28:1 The splendid crown of Ephraim’s drunkards is doomed,
the withering flower, its beautiful splendor,
situated
the crown of those overcome with wine.
28:2 Look, the sovereign master
With the force of a hailstorm or a destructive windstorm,
with the might of a driving, torrential rainstorm,
he will knock that crown
28:3 The splendid crown of Ephraim’s drunkards
will be trampled underfoot.
28:4 The withering flower, its beautiful splendor,
situated at the head of a rich valley,
will be like an early fig before harvest –
as soon as someone notices it,
he grabs it and swallows it.
28:5 At that time
and a splendid diadem for the remnant of his people.
28:6 He will give discernment to the one who makes judicial decisions,
and strength to those who defend the city from attackers.
28:7 Even these men
they stumble around because of beer –
priests and prophets stagger because of beer,
they are confused
they stumble around because of beer;
they stagger while seeing prophetic visions,
they totter while making legal decisions.
28:8 Indeed, all the tables are covered with vomit;
no place is untouched.
28:9 Who is the Lord
To whom is he explaining a message?
Those just weaned from milk!
Those just taken from their mother’s breast!
28:10 Indeed, they will hear meaningless gibberish,
senseless babbling,
a syllable here, a syllable there.
28:11 For with mocking lips and a foreign tongue
he will speak to these people.
28:12 In the past he said to them,
“This is where security can be found.
Provide security for the one who is exhausted!
This is where rest can be found.”
But they refused to listen.
28:13 So the Lord’s word to them will sound like
meaningless gibberish,
senseless babbling,
a syllable here, a syllable there.
As a result, they will fall on their backsides when they try to walk,
and be injured, ensnared, and captured.
28:14 Therefore, listen to the Lord’s word,
you who mock,
you rulers of these people
who reside in Jerusalem!
28:15 For you say,
“We have made a treaty with death,
with Sheol
When the overwhelming judgment sweeps by
it will not reach us.
For we have made a lie our refuge,
we have hidden ourselves in a deceitful word.”
28:16 Therefore, this is what the sovereign master, the Lord, says:
“Look, I am laying
an approved
set in place as a precious cornerstone for the foundation.
The one who maintains his faith will not panic.
28:17 I will make justice the measuring line,
fairness the plumb line;
hail will sweep away the unreliable refuge,
the floodwaters will overwhelm the hiding place.
28:18 Your treaty with death will be dissolved;
your agreement
When the overwhelming judgment sweeps by,
you will be overrun by it.
28:19 Whenever it sweeps by, it will overtake you;
indeed,
it will come through during the day and the night.”
When this announcement is understood,
it will cause nothing but terror.
28:20 For the bed is too short to stretch out on,
and the blanket is too narrow to wrap around oneself.
28:21 For the Lord will rise up, as he did at Mount Perazim,
he will rouse himself, as he did in the Valley of Gibeon,
to accomplish his work,
his peculiar work,
to perform his task,
his strange task.
28:22 So now, do not mock,
or your chains will become heavier!
For I have heard a message about decreed destruction,
from the sovereign master, the Lord who commands armies, against the entire land.
28:23 Pay attention and listen to my message!
Be attentive and listen to what I have to say!
28:24 Does a farmer just keep on plowing at planting time?
Does he keep breaking up and harrowing his ground?
28:25 Once he has leveled its surface,
does he not scatter the seed of the caraway plant,
sow the seed of the cumin plant,
and plant the wheat, barley, and grain in their designated places?
28:26 His God instructs him;
he teaches him the principles of agriculture.
28:27 Certainly
nor is the wheel of a cart rolled over cumin seed.
Certainly caraway seed is beaten with a stick,
and cumin seed with a flail.
28:28 Grain is crushed,
though one certainly does not thresh it forever.
The wheel of one’s wagon rolls over it,
but his horses do not crush it.
28:29 This also comes from the Lord who commands armies,
who gives supernatural guidance and imparts great wisdom.
29:1 Ariel is as good as dead
Ariel, the town David besieged!
Keep observing your annual rituals,
celebrate your festivals on schedule.
29:2 I will threaten Ariel,
and she will mourn intensely
and become like an altar hearth
29:3 I will lay siege to you on all sides;
I will besiege you with troops;
I will raise siege works against you.
29:4 You will fall;
while lying on the ground
from the dust where you lie, your words will be heard.
Your voice will sound like a spirit speaking from the underworld;
from the dust you will chirp as if muttering an incantation.
