seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Isaiah 28:1 Woe to that wreath, the pride of Ephraim’s drunkards,
to the fading flower, his glorious beauty,
set on the head of a fertile valley—
to that city, the pride of those laid low by wine!
2 See, the Lord has one who is powerful and strong.
Like a hailstorm and a destructive wind,
like a driving rain and a flooding downpour,
he will throw it forcefully to the ground.
3 That wreath, the pride of Ephraim’s drunkards,
will be trampled underfoot.
4 That fading flower, his glorious beauty,
set on the head of a fertile valley,
will be like figs ripe before harvest—
as soon as people see them and take them in hand,
they swallow them.
to the fading flower, his glorious beauty,
set on the head of a fertile valley—
to that city, the pride of those laid low by wine!
2 See, the Lord has one who is powerful and strong.
Like a hailstorm and a destructive wind,
like a driving rain and a flooding downpour,
he will throw it forcefully to the ground.
3 That wreath, the pride of Ephraim’s drunkards,
will be trampled underfoot.
4 That fading flower, his glorious beauty,
set on the head of a fertile valley,
will be like figs ripe before harvest—
as soon as people see them and take them in hand,
they swallow them.
5 In that day the Lord Almighty
will be a glorious crown,
a beautiful wreath
for the remnant of his people.
6 He will be a spirit of justice
to the one who sits in judgment,
a source of strength
to those who turn back the battle at the gate.
will be a glorious crown,
a beautiful wreath
for the remnant of his people.
6 He will be a spirit of justice
to the one who sits in judgment,
a source of strength
to those who turn back the battle at the gate.
7 And these also stagger from wine
and reel from beer:
Priests and prophets stagger from beer
and are befuddled with wine;
they reel from beer,
they stagger when seeing visions,
they stumble when rendering decisions.
8 All the tables are covered with vomit
and there is not a spot without filth.
and reel from beer:
Priests and prophets stagger from beer
and are befuddled with wine;
they reel from beer,
they stagger when seeing visions,
they stumble when rendering decisions.
8 All the tables are covered with vomit
and there is not a spot without filth.
9 “Who is it he is trying to teach?
To whom is he explaining his message?
To children weaned from their milk,
to those just taken from the breast?
10 For it is:
Do this, do that,
a rule for this, a rule for that[a];
a little here, a little there.”
To whom is he explaining his message?
To children weaned from their milk,
to those just taken from the breast?
10 For it is:
Do this, do that,
a rule for this, a rule for that[a];
a little here, a little there.”
11 Very well then, with foreign lips and strange tongues
God will speak to this people,
12 to whom he said,
“This is the resting place, let the weary rest”;
and, “This is the place of repose”—
but they would not listen.
13 So then, the word of the Lord to them will become:
Do this, do that,
a rule for this, a rule for that;
a little here, a little there—
so that as they go they will fall backward;
they will be injured and snared and captured.
God will speak to this people,
12 to whom he said,
“This is the resting place, let the weary rest”;
and, “This is the place of repose”—
but they would not listen.
13 So then, the word of the Lord to them will become:
Do this, do that,
a rule for this, a rule for that;
a little here, a little there—
so that as they go they will fall backward;
they will be injured and snared and captured.
14 Therefore hear the word of the Lord, you scoffers
who rule this people in Jerusalem.
15 You boast, “We have entered into a covenant with death,
with the realm of the dead we have made an agreement.
When an overwhelming scourge sweeps by,
it cannot touch us,
for we have made a lie our refuge
and falsehood[b] our hiding place.”
who rule this people in Jerusalem.
15 You boast, “We have entered into a covenant with death,
with the realm of the dead we have made an agreement.
When an overwhelming scourge sweeps by,
it cannot touch us,
for we have made a lie our refuge
and falsehood[b] our hiding place.”
16 So this is what the Sovereign Lord says:
“See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone,
a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation;
the one who relies on it
will never be stricken with panic.
17 I will make justice the measuring line
and righteousness the plumb line;
hail will sweep away your refuge, the lie,
and water will overflow your hiding place.
18 Your covenant with death will be annulled;
your agreement with the realm of the dead will not stand.
When the overwhelming scourge sweeps by,
you will be beaten down by it.
19 As often as it comes it will carry you away;
morning after morning, by day and by night,
it will sweep through.”
a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation;
the one who relies on it
will never be stricken with panic.
17 I will make justice the measuring line
and righteousness the plumb line;
hail will sweep away your refuge, the lie,
and water will overflow your hiding place.
