Isaiah 28-30
New American Standard Bible
Chapter 28
1Woe to the proud crown of the habitually drunk of Ephraim, And to the fading flower of its glorious beauty, Which is at the head of the fertile valley Of those who are overcome with wine! 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 thrown it down to the earth with His hand. 3The splendid crown of the habitually drunk of Ephraim is trampled underfoot. 4And the fading flower of its glorious beauty, Which is at the head of the fertile valley, Will be like the first-ripe fig prior to the summer, Which one sees, And as soon as it is in his hand, He swallows it. 5On that day the Lord of armies will become a beautiful crown And a glorious wreath to the remnant of His people; 6A spirit of justice for him who sits in judgment, A strength to those who repel the onslaught at the gate. 7And these also reel with wine and stagger from intoxicating drink: The priest and the prophet reel with intoxicating drink, They are confused by wine, they stagger from intoxicating drink; They reel while having visions, They stagger when rendering a verdict. 8For all the tables are full of filthy vomit, without a single clean place. 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? 10For He says, ‘ Order on order, order on order, Line on line, line on line, A little here, a little there.’?' 11Indeed, He will speak to this people Through stammering lips and a foreign tongue, 12He who said to them, 'This is the place of quiet, give rest to the weary,' And, 'This is the resting place,' but they would not listen. 13So the word of the Lord to them will be, '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. 14Therefore, hear the word of the Lord, you scoffers, Who rule this people who are in Jerusalem, 15Because you have said, 'We have made a covenant with death, And with Sheol we have made a pact. The gushing flood will not reach us when it passes by, Because we have made falsehood our refuge and we have concealed ourselves with deception.' 16Therefore this is what the Lord God says: 'Behold, I am laying a stone in Zion, a tested stone, A precious cornerstone for the foundation, firmly placed. The one who believes in it will not be disturbed. 17I 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. 18Your covenant with death will be canceled, And your pact with Sheol will not stand; When the gushing flood passes through, Then you will become its trampling ground. 19As often as it passes through, it will seize you; For morning after morning it will pass through, anytime during the day or night, And it will be sheer terror to understand what it means.' 20The bed is too short on which to stretch out, And the blanket is too small to wrap oneself in. 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 unusual task, And to work His work, His extraordinary work. 22And now do not carry on as scoffers, Or your shackles will be made stronger; For I have heard from the Lord God of armies Of decisive destruction on all the earth. 23Listen and hear my voice, Pay attention and hear my words. 24Does the farmer plow continually to plant seed? Does he continually turn and break up his ground? 25Does he not level its surface And sow dill and scatter cumin And plant wheat in rows, Barley in its place and rye within its area? 26For his God instructs and teaches him properly. 27For dill is not threshed with a threshing sledge, Nor is the cartwheel driven over cumin; But dill is beaten out with a rod, and cumin with a club. 28 Grain for bread is crushed, Indeed, he does not continue to thresh it forever. Because the wheel of his cart and his horses eventually damage it, He does not thresh it longer. 29This also comes from the Lord of armies, Who has made His counsel wonderful and His wisdom great.Chapter 29
1Woe, Ariel, Ariel the city where David once camped! Add year to year, keep your feasts on schedule. 2I will bring distress to Ariel, And she will be a city of grieving and mourning; And she will be like an Ariel to me. 3I will camp against you encircling you, And I will set up siegeworks against you, And I will raise up battle towers against you. 4Then you will be brought low; From the earth you will speak, And from the dust where you are prostrate Your words will come. Your voice will also be like that of a spirit from the ground, And your speech will whisper from the dust. 5But the multitude of your enemies will become like fine dust, And the multitude of the ruthless ones like the chaff which blows away; And it will happen instantly, suddenly. 6From the Lord of armies you will be punished with thunder and earthquake and loud noise, With whirlwind and tempest and the flame of a consuming fire. 7And the multitude of all the nations who wage war against Ariel, Even all who wage war against her and her stronghold, and who distress her, Will be like a dream, a vision of the night. 8It will be as when a hungry person dreams— And behold, he is eating; But when he awakens, his hunger is not satisfied, Or as when a thirsty person dreams— And behold, he is drinking, But when he awakens, behold, he is faint And his thirst is not quenched. So will the multitude of all the nations be Who wage war against Mount Zion. 9Be delayed and horrified, Blind yourselves and be blind; They become drunk, but not with wine, They stagger, but not with intoxicating drink. 10For the Lord has poured over you a spirit of deep sleep, He has shut your eyes—the prophets; And He has covered your heads—the seers.
11The entire vision will be to you like the words of a sealed book, which, when they give it to the one who is literate, saying, 'Please read this,' he will say, 'I cannot, because it is sealed.'
12Then the book will be given to the one who is illiterate, saying, 'Please read this.' And he will say, 'I cannot read.'
14Therefore behold, I will once again deal marvelously with this people, wondrously marvelous; And the wisdom of their wise men will perish, And the understanding of their men who have understanding will be concealed.'
15Woe to those who deeply hide their plans from the Lord, And whose deeds are done in a dark place, And they say, 'Who sees us?' or 'Who knows us?'
16You turn things around! Shall the potter be considered as equal with the clay, That what is made would say to its maker, 'He did not make me'; Or what is formed say to him who formed it, 'He has no understanding'?
17Is it not yet just a little while Before Lebanon will be turned into a fertile field, And the fertile field will be considered as a forest?
18On that day those who are deaf will hear words of a book, And out of their gloom and darkness the eyes of those who are blind will see.
19The afflicted also will increase their joy in the Lord, And the needy of mankind will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.
20For the ruthless will come to an end and the scorner will be finished, Indeed all who are intent on doing evil will be eliminated,
21Who cause a person to be indicted by a word, And set a trap for the arbitrator at the gate, And defraud the one in the right with meaningless arguments.
23But when he sees his children, the work of My hands, in his midst, They will sanctify My name; Indeed, they will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, And will stand in awe of the God of Israel.
24Those who err in mind will know the truth, And those who criticize will accept instruction.
Chapter 30
1'Woe to the rebellious children,' declares the Lord, 'Who execute a plan, but not Mine, And make an alliance, but not of My Spirit, In order to add sin to sin; 2Who proceed down to Egypt Without consulting Me, To take refuge in the safety of Pharaoh, And to seek shelter in the shadow of Egypt! 3Therefore the safety of Pharaoh will be your shame, And the shelter in the shadow of Egypt, your humiliation. 4For their officials are at Zoan And their ambassadors arrive at Hanes. 5Everyone will be ashamed because of a people who do not benefit them, Who are not a help or benefit, but a source of shame and also disgrace.'
7Even Egypt, whose help is vain and empty. Therefore, I have called her 'Rahab who has been exterminated.'
8Now go, write it on a tablet in their presence And inscribe it on a scroll, That it may serve in the time to come As a witness forever.
9For this is a rebellious people, false sons, Sons who refuse to listen To the instruction of the Lord;
10Who say to the seers, 'You must not see visions'; And to the prophets, 'You must not prophesy the truth to us. Speak to us pleasant words, Prophesy illusions.
11Get out of the way, turn aside from the path, Stop speaking before us about the Holy One of Israel!'
12Therefore this is what the Holy One of Israel says: 'Since you have rejected this word And have put your trust in oppression and crookedness, and have relied on them,
13Therefore this wrongdoing will be to you Like a breach about to fall, A bulge in a high wall, Whose collapse comes suddenly in an instant,
14Whose collapse is like the smashing of a potter’s jar, So ruthlessly shattered That a shard will not be found among its pieces To take fire from a hearth Or to scoop water from a cistern.'
