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          DASV: Isaiah 28    

1 Woe to the proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim,
     and to the fading flower of its glorious beauty,
           located at the head of the fertile valley
     of those overcome with wine!
2 Look, the Lord has one who is mighty and strong;
     like a hail storm or a destroying windstorm,
      like a torrential rainstorm flooding,
      he will throw their crown down to the earth with his hand.
3 The proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim
      will be trampled underfoot.
4 The fading flower of its glorious beauty,
      which is at the head of the fertile valley,
      will be like the first-ripe fig before the harvest;
      whoever spots it,
           gobbles it up soon as he can get his hand on it.

5 In that day the LORD of hosts will become a crown of glory,
      and a beautiful diadem to the remnant of his people;
6 a spirit of justice to the one who sits in judgment,
      and strength to those who repel the attack at the gate.
7 Even these reel from wine,
      and stagger from strong drink;
           the priest and the prophet reel from strong drink,
      they are swallowed up because of wine,
      they stagger with strong drink;
     they teeter when seeing visions,
      they stumble when offering judgments.
8 For all tables are full of filthy vomit,
     there is nowhere that is clean.

9 They complain,
      "Who does he think he is trying to teach knowledge?
      Who will he make to explain the message?
      Those who are weaned from the milk,
      those just taken from their mother's breasts?
10 For he repeats the same precept on precept,
     precept on precept again and again;
      line on line, line on line;
     here a little, there a little."

11 So with stammering lips and with foreign tongues
     he will speak to this people;
12 to whom he said,
     "This is the rest, give rest to the one who is weary;"
     and "This is a place of refreshment."
           Yet they would not listen.
13 Therefore the word of the LORD will be to them
     precept repeated upon precept, precept upon precept;
     line upon line, line upon line;
     here a little, there a little;
      so that they may go and fall over backward,
     and be broken, snared, and taken captive.
14 Therefore hear the word of the LORD
     you scoffers, who rule this people in Jerusalem:
15 because you have said,
     "We have made a covenant with death,
           and we have an agreement with Sheol;
      when the overflowing whip passes through,
          it will not come to us;
           for we have made lies our refuge,
          and hid ourselves under deception."

16 Therefore this is what the sovereign LORD says,
      "Look, I am laying in Zion a foundation stone,
           a tested stone,
           a precious cornerstone,
                a sure foundation.
      One who believes will not panic.
17 I will make justice the measuring line,
           and righteousness the plum line.
     Hail will sweep away the refuge of lies,
          and the waters will overflow the hiding place.
18 Your covenant with death will be annulled,
     and your agreement with Sheol will not last;
      when the overflowing whip passes through,
     you will be beaten down by it.
19 As often as it passes through, it will take you;
     for morning by morning it will pass through,
           by day and by night;"
     when the message is understood,
     it will cause sheer terror.
20 For the bed is too short for one to stretch out on;
     the blanket too narrow for one to wrap around oneself.
21 For the LORD will rise up as he did on Mount Perazim,
     he will stir himself up as he did in the valley of Gibeon;
      so that he may perform his deed,
     his extraordinary deed,
      and bring to pass his work,
     his unusual work.
22 Now therefore do not mock,
     lest your bonds be made stronger;
      for I have heard from the sovereign LORD of hosts
     a decree of destruction against the whole earth.

23 Listen, and hear my voice.
     Pay attention and hear what I am saying.
24 Does one plowing in order to plant plow continually?
     Does one continually cultivate and break up his ground?
25 When he has leveled its surface,
     does he not spread the seed of caraway,
     and scatter the cumin,
      putting the wheat in rows,
     and the barley in its designated place,
           and the spelt along its border?
26 For his God correctly instructs him,
     and teaches him how.
27 For caraway is not threshed with a sledge,
     nor is a cart wheel rolled over the cumin;
      caraway is beaten out with a stick,
     and the cumin with a rod.
28 Grain for bread must be ground;
     one will not keep threshing it forever;
      the wheel of one's cart rolls over it,
     but one does not use horses to crush it.
29 This also comes from the LORD of hosts,
     who is wonderful in counsel,
           and excellent in wisdom.

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