18 Your covenant with death will be annulled;
your agreement with the realm of the dead will not stand.
When the overwhelming scourge sweeps by,
you will be beaten down by it.
19 As often as it comes it will carry you away;
morning after morning, by day and by night,
it will sweep through.”
The understanding of this message
will bring sheer terror.
20 The bed is too short to stretch out on,
the blanket too narrow to wrap around you.
21 The Lord will rise up as he did at Mount Perazim,
he will rouse himself as in the Valley of Gibeon—
to do his work, his strange work,
and perform his task, his alien task.
22 Now stop your mocking,
or your chains will become heavier;
the Lord, the Lord Almighty, has told me
of the destruction decreed against the whole land.
will bring sheer terror.
20 The bed is too short to stretch out on,
the blanket too narrow to wrap around you.
21 The Lord will rise up as he did at Mount Perazim,
he will rouse himself as in the Valley of Gibeon—
to do his work, his strange work,
and perform his task, his alien task.
22 Now stop your mocking,
or your chains will become heavier;
the Lord, the Lord Almighty, has told me
of the destruction decreed against the whole land.
23 Listen and hear my voice;
pay attention and hear what I say.
24 When a farmer plows for planting, does he plow continually?
Does he keep on breaking up and working the soil?
25 When he has leveled the surface,
does he not sow caraway and scatter cumin?
Does he not plant wheat in its place,[c]
barley in its plot,[d]
and spelt in its field?
26 His God instructs him
and teaches him the right way.
pay attention and hear what I say.
24 When a farmer plows for planting, does he plow continually?
Does he keep on breaking up and working the soil?
25 When he has leveled the surface,
does he not sow caraway and scatter cumin?
Does he not plant wheat in its place,[c]
barley in its plot,[d]
and spelt in its field?
26 His God instructs him
and teaches him the right way.
27 Caraway is not threshed with a sledge,
nor is the wheel of a cart rolled over cumin;
caraway is beaten out with a rod,
and cumin with a stick.
28 Grain must be ground to make bread;
so one does not go on threshing it forever.
The wheels of a threshing cart may be rolled over it,
but one does not use horses to grind grain.
29 All this also comes from the Lord Almighty,
whose plan is wonderful,
whose wisdom is magnificent.
nor is the wheel of a cart rolled over cumin;
caraway is beaten out with a rod,
and cumin with a stick.
28 Grain must be ground to make bread;
so one does not go on threshing it forever.
The wheels of a threshing cart may be rolled over it,
but one does not use horses to grind grain.
29 All this also comes from the Lord Almighty,
whose plan is wonderful,
whose wisdom is magnificent.
a. Isaiah 28:10 Hebrew / sav lasav sav lasav / kav lakav kav lakav (probably meaningless sounds mimicking the prophet’s words); also in verse 13
b. Isaiah 28:15 Or false gods
c. Isaiah 28:25 The meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain.
d. Isaiah 28:25 The meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain.
Wow... the easy English site has a lot to say this morning.
Verse 1 ‘There will be a very sad day’ is just one word in the Hebrew Bible. It is ‘hoy’. By means of that word, Isaiah asks us to give our attention to Ephraim. This is because something bad will happen to Ephraim. Ephraim is another name for Israel, the country that was north from Judah. ‘A crown of [which its people are] proud’ is poetry. It describes Ephraim’s capital, which was Samaria city. The city was on a hill, and it had many valleys round it. They all produced good crops of food. But Isaiah said that Samaria’s glory would not last. It would be like a flower that dies. He was right! ‘B.C.’ means ‘years Before Christ came to the earth’. In 722 B.C., armies from Assyria destroyed Samaria. And they took the people away from their own country, Israel. ‘Glory’ here is something wonderful that makes people proud. The people in the city are proud because that city is so great. ‘Wine makes its people fall over’ is poetry. It means ‘its people are drunk’. Those words show that their behaviour disgusts Isaiah. It also disgusted Amos. (Look in Amos 4:1 and 6:6.) He wrote his book a few years before Isaiah.
Verse 4 Here is another description. A ‘fig’ is a fairly small sweet fruit with many small seeds in it. When someone swallows a fig, it disappears completely. And that will happen to Israel’s leaders too. They will disappear! Some poor people will remain (verse 5).