15For this is what the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, has said: 'In repentance and rest you will be saved, In quietness and trust is your strength.' But you were not willing,
16And you said, 'No, for we will flee on horses!' Therefore you shall flee! 'And we will ride on swift horses!' Therefore those who pursue you shall be swift.
17One thousand will flee at the threat of one man; You will flee at the threat of five, Until you are left like a signal post on a mountain top, And like a flag on a hill.
19For, you people in Zion, inhabitant in Jerusalem, you will weep no longer. He will certainly be gracious to you at the sound of your cry; when He hears it, He will answer you.
20Although the Lord has given you bread of deprivation and water of oppression, He, your Teacher, will no longer hide Himself, but your eyes will see your Teacher.
21Your ears will hear a word behind you, saying, 'This is the way, walk in it,' whenever you turn to the right or to the left.
22And you will desecrate your carved images plated with silver, and your cast metal images plated with gold. You will scatter them as a filthy thing, and say to them, 'Be gone!'
23Then He will give you rain for your seed which you will sow in the ground, and bread from the yield of the ground, and it will be rich and plentiful; on that day your livestock will graze in a wide pasture.
24Also the oxen and the donkeys that work the ground will eat seasoned feed, which has been winnowed with shovel and pitchfork.
25And on every lofty mountain and every high hill there will be streams running with water on the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall.
26And the light of the full moon will be like the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be seven times brighter, like the light of seven days, on the day the Lord binds up the fracture of His people and heals the wound He has inflicted.
27Behold, the name of the Lord comes from a remote place; His anger is burning and dense with smoke; His lips are filled with indignation, And His tongue is like a consuming fire;
28His breath is like an overflowing river, Which reaches to the neck, To shake the nations back and forth in a sieve, And to put in the jaws of the peoples the bridle which leads astray.
29You will have songs as in the night when you keep the festival, And gladness of heart as when one marches to the sound of the flute, To go to the mountain of the Lord, to the Rock of Israel.
30And the Lord will cause His voice of authority to be heard, And the descending of His arm to be seen in fierce anger, And in the flame of a consuming fire In cloudburst, downpour, and hailstones.
31For at the voice of the Lord Assyria will be terrified, When He strikes with the rod.
32And every blow of the rod of punishment, Which the Lord will lay on him, Will be with the music of tambourines and lyres; And in battles, brandishing weapons, He will fight them.
33For Topheth has long been ready, Indeed, it has been prepared for the king. He has made it deep and large, A pyre of fire with plenty of wood; The breath of the Lord, like a torrent of brimstone, sets it afire.
King James Version
13But the word of the Lord was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little; that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.
14Wherefore hear the word of the Lord, ye scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem.
Chapter 29
1Woe to Ariel, to Ariel, the city where David dwelt! add ye year to year; let them kill sacrifices.
8It shall even be as when an hungry man dreameth, and, behold, he eateth; but he awaketh, and his soul is empty: or as when a thirsty man dreameth, and, behold, he drinketh; but he awaketh, and, behold, he is faint, and his soul hath appetite: so shall the multitude of all the nations be, that fight against mount Zion.
9Stay yourselves, and wonder; cry ye out, and cry: they are drunken, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with strong drink.
10For the Lord hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes: the prophets and your rulers, the seers hath he covered.
11And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I cannot; for it is sealed:
12And the book is delivered to him that is not learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I am not learned.
13Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men:
16Surely your turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as the potter's clay: for shall the work say of him that made it, He made me not? or shall the thing framed say of him that framed it, He had no understanding?
17Is it not yet a very little while, and Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall be esteemed as a forest?
17One thousand shall flee at the rebuke of one; at the rebuke of five shall ye flee: till ye be left as a beacon upon the top of a mountain, and as an ensign on an hill.
18And therefore will the Lord wait, that he may be gracious unto you, and therefore will he be exalted, that he may have mercy upon you: for the Lord is a God of judgment: blessed are all they that wait for him.
Christian Standard Bible
Chapter 28
1Woe to the majestic crown of Ephraim’s drunkards, and to the fading flower of its beautiful splendor, which is on the summit above the rich valley. Woe to those overcome with wine. 2Look, the Lord has a strong and mighty one — like a devastating hail storm, like a storm with strong flooding water. He will bring it across the land with his hand. 3The majestic crown of Ephraim’s drunkards will be trampled underfoot. 4The fading flower of his beautiful splendor, which is on the summit above the rich valley, will be like a ripe fig before the summer harvest. Whoever sees it will swallow it while it is still in his hand. 5On that day the Lord of Armies will become a crown of beauty and a diadem of splendor to the remnant of his people,
6a spirit of justice to the one who sits in judgment, and strength to those who repel attacks at the city gate.
7Even these stagger because of wine and stumble under the influence of beer: priest and prophet stagger because of beer, they are confused by wine. They stumble because of beer, they are muddled in their visions, they stumble in their judgments.
8Indeed, all their tables are covered with vomit; there is no place without a stench.
9Who is he trying to teach? Who is he trying to instruct? Infants just weaned from milk? Babies removed from the breast?
10"Law after law, law after law, line after line, line after line, a little here, a little there."
11For he will speak to this people with stammering speech and in a foreign language.
12He had said to them: "This is the place of rest; let the weary rest; this is the place of repose." But they would not listen.
13The word of the Lord will come to them: "Law after law, law after law, line after line, line after line, a little here, a little there," so they go stumbling backward, to be broken, trapped, and captured.
14Therefore hear the word of the Lord, you scoffers who rule this people in Jerusalem.
15For you said, "We have made a covenant with Death, and we have an agreement with Sheol; when the overwhelming catastrophe passes through, it will not touch us, because we have made falsehood our refuge and have hidden behind treachery."
16Therefore the Lord God said: "Look, I have laid a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; the one who believes will be unshakable.
17And I will make justice the measuring line and righteousness the mason’s level." Hail will sweep away the false refuge, and water will flood your hiding place.
18Your covenant with Death will be dissolved, and your agreement with Sheol will not last. When the overwhelming catastrophe passes through, you will be trampled.
19Every time it passes through, it will carry you away; it will pass through every morning— every day and every night. Only terror will cause you to understand the message.
20Indeed, the bed is too short to stretch out on, and its cover too small to wrap up in.
21For the Lord will rise up as he did at Mount Perazim. He will rise in wrath, as at the Valley of Gibeon, to do his work, his unexpected work, and to perform his task, his unfamiliar task.
22So now, do not scoff, or your shackles will become stronger. Indeed, I have heard from the Lord God of Armies a decree of destruction for the whole land.
23Listen and hear my voice. Pay attention and hear what I say.
24Does the plowman plow every day to plant seed? Does he continuously break up and cultivate the soil?
25When he has leveled its surface, does he not then scatter black cumin and sow cumin? He plants wheat in rows and barley in plots, with spelt as their border.
26His God teaches him order; he instructs him.
27Certainly black cumin is not threshed with a threshing board, and a cart wheel is not rolled over the cumin. But black cumin is beaten out with a stick, and cumin with a rod.
28Bread grain is crushed, but is not threshed endlessly. Though the wheel of the farmer’s cart rumbles, his horses do not crush it.
29This also comes from the Lord of Armies. He gives wondrous advice; he gives great wisdom.
Chapter 29
1Woe to Ariel, Ariel, the city where David camped! Continue year after year; let the festivals recur. 2I will oppress Ariel, and there will be mourning and crying, and she will be to me like an Ariel. 3I will camp in a circle around you; I will besiege you with earth ramps, and I will set up my siege towers against you.
4You will be brought down; you will speak from the ground, and your words will come from low in the dust. Your voice will be like that of a spirit from the ground; your speech will whisper from the dust.
