ever, neither shall the voice of my anger crush you.
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].
And these signs came forth from the Lord of hosts. Take counsel, exalt vain comfort.
