Parallel Bible results for "isaiah 28"

Isaiah 28

The Complete Jewish Bible CJB

1 Woe to the haughty crown of Efrayim's drunks, to the fading flower of its proud splendor, located at the head of the rich valley belonging to people overcome by wine!

2 Adonai has someone strong and powerful. He comes like a hailstorm, a destructive tempest, like a flood of water, rushing, overwhelming; with his hand he hurls them to the ground.

3 The haughty crown of Efrayim's drunks is trampled underfoot;

4 and the fading flower of its proud splendor, located at the head of the rich valley, is like the first ripe fig of summer whoever sees it picks and eats it.

5 On that day, ADONAI-Tzva'ot will be a glorious crown, a brilliant diadem for the remnant of his people.

6 He will also be a spirit of justice for whoever sits as a judge, and a source of strength for those repelling enemy attacks at the gate.

7 But there are others reeling from wine, staggering about because of strong liquor; cohen and prophet reel from strong liquor, they are confused by wine. Led astray by strong liquor, they err in their visions and stumble when judging.

8 All tables are covered with vomit and feces, not a single place is clean.

9 Can no one be taught anything? Can no one understand the message? Must one teach barely weaned toddlers, babies just taken from the breast,

10 so that [one has to use nursery rhymes]? Tzav la-tzav, tzav la-tzav, kav la-kav, kav la-kav z'eir sham, z'eir sham [Precept by precept, precept by precept, line by line, line by line, a little here, a little there].

11 So with stammering lips, in a foreign accent, [ADONAI] will speak to this people.

12 He once told this people, "It's time to rest, the exhausted can rest, now you can relax" - but they wouldn't listen.

13 So now the word of ADONAI for them comes "precept by precept, precept by precept, line by line, line by line, a little here, a little there," so that when they walk, they stumble backward, and are broken, trapped and captured!

14 So listen to the word of ADONAI, you scoffers, composing taunts for this people in Yerushalayim:

15 Because you said, "We made a covenant with death, we made a contract with Sh'ol. When the raging flood passes through, it will not touch us. For we have made lies our refuge and hid ourselves in falsehoods"

16 therefore here is what Adonai ELOHIM says: "Look, I am laying in Tziyon a tested stone, a costly cornerstone, a firm foundation-stone; he who trusts will not rush here and there.

17 I will make justice the plumbline and righteousness the plumb-bob; hail will sweep away the refuge of lies, water will overflow the hiding place,

18 your covenant with death will be annulled, and your contract with Sh'ol will not stand. When the raging flood passes through, you will be trampled down by it.

19 As often as it passes through, it will take you, for it will pass through every morning, day after day, night after night; understanding the message will be sheer terror."

20 For, [as the saying goes,] "The bed is too short for a person to stretch, and the blanket too narrow [to protect him from cold] even if he crams himself in."

21 For ADONAI will arise, as at Mount P'ratzim, and storm with rage, as in the Giv'on Valley; so he can do his deed, his strange deed, and perform his task, his alien task.

22 Therefore, now, stop your scoffing, or your bonds will be further tightened; for I have heard from Adonai ELOHIM-Tzva'ot that destruction is decreed for the whole land.

23 Listen and hear my voice; pay attention, and hear what I say:

24 Does a farmer sowing keep plowing forever? Does he never stop breaking up and harrowing his land?

25 No - when he finishes levelling it, he scatters his dill-seed, sows his cumin, puts wheat in rows, barley where it belongs, and plants buckwheat around the edges;

26 because his God has taught him this, has given him instruction.

27 Dill must not be threshed with a sledge or cartwheels driven over cumin; rather, dill one beats with a stick and cumin with a flail.

28 When crushing grain for bread, one doesn't thresh it forever; one drives the horse and cart wheels over it but doesn't crush it to powder.

29 This too comes from ADONAI-Tzva'ot - his counsel is wonderful, his wisdom great.

The Message Bible MSG

1 Doom to the pretentious drunks of Ephraim, shabby and washed out and seedy - Tipsy, sloppy-fat, beer-bellied parodies of a proud and handsome past.

2 Watch closely: God has someone picked out, someone tough and strong to flatten them. Like a hailstorm, like a hurricane, like a flash flood, one-handed he'll throw them to the ground.

3 Samaria, the party hat on Israel's head, will be knocked off with one blow.

4 It will disappear quicker than a piece of meat tossed to a dog.

5 At that time, God-of-the-Angel-Armies will be the beautiful crown on the head of what's left of his people:

6 Energy and insights of justice to those who guide and decide, strength and prowess to those who guard and protect.

7 These also, the priest and prophet, stagger from drink, weaving, falling-down drunks, Besotted with wine and whiskey, can't see straight, can't talk sense.

8 Every table is covered with vomit. They live in vomit.

9 "Is that so? And who do you think you are to teach us? Who are you to lord it over us? We're not babies in diapers to be talked down to by such as you -

10 'Da, da, da, da, blah, blah, blah, blah. That's a good little girl, that's a good little boy.'"

11 But that's exactly how you will be addressed. God will speak to this people In baby talk, one syllable at a time -

12 and he'll do it through foreign oppressors. He said before, "This is the time and place to rest, to give rest to the weary. This is the place to lay down your burden." But they won't listen.

13 So God will start over with the simple basics and address them in baby talk, one syllable at a time - "Da, da, da, da, blah, blah, blah, blah. That's a good little girl, that's a good little boy." And like toddlers, they will get up and fall down, get bruised and confused and lost.

14 Now listen to God's Message, you scoffers, you who rule this people in Jerusalem.

15 You say, "We've taken out good life insurance. We've hedged all our bets, covered all our bases. No disaster can touch us. We've thought of everything. We're advised by the experts. We're set." The Meaning of the Stone

16 But the Master, God, has something to say to this: "Watch closely. I'm laying a foundation in Zion, a solid granite foundation, squared and true. And this is the meaning of the stone: a trusting life won't topple.

17 I'll make justice the measuring stick and righteousness the plumb line for the building. A hailstorm will knock down the shantytown of lies, and a flash flood will wash out the rubble.

18 "Then you'll see that your precious life insurance policy wasn't worth the paper it was written on. Your careful precautions against death were a pack of illusions and lies. When the disaster happens, you'll be crushed by it.

19 Every time disaster comes, you'll be in on it - disaster in the morning, disaster at night." Every report of disaster will send you cowering in terror.

20 There will be no place where you can rest, nothing to hide under.

21 God will rise to full stature, raging as he did long ago on Mount Perazim And in the valley of Gibeon against the Philistines. But this time it's against you. Hard to believe, but true. Not what you'd expect, but it's coming.

22 Sober up, friends, and don't scoff. Scoffing will just make it worse. I've heard the orders issued for destruction, orders from God-of-the-Angel-Armies - ending up in an international disaster.

23 Listen to me now. Give me your closest attention.

24 Do farmers plow and plow and do nothing but plow? Or harrow and harrow and do nothing but harrow?

25 After they've prepared the ground, don't they plant? Don't they scatter dill and spread cumin, Plant wheat and barley in the fields and raspberries along the borders?

26 They know exactly what to do and when to do it. Their God is their teacher.

27 And at the harvest, the delicate herbs and spices, the dill and cumin, are treated delicately.

28 n the other hand, wheat is threshed and milled, but still not endlessly. The farmer knows how to treat each kind of grain.

29 He's learned it all from God-of-the-Angel-Armies, who knows everything about when and how and where.