5Your many foes will be like fine dust, and many of the ruthless, like blowing chaff. Then suddenly, in an instant,
6you will be punished by the Lord of Armies with thunder, earthquake, and loud noise, storm, tempest, and a flame of consuming fire.
7All the many nations going out to battle against Ariel— all the attackers, the siege works against her, and those who oppress her— will then be like a dream, a vision in the night.
8It will be like a hungry one who dreams he is eating, then wakes and is still hungry; and like a thirsty one who dreams he is drinking, then wakes and is still thirsty, longing for water. So it will be for all the many nations who go to battle against Mount Zion.
9Stop and be astonished; blind yourselves and be blind! They are drunk, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with beer.
10For the Lord has poured out on you an overwhelming urge to sleep; he has shut your eyes (the prophets) and covered your heads (the seers).
11For you the entire vision will be like the words of a sealed document. If it is given to one who can read and he is asked to read it, he will say, "I can’t read it, because it is sealed."
12And if the document is given to one who cannot read and he is asked to read it, he will say, "I can’t read."
14Therefore, I will again confound these people with wonder after wonder. The wisdom of their wise will vanish, and the perception of their perceptive will be hidden.
15Woe to those who go to great lengths to hide their plans from the Lord. They do their works in the dark, and say, "Who sees us? Who knows us?"
16You have turned things around, as if the potter were the same as the clay. How can what is made say about its maker, "He didn’t make me"? How can what is formed say about the one who formed it, "He doesn’t understand what he’s doing"?
17Isn’t it true that in just a little while Lebanon will become an orchard, and the orchard will seem like a forest?
18On that day the deaf will hear the words of a document, and out of a deep darkness the eyes of the blind will see.
19The humble will have joy after joy in the Lord, and the poor people will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.
20For the ruthless one will vanish, the scorner will disappear, and all those who lie in wait with evil intent will be killed—
21those who, with their speech, accuse a person of wrongdoing, who set a trap for the one mediating at the city gate and without cause deprive the righteous of justice.
22Therefore, the Lord who redeemed Abraham says this about the house of Jacob: Jacob will no longer be ashamed, and his face will no longer be pale.
23For when he sees his children, the work of my hands within his nation, they will honor my name, they will honor the Holy One of Jacob and stand in awe of the God of Israel.
24Those who are confused will gain understanding, and those who grumble will accept instruction.
Chapter 30
1Woe to the rebellious children! This is the Lord’s declaration. They carry out a plan, but not mine; they make an alliance, but against my will, piling sin on top of sin. 2Without asking my advice they set out to go down to Egypt in order to seek shelter under Pharaoh’s protection and take refuge in Egypt’s shadow. 3But Pharaoh’s protection will become your shame, and refuge in Egypt’s shadow your humiliation. 4For though his princes are at Zoan and his messengers reach as far as Hanes, 5everyone will be ashamed because of a people who can’t help. They are of no benefit, they are no help; they are good for nothing but shame and disgrace.
7Egypt’s help is completely worthless; therefore, I call her: Rahab Who Just Sits.
8Go now, write it on a tablet in their presence and inscribe it on a scroll; it will be for the future, forever and ever.
9They are a rebellious people, deceptive children, children who do not want to listen to the Lord’s instruction.
10They say to the seers, "Do not see," and to the prophets, "Do not prophesy the truth to us. Tell us flattering things. Prophesy illusions.
11Get out of the way! Leave the pathway. Rid us of the Holy One of Israel."
12Therefore the Holy One of Israel says: "Because you have rejected this message and have trusted in oppression and deceit, and have depended on them,
13this iniquity of yours will be like a crumbling gap, a bulge in a high wall whose collapse will come in an instant—suddenly!
14Its collapse will be like the shattering of a potter’s jar, crushed to pieces, so that not even a fragment of pottery will be found among its shattered remains— no fragment large enough to take fire from a hearth or scoop water from a cistern."
15For the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, has said: "You will be delivered by returning and resting; your strength will lie in quiet confidence. But you are not willing."
16You say, "No! We will escape on horses"— therefore you will escape!— and, "We will ride on fast horses"— but those who pursue you will be faster.
17One thousand will flee at the threat of one, at the threat of five you will flee, until you remain like a solitary pole on a mountaintop or a banner on a hill.
18Therefore the Lord is waiting to show you mercy, and is rising up to show you compassion, for the Lord is a just God. All who wait patiently for him are happy.
19For people will live on Zion in Jerusalem. You will never weep again; he will show favor to you at the sound of your outcry; as soon as he hears, he will answer you.
20The Lord will give you meager bread and water during oppression, but your Teacher will not hide any longer. Your eyes will see your Teacher,
21and whenever you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear this command behind you: "This is the way. Walk in it."
22Then you will defile your silver-plated idols and your gold-plated images. You will throw them away like menstrual cloths, and call them filth.
23Then he will send rain for your seed that you have sown in the ground, and the food, the produce of the ground, will be rich and plentiful. On that day your cattle will graze in open pastures.
24The oxen and donkeys that work the ground will eat salted fodder scattered with winnowing shovel and fork.
25Streams flowing with water will be on every high mountain and every raised hill on the day of great slaughter when the towers fall.
26The moonlight will be as bright as the sunlight, and the sunlight will be seven times brighter —like the light of seven days—on the day that the Lord bandages his people’s injuries and heals the wounds he inflicted.
27Look there! The Lord is coming from far away, his anger burning and heavy with smoke. His lips are full of fury, and his tongue is like a consuming fire.
28His breath is like an overflowing torrent that rises to the neck. He comes to sift the nations in a sieve of destruction and to put a bridle on the jaws of the peoples to lead them astray.
29Your singing will be like that on the night of a holy festival, and your heart will rejoice like one who walks to the music of a flute, going up to the mountain of the Lord, to the Rock of Israel.
30And the Lord will make the splendor of his voice heard and reveal his arm striking in angry wrath and a flame of consuming fire, in driving rain, a torrent, and hailstones.
31Assyria will be shattered by the voice of the Lord. He will strike with a rod.
32And every stroke of the appointed staff that the Lord brings down on him will be to the sound of tambourines and lyres; he will fight against him with brandished weapons.
33Indeed! Topheth has been ready for the king for a long time. Its funeral pyre is deep and wide, with plenty of fire and wood. The breath of the Lord, like a torrent of burning sulfur, kindles it.
New Living Translation
Chapter 28
1What sorrow awaits the proud city of Samaria — the glorious crown of the drunks of Israel. It sits at the head of a fertile valley, but its glorious beauty will fade like a flower. It is the pride of a people brought down by wine. 2For the Lord will send a mighty army against it. Like a mighty hailstorm and a torrential rain, they will burst upon it like a surging flood and smash it to the ground. 3The proud city of Samaria — the glorious crown of the drunks of Israel — will be trampled beneath its enemies’ feet. 4It sits at the head of a fertile valley, but its glorious beauty will fade like a flower. Whoever sees it will snatch it up, as an early fig is quickly picked and eaten.
5Then at last the Lord of Heaven’s Armies will himself be Israel’s glorious crown. He will be the pride and joy of the remnant of his people.
6He will give a longing for justice to their judges. He will give great courage to their warriors who stand at the gates.
7Now, however, Israel is led by drunks who reel with wine and stagger with alcohol. The priests and prophets stagger with alcohol and lose themselves in wine. They reel when they see visions and stagger as they render decisions.
8Their tables are covered with vomit; filth is everywhere.
9'Who does the Lord think we are?' they ask. 'Why does he speak to us like this? Are we little children, just recently weaned?
10He tells us everything over and over — one line at a time, one line at a time, a little here, and a little there!'
11So now God will have to speak to his people through foreign oppressors who speak a strange language!
12God has told his people, 'Here is a place of rest; let the weary rest here. This is a place of quiet rest.' But they would not listen.
