Isaiah 28:1-29.
Isaiah 28:1-29 (Good News Translation)
1The kingdom of Israel is doomed! Its glory is fading like the crowns of
flowers on the heads of its drunken leaders. Their proud heads are well
perfumed, but there they lie, dead drunk. 2The Lord has someone strong and
powerful ready to attack them, someone who will come like a hailstorm, like
a torrent of rain, like a rushing, overpowering flood, and will overwhelm
the land. 3The pride of those drunken leaders will be trampled underfoot.
4The fading glory of those proud leaders will disappear like the first
figs of the season, picked and eaten as soon as they are ripe. 5A day is
coming when the LORD Almighty will be like a glorious crown of flowers for
his people who survive. 6He will give a sense of justice to those who serve
as judges, and courage to those who defend the city gates from attack.
7Even the prophets and the priests are so drunk that they stagger. They
have drunk so much wine and liquor that they stumble in confusion. The
prophets are too drunk to understand the visions that God sends, and the
priests are too drunk to decide the cases that are brought to them. 8The
tables where they sit are all covered with vomit, and not a clean spot is
left. 9They complain about me. They say, Who does that man think he's
teaching? Who needs his message? It's only good for babies that have just
stopped nursing! 10He is trying to teach us letter by letter, line by
line, lesson by lesson. 11If you won't listen to me, then God will use
foreigners speaking some strange-sounding language to teach you a lesson.
12He offered rest and comfort to all of you, but you refused to listen to
him. 13That is why the LORD is going to teach you letter by letter, line
by line, lesson by lesson. Then you will stumble with every step you take.
You will be wounded, trapped, and taken prisoner. 14Now you arrogant
leaders who rule here in Jerusalem over this people, listen to what the
LORD is saying. 15You boast that you have made a treaty with death and
reached an agreement with the world of the dead. You are certain that
disaster will spare you when it comes, because you depend on lies and
deceit to keep you safe. 16This, now, is what the Sovereign LORD says: I
am placing in Zion a foundation that is firm and strong. In it I am
putting a solid cornerstone on which are written the words, Faith that is
firm is also patient. 17Justice will be the measuring line for the
foundation, and honesty will be its plumb line.
Hailstorms will sweep away all the lies you depend on, and floods will
destroy your security. 18The treaty you have made with death will be
abolished, and your agreement with the world of the dead will be canceled.
When disaster sweeps down, you will be overcome. 19It will strike you again
and again, morning after morning. You will have to bear it day and night.
Each new message from God will bring new terror! 20You will be like the
person in the proverb, who tries to sleep in a bed too short to stretch
out on, with a blanket too narrow to wrap himself in. 21The LORD will
fight as he did at Mount Perazim and in the valley of Gibeon, in order to
do what he intends to do—strange as his actions may seem. He will
complete his work, his mysterious work. 22Don't laugh at the warning I am
giving you! If you do, it will be even harder for you to escape. I have
heard the LORD Almighty's decision to destroy the whole country. 23Listen
to what I am saying; pay attention to what I am telling you. 24Farmers
don't constantly plow their fields and keep getting them ready for
planting. 25Once they have prepared the soil, they plant the seeds of
herbs such as dill and cumin. They plant rows of wheat and barley, and at
the edges of their fields they plant other grain. 26They know how to do
their work, because God has taught them. 27They never use a heavy club to
beat out dill seeds or cumin seeds; instead they use light sticks of the
proper size. 28They do not ruin the wheat by threshing it endlessly, and
they know how to thresh it by driving a cart over it without bruising the
grains. 29All this wisdom comes from the LORD Almighty. The plans God
makes are wise, and they always succeed.
God bless you.
1The kingdom of Israel is doomed! Its glory is fading like the crowns of
flowers on the heads of its drunken leaders. Their proud heads are well
perfumed, but there they lie, dead drunk. 2The Lord has someone strong and
powerful ready to attack them, someone who will come like a hailstorm, like
a torrent of rain, like a rushing, overpowering flood, and will overwhelm
the land. 3The pride of those drunken leaders will be trampled underfoot.
4The fading glory of those proud leaders will disappear like the first
figs of the season, picked and eaten as soon as they are ripe. 5A day is
coming when the LORD Almighty will be like a glorious crown of flowers for
his people who survive. 6He will give a sense of justice to those who serve
as judges, and courage to those who defend the city gates from attack.
7Even the prophets and the priests are so drunk that they stagger. They
have drunk so much wine and liquor that they stumble in confusion. The
prophets are too drunk to understand the visions that God sends, and the
priests are too drunk to decide the cases that are brought to them. 8The
tables where they sit are all covered with vomit, and not a clean spot is
left. 9They complain about me. They say, Who does that man think he's
teaching? Who needs his message? It's only good for babies that have just
stopped nursing! 10He is trying to teach us letter by letter, line by
line, lesson by lesson. 11If you won't listen to me, then God will use
foreigners speaking some strange-sounding language to teach you a lesson.
12He offered rest and comfort to all of you, but you refused to listen to
him. 13That is why the LORD is going to teach you letter by letter, line
by line, lesson by lesson. Then you will stumble with every step you take.
You will be wounded, trapped, and taken prisoner. 14Now you arrogant
leaders who rule here in Jerusalem over this people, listen to what the
LORD is saying. 15You boast that you have made a treaty with death and
reached an agreement with the world of the dead. You are certain that
disaster will spare you when it comes, because you depend on lies and
deceit to keep you safe. 16This, now, is what the Sovereign LORD says: I
am placing in Zion a foundation that is firm and strong. In it I am
putting a solid cornerstone on which are written the words, Faith that is
firm is also patient. 17Justice will be the measuring line for the
foundation, and honesty will be its plumb line.
Hailstorms will sweep away all the lies you depend on, and floods will
destroy your security. 18The treaty you have made with death will be
abolished, and your agreement with the world of the dead will be canceled.
When disaster sweeps down, you will be overcome. 19It will strike you again
and again, morning after morning. You will have to bear it day and night.
Each new message from God will bring new terror! 20You will be like the
person in the proverb, who tries to sleep in a bed too short to stretch
out on, with a blanket too narrow to wrap himself in. 21The LORD will
fight as he did at Mount Perazim and in the valley of Gibeon, in order to
do what he intends to do—strange as his actions may seem. He will
complete his work, his mysterious work. 22Don't laugh at the warning I am
giving you! If you do, it will be even harder for you to escape. I have
heard the LORD Almighty's decision to destroy the whole country. 23Listen
to what I am saying; pay attention to what I am telling you. 24Farmers
don't constantly plow their fields and keep getting them ready for
planting. 25Once they have prepared the soil, they plant the seeds of
herbs such as dill and cumin. They plant rows of wheat and barley, and at
the edges of their fields they plant other grain. 26They know how to do
their work, because God has taught them. 27They never use a heavy club to
beat out dill seeds or cumin seeds; instead they use light sticks of the
proper size. 28They do not ruin the wheat by threshing it endlessly, and
they know how to thresh it by driving a cart over it without bruising the
grains. 29All this wisdom comes from the LORD Almighty. The plans God
makes are wise, and they always succeed.
God bless you.
Comments