28:1 Woe 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 ①fertile valley
Of those who are ②overcome with wine!
▷ ①Lit valley of fatness ②Lit stricken
28:2 Behold, 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.
28:3 The splendid crown of the habitually drunk of Ephraim is trampled underfoot.
28:4 And the fading flower of its glorious beauty,
Which is at the head of the ①fertile valley,
Will be like the first-ripe fig prior to the summer,
Which ②one sees,
And ③as soon as it is in his ④hand,
He swallows it.
▷ ①Lit valley of fatness ②Lit the one seeing sees ③Lit while it is yet ④Lit palm
28:5 On that day the LORD of armies will become a beautiful crown
And a glorious wreath to the remnant of His people;
28:6 A spirit of justice for him who sits in judgment,
A strength to those who repel the ①onslaught at the gate.
▷ ①Lit battle
28:7 And 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 ①having visions,
They stagger when rendering a verdict.
▷ ①Lit seeing
28:8 For all the tables are full of filthy vomit, without a single clean place.
28:9 “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?
28:10 For He says,
‘ ①Order on order, order on order,
Line on line, line on line,
A little here, a little there.’ ”
▷ ①Heb Sav lasav, sav lasav, Kav lakav, kav lakav, Zeer sham, zeer sham. These Hebrew fragments, imitating the babbling of a child, mock the prophet’s preaching.
28:11 Indeed, He will speak to this people
Through stammering lips and a foreign tongue,
28:12 He 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.
28:13 So the word of the LORD to them will be,
“ ①Order 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.
▷ ①See note v 10. The LORD responds to their scoffing by imitating their mockery, to represent the unintelligible language of a conqueror.
28:14 Therefore, hear the word of the LORD, you scoffers,
Who rule this people who are in Jerusalem,
28:15 Because you have said, “We have made a covenant with death,
And with ①Sheol we have made a ②pact.
The ③gushing flood will not reach us when it passes by,
Because we have made falsehood our refuge and we have concealed ourselves with deception.”
▷ ①I.e., the netherworld ②As in some ancient versions; MT seer ③Or overwhelming scourge
28:16 Therefore this is what the Lord ①GOD says:
“Behold, I am laying a stone in Zion, a tested stone,
A precious cornerstone for the foundation, ②firmly placed.
The one who believes in it will not be ③disturbed.
▷ ①Heb YHWH, usually rendered LORD ②Lit well-laid ③Lit in a hurry
28:17 I 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.
28:18 Your covenant with death will be ①canceled,
And your pact with Sheol will not stand;
When the ②gushing flood passes through,
Then you will become its trampling ground.
▷ ①Lit covered over ②Or overwhelming scourge
28:19 As often as it passes through, it will ①seize you;
For morning after morning it will pass through, anytime during the day or night,
And it will be ②sheer terror to understand ③what it means.”
▷ ①Lit take ②Lit only ③Lit the report; or the message
28:20 The bed is too short on which to stretch out,
And the blanket is too ①small to wrap oneself in.
▷ ①Lit narrow
28:21 For 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 ①unusual task,
And to work His work, His ②extraordinary work.
▷ ①Lit task is strange ②Lit work is foreign
28:22 And now do not carry on as scoffers,
Or your shackles will be made stronger;
For I have heard from the Lord ①GOD of armies
Of decisive destruction on all the earth.
▷ ①Heb YHWH, usually rendered LORD
28:23 Listen and hear my voice,
Pay attention and hear my words.
28:24 Does the ①farmer plow ②continually to plant seed?
Does he continually ③turn and break up his ground?
▷ ①Lit plowman ②Lit all day ③Lit open
28:25 Does he not level its surface
And sow dill and scatter cumin
And ①plant wheat in rows,
Barley in its place and rye within its ②area?
▷ ①Lit put ②Lit region
28:26 For his God instructs and teaches him properly.
28:27 For dill is not threshed with a threshing sledge,
Nor is the cartwheel ①driven over cumin;
But dill is beaten out with a rod, and cumin with a club.
▷ ①Lit rolled
28:28 Grain for bread is crushed,
Indeed, he does not continue to thresh it forever.
Because the wheel of his cart and his horses eventually ①damage it,
He does not thresh it longer.
▷ ①Lit discomfit
28:29 This also comes from the LORD of armies,
Who has made His counsel wonderful and His wisdom great.