13So the Lord will spell out his message for them again, one line at a time, one line at a time, a little here, and a little there, so that they will stumble and fall. They will be injured, trapped, and captured.
14Therefore, listen to this message from the Lord, you scoffing rulers in Jerusalem.
15You boast, 'We have struck a bargain to cheat death and have made a deal to dodge the grave. The coming destruction can never touch us, for we have built a strong refuge made of lies and deception.'
16Therefore, this is what the Sovereign Lord says: 'Look! I am placing a foundation stone in Jerusalem, a firm and tested stone. It is a precious cornerstone that is safe to build on. Whoever believes need never be shaken.
17I will test you with the measuring line of justice and the plumb line of righteousness. Since your refuge is made of lies, a hailstorm will knock it down. Since it is made of deception, a flood will sweep it away.
18I will cancel the bargain you made to cheat death, and I will overturn your deal to dodge the grave. When the terrible enemy sweeps through, you will be trampled into the ground.
19Again and again that flood will come, morning after morning, day and night, until you are carried away.' This message will bring terror to your people.
20The bed you have made is too short to lie on. The blankets are too narrow to cover you.
21The Lord will come as he did against the Philistines at Mount Perazim and against the Amorites at Gibeon. He will come to do a strange thing; he will come to do an unusual deed:
22For the Lord, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, has plainly said that he is determined to crush the whole land. So scoff no more, or your punishment will be even greater.
23Listen to me; listen, and pay close attention.
24Does a farmer always plow and never sow? Is he forever cultivating the soil and never planting?
25Does he not finally plant his seeds — black cumin, cumin, wheat, barley, and emmer wheat — each in its proper way, and each in its proper place?
26The farmer knows just what to do, for God has given him understanding.
27A heavy sledge is never used to thresh black cumin; rather, it is beaten with a light stick. A threshing wheel is never rolled on cumin; instead, it is beaten lightly with a flail.
28Grain for bread is easily crushed, so he doesn’t keep on pounding it. He threshes it under the wheels of a cart, but he doesn’t pulverize it.
29The Lord of Heaven’s Armies is a wonderful teacher, and he gives the farmer great wisdom.
Chapter 29
1'What sorrow awaits Ariel, the City of David. Year after year you celebrate your feasts. 2Yet I will bring disaster upon you, and there will be much weeping and sorrow. For Jerusalem will become what her name Ariel means — an altar covered with blood. 3I will be your enemy, surrounding Jerusalem and attacking its walls. I will build siege towers and destroy it. 4Then deep from the earth you will speak; from low in the dust your words will come. Your voice will whisper from the ground like a ghost conjured up from the grave.
5'But suddenly, your ruthless enemies will be crushed like the finest of dust. Your many attackers will be driven away like chaff before the wind. Suddenly, in an instant,
6I, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, will act for you with thunder and earthquake and great noise, with whirlwind and storm and consuming fire.
7All the nations fighting against Jerusalem will vanish like a dream! Those who are attacking her walls will vanish like a vision in the night.
8A hungry person dreams of eating but wakes up still hungry. A thirsty person dreams of drinking but is still faint from thirst when morning comes. So it will be with your enemies, with those who attack Mount Zion.'
9Are you amazed and incredulous? Don’t you believe it? Then go ahead and be blind. You are stupid, but not from wine! You stagger, but not from liquor!
10For the Lord has poured out on you a spirit of deep sleep. He has closed the eyes of your prophets and visionaries.
11All the future events in this vision are like a sealed book to them. When you give it to those who can read, they will say, 'We can’t read it because it is sealed.'
12When you give it to those who cannot read, they will say, 'We don’t know how to read.'
13And so the Lord says, 'These people say they are mine. They honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. And their worship of me is nothing but man-made rules learned by rote.
14Because of this, I will once again astound these hypocrites with amazing wonders. The wisdom of the wise will pass away, and the intelligence of the intelligent will disappear.'
15What sorrow awaits those who try to hide their plans from the Lord, who do their evil deeds in the dark! 'The Lord can’t see us,' they say. 'He doesn’t know what’s going on!'
16How foolish can you be? He is the Potter, and he is certainly greater than you, the clay! Should the created thing say of the one who made it, 'He didn’t make me'? Does a jar ever say, 'The potter who made me is stupid'?
17Soon — and it will not be very long — the forests of Lebanon will become a fertile field, and the fertile field will yield bountiful crops.
18In that day the deaf will hear words read from a book, and the blind will see through the gloom and darkness.
19The humble will be filled with fresh joy from the Lord. The poor will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.
20The scoffer will be gone, the arrogant will disappear, and those who plot evil will be killed.
21Those who convict the innocent by their false testimony will disappear. A similar fate awaits those who use trickery to pervert justice and who tell lies to destroy the innocent.
22That is why the Lord, who redeemed Abraham, says to the people of Israel, 'My people will no longer be ashamed or turn pale with fear.
23For when they see their many children and all the blessings I have given them, they will recognize the holiness of the Holy One of Jacob. They will stand in awe of the God of Israel.
24Then the wayward will gain understanding, and complainers will accept instruction.
Chapter 30
1'What sorrow awaits my rebellious children,' says the Lord. 'You make plans that are contrary to mine. You make alliances not directed by my Spirit, thus piling up your sins. 2For without consulting me, you have gone down to Egypt for help. You have put your trust in Pharaoh’s protection. You have tried to hide in his shade. 3But by trusting Pharaoh, you will be humiliated, and by depending on him, you will be disgraced. 4For though his power extends to Zoan and his officials have arrived in Hanes, 5all who trust in him will be ashamed. He will not help you. Instead, he will disgrace you.'
6This message came to me concerning the animals in the Negev: The caravan moves slowly across the terrible desert to Egypt — donkeys weighed down with riches and camels loaded with treasure — all to pay for Egypt’s protection. They travel through the wilderness, a place of lionesses and lions, a place where vipers and poisonous snakes live. All this, and Egypt will give you nothing in return.
7Egypt’s promises are worthless! Therefore, I call her Rahab — the Harmless Dragon.
8Now go and write down these words. Write them in a book. They will stand until the end of time as a witness
9that these people are stubborn rebels who refuse to pay attention to the Lord’s instructions.
10They tell the seers, 'Stop seeing visions!' They tell the prophets, 'Don’t tell us what is right. Tell us nice things. Tell us lies.
11Forget all this gloom. Get off your narrow path. Stop telling us about your ‘Holy One of Israel.’'
12This is the reply of the Holy One of Israel: 'Because you despise what I tell you and trust instead in oppression and lies,
13calamity will come upon you suddenly — like a bulging wall that bursts and falls. In an instant it will collapse and come crashing down.
14You will be smashed like a piece of pottery — shattered so completely that there won’t be a piece big enough to carry coals from a fireplace or a little water from the well.'
15This is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel, says: 'Only in returning to me and resting in me will you be saved. In quietness and confidence is your strength. But you would have none of it.
16You said, ‘No, we will get our help from Egypt. They will give us swift horses for riding into battle.’ But the only swiftness you are going to see is the swiftness of your enemies chasing you!
17One of them will chase a thousand of you. Five of them will make all of you flee. You will be left like a lonely flagpole on a hill or a tattered banner on a distant mountaintop.'
19O people of Zion, who live in Jerusalem, you will weep no more. He will be gracious if you ask for help. He will surely respond to the sound of your cries.
20Though the Lord gave you adversity for food and suffering for drink, he will still be with you to teach you. You will see your teacher with your own eyes.
21Your own ears will hear him. Right behind you a voice will say, 'This is the way you should go,' whether to the right or to the left.
22Then you will destroy all your silver idols and your precious gold images. You will throw them out like filthy rags, saying to them, 'Good riddance!'
