Isaiah Chapter 27 to 29 : English Standard Version   | SearchSearch | Next Version | Previous Page | Next Page |

Other Versions27 The Redemption of Israel

27:1 In that day the Lord with his hard and great and strong sword will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent, Leviathan the twisting serpent, and he will slay the dragon that is in the sea.

2In that day, “A pleasant vineyard,[1] sing of it! 3  I, the Lord, am its keeper; every moment I water it. Lest anyone punish it, I keep it night and day; 4  I have no wrath. Would that I had thorns and briers to battle! I would march against them, I would burn them up together. 5Or let them lay hold of my protection, let them make peace with me, let them make peace with me.”

6In days to come[2] Jacob shall take root, Israel shall blossom and put forth shoots and fill the whole world with fruit.

7Has he struck them as he struck those who struck them? Or have they been slain as their slayers were slain? 8Measure by measure,[3] by exile you contended with them; he removed them with his fierce breath[4] in the day of the east wind. 9Therefore by this the guilt of Jacob will be atoned for, and this will be the full fruit of the removal of his sin:[5] when he makes all the stones of the altars like chalkstones crushed to pieces, no Asherim or incense altars will remain standing. 10For the fortified city is solitary, a habitation deserted and forsaken, like the wilderness; there the calf grazes; there it lies down and strips its branches. 11When its boughs are dry, they are broken; women come and make a fire of them. For this is a people without discernment; therefore he who made them will not have compassion on them; he who formed them will show them no favor.

12In that day from the river Euphrates to the Brook of Egypt the Lord will thresh out the grain, and you will be gleaned one by one, O people of Israel. 13And in that day a great trumpet will be blown, and those who were lost in the land of Assyria and those who were driven out to the land of Egypt will come and worship the Lord on the holy mountain at Jerusalem.

[1] Many Hebrew manuscripts a vineyard of wine  [2] Hebrew In those to come  [3] Or By driving her away; the meaning of the Hebrew word is uncertain  [4] Or wind  [5] Septuagint and this is the blessing when I take away his sin


28 Judgment on Ephraim and Jerusalem

28:1 Ah, the proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim, and the fading flower of its glorious beauty, which is on the head of the rich valley of those overcome with wine! 2Behold, the Lord has one who is mighty and strong; like a storm of hail, a destroying tempest, like a storm of mighty, overflowing waters, he casts down to the earth with his hand. 3The proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim will be trodden underfoot; 4and the fading flower of its glorious beauty, which is on the head of the rich valley, will be like a first-ripe fig before the summer: when someone sees it, he swallows it as soon as it is in his hand.

5In that day the Lord of hosts will be a crown of glory,[6] and a diadem of beauty, to the remnant of his people, 6and a spirit of justice to him who sits in judgment, and strength to those who turn back the battle at the gate.

7These also reel with wine and stagger with strong drink; the priest and the prophet reel with strong drink, they are swallowed by[7] wine, they stagger with strong drink, they reel in vision, they stumble in giving judgment. 8For all tables are full of filthy vomit, with no space left.

9“To whom will he teach knowledge, and to whom will he explain the message? Those who are weaned from the milk, those taken from the breast? 10For it is precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little.”

11For by people of strange lips and with a foreign tongue the Lord will speak to this people, 12  to whom he has said, “This is rest; give rest to the weary; and this is repose”; yet they would not hear. 13And the word of the Lord will be to them precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little, that they may go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.

A Cornerstone in Zion

14Therefore hear the word of the Lord, you scoffers, who rule this people in Jerusalem! 15Because you have said, “We have made a covenant with death, and with Sheol we have an agreement, when the overwhelming whip passes through it will not come to us, for we have made lies our refuge, and in falsehood we have taken shelter”; 16therefore thus says the Lord God, “Behold, I am the one who has laid[8] as a foundation in Zion, a stone, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, of a sure foundation: ‘Whoever believes will not be in haste.’ 17And I will make justice the line, and righteousness the plumb line; and hail will sweep away the refuge of lies, and waters will overwhelm the shelter.” 18Then your covenant with death will be annulled, and your agreement with Sheol will not stand; when the overwhelming scourge passes through, you will be beaten down by it. 19As often as it passes through it will take you; for morning by morning it will pass through, by day and by night; and it will be sheer terror to understand the message. 20For the bed is too short to stretch oneself on, and the covering too narrow to wrap oneself in. 21For the Lord will rise up as on Mount Perazim; as in the Valley of Gibeon he will be roused; to do his deed—strange is his deed! and to work his work—alien is his work! 22Now therefore do not scoff, lest your bonds be made strong; for I have heard a decree of destruction from the Lord God of hosts against the whole land.

