Through My Bible Yr 01 – December 26

Isaiah 28

Through My Bible – December 26

Isaiah 28 (EHV)

See series: Through My Bible

A Warning to the Northern Kingdom

¹Woe to drunken Ephraim’s proud crown,

to the fading flower of its glorious beauty,
on the peak that overlooks a fertile valley.
Woe to those who are overcome with wine!

²Look, the Lord has someone who is strong and mighty.
Like a hailstorm,
like a destructive windstorm,
like a hurricane that drives surging waters,
he will throw them down to the earth with his own hand.
³Drunken Ephraim’s proud crown will be trampled underfoot.
⁴The fading flower of its glorious beauty, on the peak overlooking
        a fertile valley,
    will be like the early figs before summer,
    which someone picks and swallows as soon as he sees them.
⁵On that day the Lord of Armies will become a glorious crown
and a beautifully braided headband for the remnant of his people.
⁶He will provide a spirit of justice to the one who sits in judgment,
and strength for those who turn back the battle at the gate.

The Drunken Prophets and Priests

⁷They stagger into error because of wine,
and they stumble off the way because of beer.
The priests and prophets stagger with beer,
and they are dizzy from wine.
They stumble from beer.
They stagger when they see visions.
They reel when they render judgment.
⁸All their tables are covered with vomit.
There is not a spot without filth.

⁹They^[1] say:
    Who is he trying to teach?
    Who needs his instruction?
    A baby who has just been weaned from milk?
    An infant just taken from the breast?
¹⁰They say:
    Law by law, law by law,
    rule by rule, rule by rule,^[2]
    a little here, a little there.
¹¹So the Lord will speak to this people
    with barbarous lips and in a foreign tongue.
¹²He said to them,
“This is the resting place.
Let the weary rest.
This is the place to be refreshed,”
but they would not listen.
¹³That is why to them the word of the Lord will be:
    Law by law, law by law,
    rule by rule, rule by rule,^[3]
    a little here, a little there.
As a result they will try to walk,
but they will fall backwards.
They will be hurt, trapped, and taken.

A Covenant With Death

¹⁴So now, hear the word of the Lord, you scoffers,
who rule this people in Jerusalem.