23Then the Lord will bless you with rain at planting time. There will be wonderful harvests and plenty of pastureland for your livestock.
24The oxen and donkeys that till the ground will eat good grain, its chaff blown away by the wind.
25In that day, when your enemies are slaughtered and the towers fall, there will be streams of water flowing down every mountain and hill.
26The moon will be as bright as the sun, and the sun will be seven times brighter — like the light of seven days in one! So it will be when the Lord begins to heal his people and cure the wounds he gave them.
27Look! The Lord is coming from far away, burning with anger, surrounded by thick, rising smoke. His lips are filled with fury; his words consume like fire.
28His hot breath pours out like a flood up to the neck of his enemies. He will sift out the proud nations for destruction. He will bridle them and lead them away to ruin.
29But the people of God will sing a song of joy, like the songs at the holy festivals. You will be filled with joy, as when a flutist leads a group of pilgrims to Jerusalem, the mountain of the Lord — to the Rock of Israel.
30And the Lord will make his majestic voice heard. He will display the strength of his mighty arm. It will descend with devouring flames, with cloudbursts, thunderstorms, and huge hailstones.
31At the Lord’s command, the Assyrians will be shattered. He will strike them down with his royal scepter.
32And as the Lord strikes them with his rod of punishment, his people will celebrate with tambourines and harps. Lifting his mighty arm, he will fight the Assyrians.
33Topheth — the place of burning — has long been ready for the Assyrian king; the pyre is piled high with wood. The breath of the Lord, like fire from a volcano, will set it ablaze.
English Standard Version
Chapter 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! 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. 3 The proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim will be trodden underfoot; 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 before the summer: when someone sees it, he swallows it as soon as it is in his hand. 5 In that day the Lord of hosts will be a crown of glory, and a diadem of beauty, to the remnant of his people, 6and a spirit of justice to him who sits in judgment, and strength to those who turn back the battle at the gate. 7 These also reel with wine and stagger with strong drink; the priest and the prophet reel with strong drink, they are swallowed by wine, they stagger with strong drink, they reel in vision, they stumble in giving judgment. 8For all tables are full of filthy vomit, with no space left. 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? 10For it is precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little." 11 For by people of strange lips and with a foreign tongue the Lord will speak to this people, 12to whom he has said, "This is rest; give rest to the weary; and this is repose"; yet they would not hear. 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. 14Therefore hear the word of the Lord, you scoffers, who rule this people in Jerusalem! 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"; 16therefore thus says the Lord God, "Behold, I am the one who has laid as a foundation in Zion, a stone, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, of a sure foundation: ‘Whoever believes will not be in haste.’ 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." 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. 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. 20For the bed is too short to stretch oneself on, and the covering too narrow to wrap oneself in. 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! 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. 23Give ear, and hear my voice; give attention, and hear my speech. 24Does he who plows for sowing plow continually? Does he continually open and harrow his ground? 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 as the border? 26 For he is rightly instructed; his God teaches him. 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. 28Does one crush grain for bread? No, he does not thresh it forever; when he drives his cart wheel over it with his horses, he does not crush it. 29This also comes from the Lord of hosts; he is wonderful in counsel and excellent in wisdom.Chapter 29
1Ah, Ariel, Ariel, the city where David encamped! Add year to year; let the feasts run their round. 2Yet I will distress Ariel, and there shall be moaning and lamentation, and she shall be to me like an Ariel. 3 And I will encamp against you all around, and will besiege you with towers and I will raise siegeworks against you. 4 And you will be brought low; from the earth you shall speak, and from the dust your speech will be bowed down; your voice shall come from the ground like the voice of a ghost, and from the dust your speech shall whisper. 5But the multitude of your foreign foes shall be like small dust, and the multitude of the ruthless like passing chaff. And in an instant, suddenly, 6 you will be visited by the Lord of hosts with thunder and with earthquake and great noise, with whirlwind and tempest, and the flame of a devouring fire. 7And the multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel, all that fight against her and her stronghold and distress her, shall be like a dream, a vision of the night. 8 As when a hungry man dreams, and behold, he is eating, and awakes with his hunger not satisfied, or as when a thirsty man dreams, and behold, he is drinking, and awakes faint, with his thirst not quenched, so shall the multitude of all the nations be that fight against Mount Zion. 9Astonish yourselves and be astonished; blind yourselves and be blind! Be drunk, but not with wine; stagger, but not with strong drink! 10 For the Lord has poured out upon you a spirit of deep sleep, and has closed your eyes (the prophets), and covered your heads (the seers). 11And the vision of all this has become to you like the words of a book that is sealed. When men give it to one who can read, saying, "Read this," he says, "I cannot, for it is sealed." 12And when they give the book to one who cannot read, saying, "Read this," he says, "I cannot read."
13And the Lord said: "Because this people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men,
14therefore, behold, I will again do wonderful things with this people, with wonder upon wonder; and the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the discernment of their discerning men shall be hidden."
15Ah, you who hide deep from the Lord your counsel, whose deeds are in the dark, and who say, "Who sees us? Who knows us?"
16 You turn things upside down! Shall the potter be regarded as the clay, that the thing made should say of its maker, "He did not make me"; or the thing formed say of him who formed it, "He has no understanding"?
17Is it not yet a very little while until Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall be regarded as a forest?
18In that day the deaf shall hear the words of a book, and out of their gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind shall see.
19 The meek shall obtain fresh joy in the Lord, and the poor among mankind shall exult in the Holy One of Israel.
20For the ruthless shall come to nothing and the scoffer cease, and all who watch to do evil shall be cut off,
21who by a word make a man out to be an offender, and lay a snare for him who reproves in the gate, and with an empty plea turn aside him who is in the right.
22Therefore thus says the Lord, who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob: "Jacob shall no more be ashamed, no more shall his face grow pale.
23For when he sees his children, the work of my hands, in his midst, they will sanctify my name; they will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob and will stand in awe of the God of Israel.
24And those who go astray in spirit will come to understanding, and those who murmur will accept instruction."
Chapter 30
1"Ah, stubborn children," declares the Lord, "who carry out a plan, but not mine, and who make an alliance, but not of my Spirit, that they may add sin to sin; 2 who set out to go down to Egypt, without asking for my direction, to take refuge in the protection of Pharaoh and to seek shelter in the shadow of Egypt! 3 Therefore shall the protection of Pharaoh turn to your shame, and the shelter in the shadow of Egypt to your humiliation. 4For though his officials are at Zoan and his envoys reach Hanes, 5everyone comes to shame through a people that cannot profit them, that brings neither help nor profit, but shame and disgrace." 6An oracle on the beasts of the Negeb. Through a land of trouble and anguish, from where come the lioness and the lion, the adder and the flying fiery serpent, they carry their riches on the backs of donkeys, and their treasures on the humps of camels, to a people that cannot profit them.
7Egypt 's help is worthless and empty; therefore I have called her "Rahab who sits still."
8And now, go, write it before them on a tablet and inscribe it in a book, that it may be for the time to come as a witness forever.
9 For they are a rebellious people, lying children, children unwilling to hear the instruction of the Lord;
10 who say to the seers, "Do not see," and to the prophets, "Do not prophesy to us what is right; speak to us smooth things, prophesy illusions,
11leave the way, turn aside from the path, let us hear no more about the Holy One of Israel."
12Therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel, "Because you despise this word and trust in oppression and perverseness and rely on them,
13therefore this iniquity shall be to you like a breach in a high wall, bulging out and about to collapse, whose breaking comes suddenly, in an instant;
14and its breaking is like that of a potter 's vessel that is smashed so ruthlessly that among its fragments not a shard is found with which to take fire from the hearth, or to dip up water out of the cistern."