23Give ear, and hear my voice; give attention, and hear my speech. 24Does he who plows for sowing plow continually? does he continually open and harrow his ground? 25When he has leveled its surface, does he not scatter dill, sow cumin, and put in wheat in rows and barley in its proper place, and emmer[9] as the border? 26For he is rightly instructed; his God teaches him.

27Dill is not threshed with a threshing sledge, nor is a cart wheel rolled over cumin, but dill is beaten out with a stick, and cumin with a rod. 28Does one crush grain for bread? No, he does not thresh it forever;[10] when he drives his cart wheel over it with his horses, he does not crush it. 29This also comes from the Lord of hosts; he is wonderful in counsel and excellent in wisdom.

[6] The Hebrew words for glory and hosts sound alike  [7] Or confused by  [8] Dead Sea Scroll I am laying  [9] A type of wheat  [10] Or Grain is crushed for bread; he will surely thresh it, but not forever


29 The Siege of Jerusalem

29:1 Ah, Ariel, Ariel, the city where David encamped! Add year to year; let the feasts run their round. 2Yet I will distress Ariel, and there shall be moaning and lamentation, and she shall be to me like an Ariel.[11] 3And I will encamp against you all around, and will besiege you with towers and I will raise siegeworks against you. 4And you will be brought low; from the earth you shall speak, and from the dust your speech will be bowed down; your voice shall come from the ground like the voice of a ghost, and from the dust your speech shall whisper.

5But the multitude of your foreign foes shall be like small dust, and the multitude of the ruthless like passing chaff. And in an instant, suddenly, 6  you will be visited by the Lord of hosts with thunder and with earthquake and great noise, with whirlwind and tempest, and the flame of a devouring fire. 7And the multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel, all that fight against her and her stronghold and distress her, shall be like a dream, a vision of the night. 8As when a hungry man dreams he is eating and awakes with his hunger not satisfied, or as when a thirsty man dreams he is drinking and awakes faint, with his thirst not quenched, so shall the multitude of all the nations be that fight against Mount Zion.

9Astonish yourselves[12] and be astonished; blind yourselves and be blind! Be drunk, but not with wine; stagger, but not with strong drink! 10For the Lord has poured out upon you a spirit of deep sleep, and has closed your eyes (the prophets), and covered your heads (the seers). 11And the vision of all this has become to you like the words of a book that is sealed. When men give it to one who can read, saying, “Read this,” he says, “I cannot, for it is sealed.” 12And when they give the book to one who cannot read, saying, “Read this,” he says, “I cannot read.”

13And the Lord said: “Because this people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men, 14therefore, behold, I will again do wonderful things with this people, with wonder upon wonder; and the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the discernment of their discerning men shall be hidden.”

15Ah, you who hide deep from the Lord your counsel, whose deeds are in the dark, and who say, “Who sees us? Who knows us?” 16You turn things upside down! Shall the potter be regarded as the clay, that the thing made should say of its maker, “He did not make me”; or the thing formed say of him who formed it, “He has no understanding”?

17Is it not yet a very little while until Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall be regarded as a forest? 18In that day the deaf shall hear the words of a book, and out of their gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind shall see. 19The meek shall obtain fresh joy in the Lord, and the poor among mankind shall exult in the Holy One of Israel. 20For the ruthless shall come to nothing and the scoffer cease, and all who watch to do evil shall be cut off, 21who by a word make a man out to be an offender, and lay a snare for him who reproves in the gate, and with an empty plea turn aside him who is in the right. 22Therefore thus says the Lord, who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob:

“Jacob shall no more be ashamed, no more shall his face grow pale. 23For when he sees his children, the work of my hands, in his midst, they will sanctify my name; they will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob and will stand in awe of the God of Israel. 24And those who go astray in spirit will come to understanding, and those who murmur will accept instruction.”

[11]Ariel could mean lion of God, or hero (2 Samuel 23:20), or altar hearth (Ezekiel 43:15-16)  [12] Or Linger awhile

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