Isaiah 28

How terrible it will be for that proud crown worn by the drunks of Ephraim! Its glorious beauty is only a fading flower, set on a hilltop above a rich valley, the pride of men soaked in wine.

1Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, whose glorious beauty is a fading flower, which are on the head of the fat valleys of them that are overcome with wine!

NoteEphraim was the largest tribe of the northern kingdom of Israel, and its name is used here for that whole kingdom. Its capital, Samaria, stood on a hill ringed by walls and looking out over a fertile valley, the "crown" set above the valley. Garlands of flowers were also worn on the head at drinking feasts, which is why the crown here is a flower that wilts.

2Look, the Lord has one who is strong and mighty. Like a hailstorm, like a wind that destroys, like a flood of rushing water, he will throw that crown down to the ground with his hand.

2Behold, the Lord hath a mighty and strong one, which as a tempest of hail and a destroying storm, as a flood of mighty waters overflowing, shall cast down to the earth with the hand.

NoteThe strong and mighty one is not named. Isaiah's hearers would have understood the coming army of Assyria, the empire that destroyed Samaria in 722 BC.

3That proud crown, worn by the drunks of Ephraim, will be trampled underfoot.

3The crown of pride, the drunkards of Ephraim, shall be trodden under feet:

4The fading flower of its glorious beauty, set on a hilltop above the rich valley, will be like the first ripe fig before the summer harvest: whoever sees it grabs it and swallows it while it is still in his hand.

4And the glorious beauty, which is on the head of the fat valley, shall be a fading flower, and as the hasty fruit before the summer; which when he that looketh upon it seeth, while it is yet in his hand he eateth it up.

NoteThe first figs of the season ripened weeks ahead of the main crop and were a prized delicacy. The point of the comparison is speed: such a fig was eaten on the spot, not stored.

5On that day the LORD of Armies himself will be a glorious crown, a beautiful headband, for the part of his people who are left.

5In that day shall the LORD of hosts be for a crown of glory, and for a diadem of beauty, unto the residue of his people,

Note"LORD of Armies" translates the Hebrew title usually printed as "LORD of hosts." The "hosts" are massed ranks, armies, and the ranked powers of heaven.

6He will be a spirit of fair judgment for the man who sits as judge, and strength for those who drive the attack back at the city gate.

6And for a spirit of judgment to him that sitteth in judgment, and for strength to them that turn the battle to the gate.

NoteThe gate was the one deliberate gap in a city's wall and so the point an attacking force aimed at. It was also where judges sat and cases were heard, which is why judging and defending the gate appear in the same verse.

7But these people also stagger from wine and wander off course from strong drink. Priests and prophets stagger from strong drink and are confused by wine. Their visions are muddled, and they stumble when they make decisions.

7But they also have erred through wine, and through strong drink are out of the way; the priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink, they are swallowed up of wine, they are out of the way through strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble in judgment.

Note"Strong drink" translates a Hebrew word for fermented drink made from something other than grapes, barley beer, or drink made from dates or other fruit. Priests were forbidden to drink it before serving at the sanctuary, and a prophet's "vision" was the message he was supposed to be receiving clearly.

8Every table is covered with vomit and filth. There is no clean spot left.

8For all tables are full of vomit and filthiness, so that there is no place clean.

9Who does he think he is teaching? Who is he explaining his message to? Babies just taken off milk, just taken from the breast?

9Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts.

NoteVerses 9 and 10 are most likely the drunken priests and prophets mimicking Isaiah, complaining that he lectures them as though they were toddlers.

10For it is: order on order, order on order; line on line, line on line; a little here, a little there.

10For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little:

NoteIn Hebrew this is two short syllables repeated (*tsav latsav, tsav laqav; qav laqav, qav laqav*) a jingle that sounds like baby talk or gibberish. The words can mean "rule" and "measuring line," but the sound is the point: what the prophet says strikes the mockers as meaningless noise. When the line comes back in verse 13, the noise has become their sentence.

11So with strange, stumbling speech and a foreign language he will speak to this people,

11For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people.

NoteThe foreign language is the speech of an invading army, Assyrian. Having to take your orders in a tongue you cannot understand was a standard image of conquest.

12the people he had told, "This is the place of rest; let the tired rest here. This is the place of quiet." But they would not listen.

12To whom he said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear.

13So the word of the LORD came to them as: order on order, order on order; line on line, line on line; a little here, a little there, so that they would walk on, fall over backward, be broken, be trapped, and be captured.

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.

14So hear the word of the LORD, you men who sneer, you who rule this people in Jerusalem.

14Wherefore hear the word of the LORD, ye scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem.

NoteThe address turns from the northern kingdom to the rulers of Jerusalem, capital of the southern kingdom of Judah, who were watching the north fall and had learned nothing from it.

15You have said, "We have made a deal with death; we have an agreement with the place of the dead. When the flood of punishment sweeps through, it will not reach us, because we have made lies our shelter and hidden ourselves under what is false."

15Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves:

Note"The place of the dead" is Sheol, the underworld where the Hebrew Bible pictures all the dead going, without distinction of reward. A "covenant" was a binding treaty sworn with oaths and rituals; making one with death and Sheol is bitter irony, and may also glance at the political treaty Judah's leaders were negotiating with Egypt for protection against Assyria.

16So this is what the Lord GOD says: Look, I am laying in Zion a stone for a foundation, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure base. Whoever trusts it will not panic.

16Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.

NoteZion was the hill in Jerusalem on which the temple stood, and the name stands for the city itself. A cornerstone was the first block set at the corner of a foundation; every wall was aligned from it, so a badly cut cornerstone threw the whole building out of true. "Tested" means proved sound before being laid. The last phrase is difficult in Hebrew: it says literally "will not hurry," which can mean will not panic, or will not be shaken, or will not need to run.

17I will make justice the measuring line and right living the plumb line. Hail will sweep away your shelter of lies, and water will flood your hiding place.

17Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.

NoteA measuring line and a plumb line (a weight on a cord) were the builder's tools for checking that a wall ran straight and stood upright. The image continues from the cornerstone in the previous verse: justice and right living are the standards the building is checked against.

18Your deal with death will be canceled, and your agreement with the place of the dead will not stand. When the flood of punishment sweeps through, you will be trampled by it.

18And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it.

19Every time it passes through, it will carry you off; it will sweep by morning after morning, by day and by night. Just understanding the message will be terror itself.

19From the time that it goeth forth it shall take you: for morning by morning shall it pass over, by day and by night: and it shall be a vexation only to understand the report.

20The bed is too short to stretch out on, and the blanket too narrow to wrap around you.

20For the bed is shorter than that a man can stretch himself on it: and the covering narrower than that he can wrap himself in it.

NoteA proverb, quoted rather than invented here, the picture of a makeshift arrangement that cannot possibly do the job it is supposed to do.

21For the LORD will rise up as he did at Mount Perazim; he will be angry as he was in the Valley of Gibeon, to do his work, his strange work, and to carry out his task, his strange task.

21For the LORD shall rise up as in mount Perazim, he shall be wroth as in the valley of Gibeon, that he may do his work, his strange work; and bring to pass his act, his strange act.

NoteTwo remembered victories. At Mount Perazim (also called Baal-perazim) David broke through the Philistine army "like a bursting flood," and in the valley near Gibeon Israel's enemies were routed in a battle of hailstones and panic. The shock is that the same overwhelming force is now turned against God's own people, which is what makes the work "strange."

22So stop your mocking now, or your chains will be made heavier. I have heard from the Lord GOD of Armies that destruction has been decided on for the whole land.

22Now therefore be ye not mockers, lest your bands be made strong: for I have heard from the Lord GOD of hosts a consumption, even determined upon the whole earth.

NoteThe chains are a prisoner's shackles. The Hebrew word translated "land" can also mean "the earth," so it is genuinely unclear whether the decree covers the territory of Judah or the whole world.

23Listen closely and hear my voice. Pay attention and hear what I say.

23Give ye ear, and hear my voice; hearken, and hear my speech.

24Does a farmer plow all day just to plant? Does he keep opening up and breaking apart the clods of his field?

24Doth the plowman plow all day to sow? doth he open and break the clods of his ground?

25When he has leveled the surface, doesn't he scatter caraway seed and sprinkle cumin? He plants wheat in rows, barley in its own plot, and rye along the edge.

25When he hath made plain the face thereof, doth he not cast abroad the fitches, and scatter the cummin, and cast in the principal wheat and the appointed barley and the rie in their place?

NoteThese are the small seed crops of a Palestinian farm. "Caraway" renders a word for black cumin or nigella, whose tiny seeds were used as a spice; cumin is another seed spice. Both were sown broadcast by hand, while the grain crops were put in ordered rows and plots, different crops, different handling.

26His God shows him the right way to do this and teaches him.

26For his God doth instruct him to discretion, and doth teach him.

27Caraway is not threshed with a heavy threshing sledge, and a cart wheel is not rolled over cumin. Caraway is beaten out with a stick, and cumin with a rod.

27For the fitches are not threshed with a threshing instrument, neither is a cart wheel turned about upon the cummin; but the fitches are beaten out with a staff, and the cummin with a rod.

NoteA threshing sledge was a heavy wooden board studded underneath with stone or iron teeth, dragged over spread grain by animals to break the husks off. Running it over delicate spice seeds would pulverize them, so those were beaten out by hand with a stick.

28Grain for bread must be crushed, but no one keeps threshing it forever. He does not keep rolling the wheel of his cart over it, and he does not let his horses grind it to powder.

28Bread corn is bruised; because he will not ever be threshing it, nor break it with the wheel of his cart, nor bruise it with his horsemen.

NoteGrain for bread is tougher and takes a heavier treatment (a sledge, or a cart wheel rolled over it) but even that is stopped before the grain itself is crushed to powder. The Hebrew of the last clause is uncertain; it may say the horses do not grind it, or that the driver does not keep driving them over it.

29This also comes from the LORD of Armies, who is wonderful in advice and excellent in what he does.

29This also cometh forth from the LORD of hosts, which is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working.