15For thus said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, "In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength." But you were unwilling,
16and you said, "No! We will flee upon horses"; therefore you shall flee away; and, "We will ride upon swift steeds"; therefore your pursuers shall be swift.
17 A thousand shall flee at the threat of one; at the threat of five you shall flee, till you are left like a flagstaff on the top of a mountain, like a signal on a hill.
18Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you, and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you. For the Lord is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for him.
19For a people shall dwell in Zion, in Jerusalem; you shall weep no more. He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry. As soon as he hears it, he answers you.
20And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your Teacher will not hide himself anymore, but your eyes shall see your Teacher.
21And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, "This is the way, walk in it," when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left.
22Then you will defile your carved idols overlaid with silver and your gold-plated metal images. You will scatter them as unclean things. You will say to them, "Be gone!"
23And he will give rain for the seed with which you sow the ground, and bread, the produce of the ground, which will be rich and plenteous. In that day your livestock will graze in large pastures,
24and the oxen and the donkeys that work the ground will eat seasoned fodder, which has been winnowed with shovel and fork.
25And on every lofty mountain and every high hill there will be brooks running with water, in the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall.
26Moreover, the light of the moon will be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day when the Lord binds up the brokenness of his people, and heals the wounds inflicted by his blow.
27Behold, the name of the Lord comes from afar, burning with his anger, and in thick rising smoke; his lips are full of fury, and his tongue is like a devouring fire;
28 his breath is like an overflowing stream that reaches up to the neck; to sift the nations with the sieve of destruction, and to place on the jaws of the peoples a bridle that leads astray.
29You shall have a song as in the night when a holy feast is kept, and gladness of heart, as when one sets out to the sound of the flute to go to the mountain of the Lord, to the Rock of Israel.
30And the Lord will cause his majestic voice to be heard and the descending blow of his arm to be seen, in furious anger and a flame of devouring fire, with a cloudburst and storm and hailstones.
31The Assyrians will be terror-stricken at the voice of the Lord, when he strikes with his rod.
32And every stroke of the appointed staff that the Lord lays on them will be to the sound of tambourines and lyres. Battling with brandished arm, he will fight with them.
33For a burning place has long been prepared; indeed, for the king it is made ready, its pyre made deep and wide, with fire and wood in abundance; the breath of the Lord, like a stream of sulfur, kindles it.
New International Version
Chapter 28
1Woe to that wreath, the pride of Ephraim’s drunkards, to the fading flower, his glorious beauty, set on the head of a fertile valley— to that city, the pride of those laid low by wine! 2See, the Lord has one who is powerful and strong. Like a hailstorm and a destructive wind, like a driving rain and a flooding downpour, he will throw it forcefully to the ground. 3That wreath, the pride of Ephraim’s drunkards, will be trampled underfoot.
4That fading flower, his glorious beauty, set on the head of a fertile valley, will be like figs ripe before harvest— as soon as people see them and take them in hand, they swallow them.
5In that day the Lord Almighty will be a glorious crown, a beautiful wreath for the remnant of his people.
6He will be a spirit of justice to the one who sits in judgment, a source of strength to those who turn back the battle at the gate.
7And these also stagger from wine and reel from beer: Priests and prophets stagger from beer and are befuddled with wine; they reel from beer, they stagger when seeing visions, they stumble when rendering decisions.
8All the tables are covered with vomit and there is not a spot without filth.
9"Who is it he is trying to teach? To whom is he explaining his message? To children weaned from their milk, to those just taken from the breast?
10For it is: Do this, do that, a rule for this, a rule for that ; a little here, a little there."
11Very well then, with foreign lips and strange tongues God will speak to this people,
12to whom he said, "This is the resting place, let the weary rest"; and, "This is the place of repose"— but they would not listen.
13So then, the word of the Lord to them will become: Do this, do that, a rule for this, a rule for that; a little here, a little there— so that as they go they will fall backward; they will be injured and snared and captured.
14Therefore hear the word of the Lord, you scoffers who rule this people in Jerusalem.
15You boast, "We have entered into a covenant with death, with the realm of the dead we have made an agreement. When an overwhelming scourge sweeps by, it cannot touch us, for we have made a lie our refuge and falsehood our hiding place."
16So this is what the Sovereign Lord says: "See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation; the one who relies on it will never be stricken with panic.
17I will make justice the measuring line and righteousness the plumb line; hail will sweep away your refuge, the lie, and water will overflow your hiding place.
18Your covenant with death will be annulled; your agreement with the realm of the dead will not stand. When the overwhelming scourge sweeps by, you will be beaten down by it.
19As often as it comes it will carry you away; morning after morning, by day and by night, it will sweep through." The understanding of this message will bring sheer terror.
20The bed is too short to stretch out on, the blanket too narrow to wrap around you.
21The Lord will rise up as he did at Mount Perazim, he will rouse himself as in the Valley of Gibeon— to do his work, his strange work, and perform his task, his alien task.
22Now stop your mocking, or your chains will become heavier; the Lord, the Lord Almighty, has told me of the destruction decreed against the whole land.
23Listen and hear my voice; pay attention and hear what I say.
24When a farmer plows for planting, does he plow continually? Does he keep on breaking up and working the soil?
25When he has leveled the surface, does he not sow caraway and scatter cumin? Does he not plant wheat in its place, barley in its plot, and spelt in its field?
26His God instructs him and teaches him the right way.
27Caraway is not threshed with a sledge, nor is the wheel of a cart rolled over cumin; caraway is beaten out with a rod, and cumin with a stick.
28Grain must be ground to make bread; so one does not go on threshing it forever. The wheels of a threshing cart may be rolled over it, but one does not use horses to grind grain.
29All this also comes from the Lord Almighty, whose plan is wonderful, whose wisdom is magnificent.
Chapter 29
1Woe to you, Ariel, Ariel, the city where David settled! Add year to year and let your cycle of festivals go on. 2Yet I will besiege Ariel; she will mourn and lament, she will be to me like an altar hearth. 3I will encamp against you on all sides; I will encircle you with towers and set up my siege works against you.
4Brought low, you will speak from the ground; your speech will mumble out of the dust. Your voice will come ghostlike from the earth; out of the dust your speech will whisper.
5But your many enemies will become like fine dust, the ruthless hordes like blown chaff. Suddenly, in an instant,
6the Lord Almighty will come with thunder and earthquake and great noise, with windstorm and tempest and flames of a devouring fire.
7Then the hordes of all the nations that fight against Ariel, that attack her and her fortress and besiege her, will be as it is with a dream, with a vision in the night—
8as when a hungry person dreams of eating, but awakens hungry still; as when a thirsty person dreams of drinking, but awakens faint and thirsty still. So will it be with the hordes of all the nations that fight against Mount Zion.
9Be stunned and amazed, blind yourselves and be sightless; be drunk, but not from wine, stagger, but not from beer.
10The Lord has brought over you a deep sleep: He has sealed your eyes (the prophets); he has covered your heads (the seers).
11For you this whole vision is nothing but words sealed in a scroll. And if you give the scroll to someone who can read, and say, "Read this, please," they will answer, "I can’t; it is sealed."
12Or if you give the scroll to someone who cannot read, and say, "Read this, please," they will answer, "I don’t know how to read."
13The Lord says: "These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is based on merely human rules they have been taught.
14Therefore once more I will astound these people with wonder upon wonder; the wisdom of the wise will perish, the intelligence of the intelligent will vanish."
15Woe to those who go to great depths to hide their plans from the Lord, who do their work in darkness and think, "Who sees us? Who will know?"
16You turn things upside down, as if the potter were thought to be like the clay! Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, "You did not make me"? Can the pot say to the potter, "You know nothing"?
