Isaiah 27-28

New Living Translation

² “In that day,
    sing about the fruitful vineyard.
³ I, the Lord, will watch over it,
    watering it carefully.
Day and night I will watch so no one can harm it.
⁴     My anger will be gone.
If I find briers and thorns growing,
    I will attack them;
I will burn them up—
⁵     unless they turn to me for help.
Let them make peace with me;
    yes, let them make peace with me.”
⁶ The time is coming when Jacob’s descendants will take root.
    Israel will bud and blossom
    and fill the whole earth with fruit!

⁷ Has the Lord struck Israel
    as he struck her enemies?
Has he punished her
    as he punished them?
⁸ No, but he exiled Israel to call her to account.
    She was exiled from her land
    as though blown away in a storm from the east.
⁹ The Lord did this to purge Israel’s^[b] wickedness,
    to take away all her sin.
As a result, all the pagan altars will be crushed to dust.
    No Asherah pole or pagan shrine will be left standing.
¹⁰ The fortified towns will be silent and empty,
    the houses abandoned, the streets overgrown with weeds.
Calves will graze there,
    chewing on twigs and branches.
¹¹ The people are like the dead branches of a tree,
    broken off and used for kindling beneath the cooking pots.
Israel is a foolish and stupid nation,
    for its people have turned away from God.
Therefore, the one who made them
    will show them no pity or mercy.

⁵ Then at last the Lord of Heaven’s Armies
    will himself be Israel’s glorious crown.
He will be the pride and joy
    of the remnant of his people.
⁶ He will give a longing for justice
    to their judges.
He will give great courage
    to their warriors who stand at the gates.

⁷ Now, however, Israel is led by drunks
    who reel with wine and stagger with alcohol.
The priests and prophets stagger with alcohol
    and lose themselves in wine.
They reel when they see visions
    and stagger as they render decisions.
⁸ Their tables are covered with vomit;
    filth is everywhere.
⁹ “Who does the Lord think we are?” they ask.
    “Why does he speak to us like this?
Are we little children,
    just recently weaned?
¹⁰ He tells us everything over and over—
one line at a time,
    one line at a time,
a little here,
    and a little there!”

¹¹ So now God will have to speak to his people
    through foreign oppressors who speak a strange language!
¹² God has told his people,
“Here is a place of rest;
    let the weary rest here.
This is a place of quiet rest.”
    But they would not listen.
¹³ So the Lord will spell out his message for them again,
one line at a time,
    one line at a time,
a little here,
    and a little there,
so that they will stumble and fall.
    They will be injured, trapped, and captured.

¹⁴ Therefore, listen to this message from the Lord,
    you scoffing rulers in Jerusalem.
¹⁵ You boast, “We have struck a bargain to cheat death
    and have made a deal to dodge the grave.^[f]
The coming destruction can never touch us,
    for we have built a strong refuge made of lies and deception.”

¹⁶ Therefore, this is what the Sovereign Lord says:
“Look! I am placing a foundation stone in Jerusalem,^[g]
    a firm and tested stone.
It is a precious cornerstone that is safe to build on.
    Whoever believes need never be shaken.^[h]
17 I will test you with the measuring line of justice
    and the plumb line of righteousness.
Since your refuge is made of lies,
    a hailstorm will knock it down.
Since it is made of deception,
    a flood will sweep it away.
¹⁸ I will cancel the bargain you made to cheat death,
    and I will overturn your deal to dodge the grave.
When the terrible enemy sweeps through,
    you will be trampled into the ground.
¹⁹ Again and again that flood will come,
    morning after morning,
day and night,
    until you are carried away.”

This message will bring terror to your people.
²⁰ The bed you have made is too short to lie on.
    The blankets are too narrow to cover you.
²¹ The Lord will come as he did against the Philistines at Mount Perazim
    and against the Amorites at Gibeon.
He will come to do a strange thing;
    he will come to do an unusual deed:
²² For the Lord, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies,
    has plainly said that he is determined to crush the whole land.
So scoff no more,
    or your punishment will be even greater.

²³ Listen to me;
    listen, and pay close attention.
²⁴ Does a farmer always plow and never sow?
    Is he forever cultivating the soil and never planting?
²⁵ Does he not finally plant his seeds—
    black cumin, cumin, wheat, barley, and emmer wheat—
each in its proper way,
    and each in its proper place?
²⁶ The farmer knows just what to do,
    for God has given him understanding.
²⁷ A heavy sledge is never used to thresh black cumin;
    rather, it is beaten with a light stick.
A threshing wheel is never rolled on cumin;
    instead, it is beaten lightly with a flail.
²⁸ Grain for bread is easily crushed,
    so he doesn’t keep on pounding it.
He threshes it under the wheels of a cart,
    but he doesn’t pulverize it.
²⁹ The Lord of Heaven’s Armies is a wonderful teacher,
    and he gives the farmer great wisdom.