29:5 But the horde of invaders will be like fine dust,
the horde of tyrants
It will happen suddenly, in a flash.
29:6 Judgment will come from the Lord who commands armies,
accompanied by thunder, earthquake, and a loud noise,
by a strong gale, a windstorm, and a consuming flame of fire.
29:7 It will be like a dream, a night vision.
There will be a horde from all the nations that fight against Ariel,
those who attack her and her stronghold and besiege her.
29:8 It will be like a hungry man dreaming that he is eating,
only to awaken and find that his stomach is empty.
It will be like a thirsty man dreaming that he is drinking,
only to awaken and find that he is still weak and his thirst unquenched.
So it will be for the horde from all the nations
that fight against Mount Zion.
29:9 You will be shocked and amazed!
You are totally blind!
They are drunk,
they stagger,
29:10 For the Lord has poured out on you
a strong urge to sleep deeply.
He has shut your eyes (the prophets),
and covered your heads (the seers).
29:11 To you this entire prophetic revelation
29:13 The sovereign master
“These people say they are loyal to me;
they say wonderful things about me,
but they are not really loyal to me.
Their worship consists of
nothing but man-made ritual.
29:14 Therefore I will again do an amazing thing for these people –
an absolutely extraordinary deed.
Wise men will have nothing to say,
the sages will have no explanations.”
29:15 Those who try to hide their plans from the Lord are as good as dead,
who do their work in secret and boast,
“Who sees us? Who knows what we’re doing?”
29:16 Your thinking is perverse!
Should the potter be regarded as clay?
Should the thing made say
Or should the pottery say about the potter, “He doesn’t understand”?
29:17 In just a very short time
Lebanon will turn into an orchard,
and the orchard will be considered a forest.
29:18 At that time
and the eyes of the blind will be able to see through deep darkness.
29:19 The downtrodden will again rejoice in the Lord;
the poor among humankind will take delight
29:20 For tyrants will disappear,
those who taunt will vanish,
and all those who love to do wrong will be eliminated
29:21 those who bear false testimony against a person,
who entrap the one who arbitrates at the city gate
and deprive the innocent of justice by making false charges.
29:22 So this is what the Lord, the one who delivered Abraham, says to the family of Jacob:
“Jacob will no longer be ashamed;
their faces will no longer show their embarrassment.
29:23 For when they see their children,
whom I will produce among them,
they will honor
They will honor the Holy One of Jacob;
they will respect
29:24 Those who stray morally will gain understanding;
those who complain will acquire insight.
30:1 “The rebellious
“those who make plans without consulting me,
who form alliances without consulting my Spirit,
and thereby compound their sin.
30:2 They travel down to Egypt
without seeking my will,
seeking Pharaoh’s protection,
and looking for safety in Egypt’s protective shade.
30:3 But Pharaoh’s protection will bring you nothing but shame,
and the safety of Egypt’s protective shade nothing but humiliation.
30:4 Though his
and his messengers arrive at Hanes,
30:5 all will be put to shame
because of a nation that cannot help them,
who cannot give them aid or help,
but only shame and disgrace.”
30:6 This is a message
Through a land of distress and danger,
inhabited by lionesses and roaring lions,
by snakes and darting adders,
they transport
their riches on the humps of camels,
to a nation that cannot help them.
30:7 Egypt is totally incapable of helping.
For this reason I call her
‘Proud one
30:8 Now go, write it
inscribe it on a scroll,
so that it might be preserved for a future time
as an enduring witness.
30:9 For these are rebellious people –
they are lying children,
children unwilling to obey the Lord’s law.
30:10 They
and to the seers, “Don’t relate messages to us about what is right!
Tell us nice things,
relate deceptive messages.
30:11 Turn aside from the way,
stray off the path.
Remove from our presence the Holy One of Israel.”
30:12 For this reason this is what the Holy One of Israel says:
“You have rejected this message;
you trust instead in your ability to oppress and trick,
and rely on that kind of behavior.
30:13 So this sin will become your downfall.
You will be like a high wall
that bulges and cracks and is ready to collapse;
it crumbles suddenly, in a flash.
30:14 It shatters in pieces like a clay jar,
so shattered to bits that none of it can be salvaged.
Among its fragments one cannot find a shard large enough
to scoop a hot coal from a fire
or to skim off water from a cistern.”