Verse 7 The leaders are drunks. Alcohol makes them fall over when they walk. It confuses their minds when they make decisions. Some Bible students translate the last sentence as ‘drink flowed out of them’. That would link well with verse 8, because this is a drink of alcohol. But we may wonder who the leaders are. Some Bible students link verses 7-13 with verses 1-6, which are about Ephraim (Israel). Other Bible students link verses 7-13 with verses 14-22, which are about Judah and Jerusalem. This translation follows the second choice. The ‘decisions’ would then mean the agreement with the leaders of Egypt. ‘Prophets’ told people what God was saying. But here, the prophets were not true prophets like Isaiah. They were false prophets, who had not listened to God. In Hebrew, ‘listen’ also means ‘obey’!
Verse 9 ‘He’ here is Isaiah. He tried to tell Judah’s leaders that they were wrong to agree with Egypt’s leaders. In the Hebrew text, Judah’s leaders actually asked four questions. ‘To whom is he teaching knowledge? To whom is he explaining his message? [In his opinion, are we babies] that do not drink milk any more? Have we just come from [our mother’s] breast?’ All four questions in this verse mean ‘To whom is Isaiah telling this?’ Clearly, the answer is the leaders of Judah, who are in Jerusalem. But Isaiah’s words sounded like nonsense to them. It was as if he was talking to very small children (verse 10). So they wondered whether he could really be talking to them.
Do this. Do not do that. Do this. Do not do that.
Rules and no rules. Rules and no rules.
A little here, a little there.
Verse 11 Now Isaiah answers the leaders like this. ‘You think that my words are nonsense. But God himself will speak to you what sounds like nonsense!’ Here ‘he’ is the LORD, who gives the promises in verse 12. There are similar promises in Deuteronomy 12:10. The foreign language is probably Assyrian (the language that people spoke in the country called Assyria). Assyria’s people became more powerful between 750 and 700 B.C. In 732 to 721 B.C. armies from Assyria defeated Israel’s army. In 701 B.C. they attacked Jerusalem, but they did not defeat its people. However, the people could hear the strange language that the soldiers from Assyria spoke.
Verse 12 Some Bible students think that Isaiah meant ‘rest’ from politics. In other words, he meant this. ‘Do not agree with Egypt to oppose Assyria. Only the LORD can make you really safe.’ The word ‘listen’ in Hebrew means this. ‘Hear and obey.’
Verse 13 Isaiah’s words sounded like nonsense to Jerusalem’s leaders. In the future, the same would happen with God’s words. His words would also sound like nonsense to them. ‘Go’ probably means this. ‘Go to Egypt so that you can get help to fight against Assyria.’ But the leaders would ‘fall over’. That is, their plan would finally fail.
Verse 16 The leaders are really saying, ‘We put our trust in lies’ (verse 15). So here is God’s answer to that. God says that he has already given Zion (Jerusalem) to them. He has given it as a shelter from the enemy. The first stone that people lay in a building is a stone in the foundation (base for the building). Usually, people cannot see it. It is below the ground. You cannot see God, but he is there. You can build on his promises.
Verse 18 Again, God gives an answer to what the leaders had decided in verse 15. They had agreed that Egypt’s army would help them. But there would be no help. The army from Assyria would not pass by. It would beat Judah’s people down. In other words, it would defeat Judah. Again, instead of ‘the flood will drown you’, some translations have this. ‘The whip will beat you down.’ The meaning is the same. An enemy will defeat Judah. Actually, Assyria’s army did much damage to Judah, but it did not destroy Jerusalem. It was Babylon’s army that defeated Judah and Jerusalem, over 100 years later. Then Babylon’s army took the people into exile. But during those 100 years, Jerusalem was under Assyria’s control.
Verse 26 This verse is very short. In the Hebrew Bible, it is just 4 words. ‘The right [thing] to do’ probably means ‘what is right in the circumstances’. Read Exodus 31:1-6, where there is something similar. In this verse, we learn that skill is a gift from God. It reminds us about a traditional idea that God told farmers what to do.
Stupid humans..... When I was in Sunday School, as a child, I was taught humans made stupid laws that humans just couldn't obey. Suppose it's Sunday, the day of rest, and your kid gets sick..... back in the day.... when this was written.... you couldn't help your kid until Monday. Rest meant you couldn't even make a cool compress for you sick baby's forehead. The politicians were making decisions without consulting God in a Theocratic kingdom. God is the where the buck stops in a Theocratic kingdom. God only let them have a king because everyone else had one and they wanted to be like everyone else. So.... when humans got to be king... they got a big head and they stopped asking God what to do.... they just made up plans of their own and went with it..... Stupid Humans didn't get it....
So "do this.... don't do that"..... Stupid humans make stupid decisions...... but the biggest blunder they made was to take the Theo out of Theocracy.