17In a very short time, will not Lebanon be turned into a fertile field and the fertile field seem like a forest?
18In that day the deaf will hear the words of the scroll, and out of gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind will see.
19Once more the humble will rejoice in the Lord; the needy will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.
20The ruthless will vanish, the mockers will disappear, and all who have an eye for evil will be cut down—
21those who with a word make someone out to be guilty, who ensnare the defender in court and with false testimony deprive the innocent of justice.
22Therefore this is what the Lord, who redeemed Abraham, says to the descendants of Jacob: "No longer will Jacob be ashamed; no longer will their faces grow pale.
23When they see among them their children, the work of my hands, they will keep my name holy; they will acknowledge the holiness of the Holy One of Jacob, and will stand in awe of the God of Israel.
24Those who are wayward in spirit will gain understanding; those who complain will accept instruction."
Chapter 30
1"Woe to the obstinate children," declares the Lord, "to those who carry out plans that are not mine, forming an alliance, but not by my Spirit, heaping sin upon sin; 2who go down to Egypt without consulting me; who look for help to Pharaoh’s protection, to Egypt’s shade for refuge. 3But Pharaoh’s protection will be to your shame, Egypt’s shade will bring you disgrace. 4Though they have officials in Zoan and their envoys have arrived in Hanes, 5everyone will be put to shame because of a people useless to them, who bring neither help nor advantage, but only shame and disgrace."
7to Egypt, whose help is utterly useless. Therefore I call her Rahab the Do-Nothing.
8Go now, write it on a tablet for them, inscribe it on a scroll, that for the days to come it may be an everlasting witness.
9For these are rebellious people, deceitful children, children unwilling to listen to the Lord’s instruction.
10They say to the seers, "See no more visions!" and to the prophets, "Give us no more visions of what is right! Tell us pleasant things, prophesy illusions.
11Leave this way, get off this path, and stop confronting us with the Holy One of Israel!"
12Therefore this is what the Holy One of Israel says: "Because you have rejected this message, relied on oppression and depended on deceit,
13this sin will become for you like a high wall, cracked and bulging, that collapses suddenly, in an instant.
14It will break in pieces like pottery, shattered so mercilessly that among its pieces not a fragment will be found for taking coals from a hearth or scooping water out of a cistern."
15This is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel, says: "In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it.
16You said, ‘No, we will flee on horses.’ Therefore you will flee! You said, ‘We will ride off on swift horses.’ Therefore your pursuers will be swift!
17A thousand will flee at the threat of one; at the threat of five you will all flee away, till you are left like a flagstaff on a mountaintop, like a banner on a hill."
18Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; therefore he will rise up to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him!
19People of Zion, who live in Jerusalem, you will weep no more. How gracious he will be when you cry for help! As soon as he hears, he will answer you.
20Although the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, your teachers will be hidden no more; with your own eyes you will see them.
21Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, "This is the way; walk in it."
22Then you will desecrate your idols overlaid with silver and your images covered with gold; you will throw them away like a menstrual cloth and say to them, "Away with you!"
23He will also send you rain for the seed you sow in the ground, and the food that comes from the land will be rich and plentiful. In that day your cattle will graze in broad meadows.
24The oxen and donkeys that work the soil will eat fodder and mash, spread out with fork and shovel.
25In the day of great slaughter, when the towers fall, streams of water will flow on every high mountain and every lofty hill.
26The moon will shine like the sun, and the sunlight will be seven times brighter, like the light of seven full days, when the Lord binds up the bruises of his people and heals the wounds he inflicted.
27See, the Name of the Lord comes from afar, with burning anger and dense clouds of smoke; his lips are full of wrath, and his tongue is a consuming fire.
28His breath is like a rushing torrent, rising up to the neck. He shakes the nations in the sieve of destruction; he places in the jaws of the peoples a bit that leads them astray.
29And you will sing as on the night you celebrate a holy festival; your hearts will rejoice as when people playing pipes go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the Rock of Israel.
30The Lord will cause people to hear his majestic voice and will make them see his arm coming down with raging anger and consuming fire, with cloudburst, thunderstorm and hail.
31The voice of the Lord will shatter Assyria; with his rod he will strike them down.
32Every stroke the Lord lays on them with his punishing club will be to the music of timbrels and harps, as he fights them in battle with the blows of his arm.
33Topheth has long been prepared; it has been made ready for the king. Its fire pit has been made deep and wide, with an abundance of fire and wood; the breath of the Lord, like a stream of burning sulfur, sets it ablaze.
New King James Version
Chapter 28
1Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, Whose glorious beauty is a fading flower Which is at the head of the verdant valleys, To those who are overcome with wine! 2Behold, the Lord has a mighty and strong one, Like a tempest of hail and a destroying storm, Like a flood of mighty waters overflowing, Who will bring them down to the earth with His hand. 3The crown of pride, the drunkards of Ephraim, Will be trampled underfoot; 4And the glorious beauty is a fading flower Which is at the head of the verdant valley, Like the first fruit before the summer, Which an observer sees; He eats it up while it is still in his hand. 5In that day the Lord of hosts will be For a crown of glory and a diadem of beauty To the remnant of His people, 6For a spirit of justice to him who sits in judgment, And for strength to those who turn back the battle at the gate. 7But they also have erred through wine, And through intoxicating drink are out of the way; The priest and the prophet have erred through intoxicating drink, They are swallowed up by wine, They are out of the way through intoxicating drink; They err in vision, they stumble in judgment. 8For all tables are full of vomit and filth; No place is clean. 9“Whom will he teach knowledge? And whom will he make to understand the message? Those just weaned from milk? Those just drawn from the breasts? 10 For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept, Line upon line, line upon line, Here a little, there a little.” 11For with stammering lips and another tongue He will speak to this people, 12To whom He said, “This is the rest with which You may cause the weary to rest,” And, “This is the refreshing”; Yet they would not hear. 13But the word of the Lord was to them, “Precept upon precept, precept upon precept, Line upon line, line upon line, Here a little, there a little,” That they might go and fall backward, and be broken And snared and caught. 14Therefore hear the word of the Lord, you scornful men, Who rule this people who are in Jerusalem, 15Because you have said, “We have made a covenant with death, And with Sheol we are in agreement. When the overflowing scourge passes through, It will not come to us, For we have made lies our refuge, And under falsehood we have hidden ourselves.”
16Therefore thus says the Lord God: “Behold, I lay in Zion a stone for a foundation, A tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; Whoever believes will not act hastily.
17Also I will make justice the measuring line, And righteousness the plummet; The hail will sweep away the refuge of lies, And the waters will overflow the hiding place.
18Your covenant with death will be annulled, And your agreement with Sheol will not stand; When the overflowing scourge passes through, Then you will be trampled down by it.
19As often as it goes out it will take you; For morning by morning it will pass over, And by day and by night; It will be a terror just to understand the report.”
20For the bed is too short to stretch out on, And the covering so narrow that one cannot wrap himself in it.
21For the Lord will rise up as at Mount Perazim, He will be angry as in the Valley of Gibeon— That He may do His work, His awesome work, And bring to pass His act, His unusual act.
22Now therefore, do not be mockers, Lest your bonds be made strong; For I have heard from the Lord God of hosts, A destruction determined even upon the whole earth.
23Give ear and hear my voice, Listen and hear my speech.
24Does the plowman keep plowing all day to sow? Does he keep turning his soil and breaking the clods?
25When he has leveled its surface, Does he not sow the black cummin And scatter the cummin, Plant the wheat in rows, The barley in the appointed place, And the spelt in its place?
26For He instructs him in right judgment, His God teaches him.