30:15 For this is what the master, the Lord, the Holy One of Israel says:
“If you repented and patiently waited for me, you would be delivered;
if you calmly trusted in me you would find strength,
but you are unwilling.
30:16 You say, ‘No, we will flee on horses,’
so you will indeed flee.
You say, ‘We will ride on fast horses,’
so your pursuers will be fast.
30:17 One thousand will scurry at the battle cry of one enemy soldier;
at the battle cry of five enemy soldiers you will all run away,
until the remaining few are as isolated
as a flagpole on a mountaintop
or a signal flag on a hill.”
30:18 For this reason the Lord is ready to show you mercy;
he sits on his throne, ready to have compassion on you.
Indeed, the Lord is a just God;
all who wait for him in faith will be blessed.
30:19 For people will live in Zion;
in Jerusalem
When he hears your cry of despair, he will indeed show you mercy;
when he hears it, he will respond to you.
30:20 The sovereign master
and suffering to drink;
but your teachers will no longer be hidden;
your eyes will see them.
30:21 You
“This is the correct
whether you are heading to the right or the left.
30:22 You will desecrate your silver-plated idols
and your gold-plated images.
You will throw them away as if they were a menstrual rag,
saying to them, “Get out!”
30:23 He will water the seed you plant in the ground,
and the ground will produce crops in abundance.
At that time
30:24 The oxen and donkeys used in plowing
will eat seasoned feed winnowed with a shovel and pitchfork.
30:25 On every high mountain
and every high hill
there will be streams flowing with water,
at the time of
30:26 The light of the full moon will be like the sun’s glare
and the sun’s glare will be seven times brighter,
like the light of seven days,
when the Lord binds up his people’s fractured bones
and heals their severe wound.
30:27 Look, the name
in raging anger and awesome splendor.
He speaks angrily
and his word is like destructive fire.
30:28 His battle cry overwhelms like a flooding river
that reaches one’s neck.
He shakes the nations in a sieve that isolates the chaff;
he puts a bit into the mouth of the nations and leads them to destruction.
30:29 You will sing
as you do in the evening when you are celebrating a festival.
You will be happy like one who plays a flute
as he goes to the mountain of the Lord, the Rock who shelters Israel.
30:30 The Lord will give a mighty shout
and intervene in power,
with furious anger and flaming, destructive fire,
with a driving rainstorm and hailstones.
30:31 Indeed, the Lord’s shout will shatter Assyria;
he will beat them with a club.
30:32 Every blow from his punishing cudgel,
with which the Lord will beat them,
will be accompanied by music from the
and he will attack them with his weapons.
30:33 For
it has been made deep and wide for the king.
The firewood is piled high on it.
The Lord’s breath, like a stream flowing with brimstone,
will ignite it.
31:1 Those who go down to Egypt for help are as good as dead,
those who rely on war horses,
and trust in Egypt’s many chariots
and in their many, many horsemen.
But they do not rely on the Holy One of Israel
and do not seek help from the Lord.
31:2 Yet he too is wise
he does not retract his decree.
He will attack the wicked nation,
and the nation that helps
31:3 The Egyptians are mere humans, not God;
their horses are made of flesh, not spirit.
The Lord will strike with
the one who helps will stumble
and the one being helped will fall.
Together they will perish.
31:4 Indeed, this is what the Lord says to me:
“The Lord will be like a growling lion,
like a young lion growling over its prey.
Though a whole group of shepherds gathers against it,
it is not afraid of their shouts
or intimidated by their yelling.
In this same way the Lord who commands armies will descend
to do battle on Mount Zion and on its hill.
31:5 Just as birds hover over a nest,
so the Lord who commands armies will protect Jerusalem.
He will protect and deliver it;
as he passes over
31:6 You Israelites! Return to the one against whom you have so blatantly rebelled!
31:8 Assyria will fall by a sword, but not one human-made;
a sword not made by humankind will destroy them.
They will run away from this sword
and their young men will be forced to do hard labor.
31:9 They will surrender their stronghold
their officers will be afraid of the Lord’s battle flag.”
This is what the Lord says –
the one whose fire is in Zion,
whose firepot is in Jerusalem.
32:1 Look, a king will promote fairness;
officials will promote justice.
32:2 Each of them
and a refuge from a rainstorm;
like streams of water in a dry region
and like the shade of a large cliff in a parched land.
32:3 Eyes
and ears
32:4 The mind that acts rashly will possess discernment
and the tongue that stutters will speak with ease and clarity.
