Isaiah 28:14-29 ▼

14 Therefore, hear the word of Yahweh, O scoffers, Who rule this people who are in Jerusalem,

15 Because you have said, “We have cut a covenant with death, And with Sheol we have made a pact. The overflowing scourge will not reach us when it passes by, For we have made falsehood our refuge and we have hidden ourselves with lying.”

16 Therefore thus says Lord Yahweh, “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a tested stone, A costly cornerstone for the foundation, firmly placed. He who believes in it will not be disturbed.

17 I will make justice the measuring line And righteousness the level; Then hail will sweep away the refuge of falsehood, And the waters will overflow the secret place.

18 Your covenant with death will be canceled, And your pact with Sheol will not stand; When the overflowing scourge passes through, Then you will become its trampling place.

19 As often as it passes through, it will take you; For morning after morning it will pass through, anytime during the day or night, And it will be sheer terror to understand the report.”

20 The bed is too short on which to stretch out, And the blanket is too narrow to wrap oneself in.

21 For Yahweh will rise up as at Mount Perazim; He will be stirred up as in the valley of Gibeon, To work His work, His unusual work, And to labor in His labor, His exceptional labor.

22 So now do not carry on as scoffers, Lest your fetters be made stronger; For I have heard from Lord Yahweh of hosts Of complete destruction, one that is decreed, on all the earth.

23 Give ear and hear my voice, Pay attention and hear my words.

24 Does the farmer plow continually to plant seed? Does he continually turn and harrow his ground?

25 Does he not level its surface And sow dill and scatter cumin And plant wheat in rows, Barley in its place and rye within its area?

26 For his God disciplines and teaches him proper judgment.

27 For dill is not threshed with a threshing sledge, Nor is the wheel of a cart driven over cumin; But dill is beaten out with a staff, and cumin with a rod.

28 Grain for bread is crushed, But he does not continue to thresh it forever. Because the wheel of his cart and his horses eventually disturb it, He does not crush it longer.

29 This also comes from Yahweh of hosts, Who has made His counsel wonderful and His wisdom great.