27For the black cummin is not threshed with a threshing sledge, Nor is a cartwheel rolled over the cummin; But the black cummin is beaten out with a stick, And the cummin with a rod.
28Bread flour must be ground; Therefore he does not thresh it forever, Break it with his cartwheel, Or crush it with his horsemen.
29This also comes from the Lord of hosts, Who is wonderful in counsel and excellent in guidance.
Chapter 29
1“Woe to Ariel, to Ariel, the city where David dwelt! Add year to year; Let feasts come around. 2Yet I will distress Ariel; There shall be heaviness and sorrow, And it shall be to Me as Ariel. 3I will encamp against you all around, I will lay siege against you with a mound, And I will raise siegeworks against you. 4You shall be brought down, You shall speak out of the ground; Your speech shall be low, out of the dust; Your voice shall be like a medium’s, out of the ground; And your speech shall whisper out of the dust. 5“Moreover the multitude of your foes Shall be like fine dust, And the multitude of the terrible ones Like chaff that passes away; Yes, it shall be in an instant, suddenly. 6 You will be punished by the Lord of hosts With thunder and earthquake and great noise, With storm and tempest And the flame of devouring fire. 7 The multitude of all the nations who fight against Ariel, Even all who fight against her and her fortress, And distress her, Shall be as a dream of a night vision. 8 It shall even be as when a hungry man dreams, And look—he eats; But he awakes, and his soul is still empty; Or as when a thirsty man dreams, And look—he drinks; But he awakes, and indeed he is faint, And his soul still craves: So the multitude of all the nations shall be, Who fight against Mount Zion.” 9Pause and wonder! Blind yourselves and be blind! They are drunk, but not with wine; They stagger, but not with intoxicating drink. 10For the Lord has poured out on you The spirit of deep sleep, And has closed your eyes, namely, the prophets; And He has covered your heads, namely, the seers.
13Therefore the Lord said: “Inasmuch as these people draw near with their mouths And honor Me with their lips, But have removed their hearts far from Me, And their fear toward Me is taught by the commandment of men,
14 Therefore, behold, I will again do a marvelous work Among this people, A marvelous work and a wonder; For the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, And the understanding of their prudent men shall be hidden.”
15 Woe to those who seek deep to hide their counsel far from the Lord, And their works are in the dark; They say, “Who sees us?” and, “Who knows us?”
16Surely you have things turned around! Shall the potter be esteemed as the clay; For shall the thing made say of him who made it, “He did not make me”? Or shall the thing formed say of him who formed it, “He has no understanding”?
17 Is it not yet a very little while Till Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, And the fruitful field be esteemed as a forest?
18 In that day the deaf shall hear the words of the book, And the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity and out of darkness.
19 The humble also shall increase their joy in the Lord, And the poor among men shall rejoice In the Holy One of Israel.
20For the terrible one is brought to nothing, The scornful one is consumed, And all who watch for iniquity are cut off—
21Who make a man an offender by a word, And lay a snare for him who reproves in the gate, And turn aside the just by empty words.
22Therefore thus says the Lord, who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob: “Jacob shall not now be ashamed, Nor shall his face now grow pale;
23But when he sees his children, The work of My hands, in his midst, They will hallow My name, And hallow the Holy One of Jacob, And fear the God of Israel.
24These also who erred in spirit will come to understanding, And those who complained will learn doctrine.”
Chapter 30
1“Woe to the rebellious children,” says the Lord, “Who take counsel, but not of Me, And who devise plans, but not of My Spirit, That they may add sin to sin; 2 Who walk to go down to Egypt, And have not asked My advice, To strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, And to trust in the shadow of Egypt! 3 Therefore the strength of Pharaoh Shall be your shame, And trust in the shadow of Egypt Shall be your humiliation. 4For his princes were at Zoan, And his ambassadors came to Hanes. 5 They were all ashamed of a people who could not benefit them, Or be help or benefit, But a shame and also a reproach.”
6The burden against the beasts of the South. Through a land of trouble and anguish, From which came the lioness and lion, The viper and fiery flying serpent, They will carry their riches on the backs of young donkeys, And their treasures on the humps of camels, To a people who shall not profit;
7 For the Egyptians shall help in vain and to no purpose. Therefore I have called her Rahab-Hem-Shebeth.
8Now go, write it before them on a tablet, And note it on a scroll, That it may be for time to come, Forever and ever:
9That this is a rebellious people, Lying children, Children who will not hear the law of the Lord;
10 Who say to the seers, “Do not see,” And to the prophets, “Do not prophesy to us right things; Speak to us smooth things, prophesy deceits.
11Get out of the way, Turn aside from the path, Cause the Holy One of Israel To cease from before us.”
12Therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel: “Because you despise this word, And trust in oppression and perversity, And rely on them,
13Therefore this iniquity shall be to you Like a breach ready to fall, A bulge in a high wall, Whose breaking comes suddenly, in an instant.
14And He shall break it like the breaking of the potter’s vessel, Which is broken in pieces; He shall not spare. So there shall not be found among its fragments A shard to take fire from the hearth, Or to take water from the cistern.”
15For thus says the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel: “In returning and rest you shall be saved; In quietness and confidence shall be your strength.” But you would not,
16And you said, “No, for we will flee on horses”— Therefore you shall flee! And, “We will ride on swift horses”— Therefore those who pursue you shall be swift!
17 One thousand shall flee at the threat of one, At the threat of five you shall flee, Till you are left as a pole on top of a mountain And as a banner on a hill.
18Therefore the Lord will wait, that He may be gracious to you; And therefore He will be exalted, that He may have mercy on you. For the Lord is a God of justice; Blessed are all those who wait for Him.
19For the people shall dwell in Zion at Jerusalem; You shall weep no more. He will be very gracious to you at the sound of your cry; When He hears it, He will answer you.
20And though the Lord gives you The bread of adversity and the water of affliction, Yet your teachers will not be moved into a corner anymore, But your eyes shall see your teachers.
21Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” Whenever you turn to the right hand Or whenever you turn to the left.
22 You will also defile the covering of your images of silver, And the ornament of your molded images of gold. You will throw them away as an unclean thing; You will say to them, “Get away!”
23 Then He will give the rain for your seed With which you sow the ground, And bread of the increase of the earth; It will be fat and plentiful. In that day your cattle will feed In large pastures.
24Likewise the oxen and the young donkeys that work the ground Will eat cured fodder, Which has been winnowed with the shovel and fan.
25There will be on every high mountain And on every high hill Rivers and streams of waters, In the day of the great slaughter, When the towers fall.
26Moreover the light of the moon will be as the light of the sun, And the light of the sun will be sevenfold, As the light of seven days, In the day that the Lord binds up the bruise of His people And heals the stroke of their wound.
27Behold, the name of the Lord comes from afar, Burning with His anger, And His burden is heavy; His lips are full of indignation, And His tongue like a devouring fire.
28 His breath is like an overflowing stream, Which reaches up to the neck, To sift the nations with the sieve of futility; And there shall be a bridle in the jaws of the people, Causing them to err.
29You shall have a song As in the night when a holy festival is kept, And gladness of heart as when one goes with a flute, To come into the mountain of the Lord, To the Mighty One of Israel.
30 The Lord will cause His glorious voice to be heard, And show the descent of His arm, With the indignation of His anger And the flame of a devouring fire, With scattering, tempest, and hailstones.
31For through the voice of the Lord Assyria will be beaten down, As He strikes with the rod.
32And in every place where the staff of punishment passes, Which the Lord lays on him, It will be with tambourines and harps; And in battles of brandishing He will fight with it.
33 For Tophet was established of old, Yes, for the king it is prepared. He has made it deep and large; Its pyre is fire with much wood; The breath of the Lord, like a stream of brimstone, Kindles it.