32:5 A fool will no longer be called honorable;
a deceiver will no longer be called principled.
32:6 For a fool speaks disgraceful things;
his mind plans out sinful deeds.
He commits godless deeds
and says misleading things about the Lord;
he gives the hungry nothing to satisfy their appetite
and gives the thirsty nothing to drink.
32:7 A deceiver’s methods are evil;
he dreams up evil plans
to ruin the poor with lies,
even when the needy are in the right.
32:8 An honorable man makes honorable plans;
his honorable character gives him security.
32:9 You complacent
get up and listen to me!
You carefree
pay attention to what I say!
32:10 In a year’s time
you carefree ones will shake with fear,
for the grape
and the fruit harvest will not arrive.
32:11 Tremble, you complacent ones!
Shake with fear, you carefree ones!
Strip off your clothes and expose yourselves –
put sackcloth on your waist!
32:12 Mourn over the field,
over the delightful fields
and the fruitful vine!
32:13 Mourn
which is overgrown with thorns and briers,
and over all the once-happy houses
in the city filled with revelry.
32:14 For the fortress is neglected;
the once-crowded
Hill
are permanently uninhabited.
Wild donkeys love to go there,
and flocks graze there.
32:15 This desolation will continue until new life is poured out on us from heaven.
Then the desert will become an orchard
and the orchard will be considered a forest.
32:16 Justice will settle down in the desert
and fairness will live in the orchard.
32:17 Fairness will produce peace
and result in lasting security.
32:18 My people will live in peaceful settlements,
in secure homes,
and in safe, quiet places.
32:19 Even if the forest is destroyed
and the city is annihilated,
32:20 you will be blessed,
you who plant seed by all the banks of the streams,
you who let your ox and donkey graze.
33:1 The destroyer is as good as dead,
you who have not been destroyed!
The deceitful one is as good as dead,
the one whom others have not deceived!
When you are through destroying, you will be destroyed;
when you finish
33:2 Lord, be merciful to us! We wait for you.
Give us strength each morning!
Deliver us when distress comes.
33:3 The nations run away when they hear a loud noise;
the nations scatter when you spring into action!
33:4 Your plunder
they swarm over it like locusts!
33:5 The Lord is exalted,
indeed,
he fills Zion with justice and fairness.
33:6 He is your constant source of stability;
he abundantly provides safety and great wisdom;
he gives all this to those who fear him.
33:7 Look, ambassadors
messengers sent to make peace
33:8 Highways are empty,
there are no travelers.
Treaties are broken,
witnesses are despised,
human life is treated with disrespect.
33:9 The land
the forest of Lebanon shrivels up
Sharon
Bashan and Carmel
33:10 “Now I will rise up,” says the Lord.
“Now I will exalt myself;
now I will magnify myself.
33:11 You conceive straw,
you give birth to chaff;
your breath is a fire that destroys you.
33:12 The nations will be burned to ashes;
like thorn bushes that have been cut down, they will be set on fire.
33:13 You who are far away, listen to what I have done!
You who are close by, recognize my strength!”
33:14 Sinners are afraid in Zion;
panic
They say,
Who among us can coexist with unquenchable
33:15 The one who lives
and speaks honestly;
the one who refuses to profit from oppressive measures
and rejects a bribe;
the one who does not plot violent crimes
and does not seek to harm others
33:16 This is the person who will live in a secure place;
he will find safety in the rocky, mountain strongholds;
he will have food
and a constant supply of water.
33:17 You will see a king in his splendor;
you will see a wide land.
33:18 Your mind will recall the terror you experienced,
and you will ask yourselves,
Where is the one who weighs the money?
Where is the one who counts the towers?”
33:19 You will no longer see a defiant
whose language you do not comprehend,
whose derisive speech you do not understand.
33:20 Look at Zion, the city where we hold religious festivals!
You
a peaceful settlement,
a tent that stays put;
its stakes will never be pulled up;
none of its ropes will snap in two.
33:21 Instead the Lord will rule there as our mighty king.
Rivers and wide streams will flow through it;
no war galley will enter;
no large ships will sail through.
33:22 For the Lord, our ruler,
the Lord, our commander,
the Lord, our king –
he will deliver us.
33:23 Though at this time your ropes are slack,
the mast is not secured,
and the sail
at that time you will divide up a great quantity of loot;
even the lame will drag off plunder.
33:24 No resident of Zion
the people who live there will have their sin forgiven.