Isaiah:28-30

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* Woe to the crown of pride , of the drunkards of Ephraim , and to the fading flower of his glorious ornament , which is on the eminence of the fat valley of those who are struck down by wine ! * Behold , mighty and strong from the Lord , as a tempest of hail , a storm of destruction ; as a tempest of mighty overflowing waters , will he cast it down to the earth with force . * Under feet shall be trodden the crown of pride of the drunkards of Ephraim : * And the fading flower of his glorious ornament , which is on the eminence of the fat valley , shall be as its early ripe fruit before the summer ; which one , when he just seeth it , while it is scarcely in his hand , hastily devoureth . * On that day will the Lord of hosts be for a crown of glory , and for a diadem of beauty , unto the residue of his people , * And for a spirit of judgment to him that sitteth in judgment , and for strength to those that drive back the battle to the gate . * But these also are now stumbling through wine , and reeling through strong drink : priest and prophet are stumbling through strong drink , they are overpowered with wine , they reel through strong drink ; they stumble in vision , they are unsteady in giving judgment . * For all tables are full of vomit of filthiness , there is no place . * Whom shall he teach knowledge ? and whom shall he give to understand doctrine ? those that are weaned from the milk , those that are taken from the breasts . * For precept must be upon precept , precept upon precept ; line upon line , line upon line ; here a little , and there a little . * For with stammering lips and a foreign tongue will he speak to this people ; * When he said unto them , This is the rest , cause ye the weary to rest ; and this is the refreshing ; but they would not hear . * Therefore shall be unto them the word of the Lord , precept upon precept , precept upon precept ; line upon line , line upon line ; here a little , and there a little ; in order that they may go , and stumble backward , and be broken , and snared , and caught . * Therefore hear the word of the Lord , ye scornful men , who rule this people that is in Jerusalem . * Because ye have said , "We have entered into a covenant with death , and with the nether world have we made an agreement ; the overflowing scourge , when it passeth by , shall not come at us ; for we have made lies our refuge , and under falsehood have we sought a hiding –place ." * Therefore thus hath said the Lord Eternal , Behold , I have laid in Zion as a foundation a stone , a tried stone , a costly corner –stone , well founded : he that believeth will not make haste . * And I will make of justice a measuring line , and of righteousness a plummet : and the hail shall sweep off the refuge of lies , and the hiding –place against the waters shall these flood away . * And your covenant with death shall be annulled , and your agreement with the nether world shall not have permanence ; the overflowing scourge , when it passeth by ––then shall ye be trodden down by it . * As often as it passeth by shall it take you ; for morning by morning shall it pass by , by day and by night ; and the mere understanding of the report shall cause terror . * For the bed shall be too short for to stretch himself out : and the covering too narrow to wrap himself in . * For as on mount Perazim will the Lord rise up , as in the valley of Gib ’on will he be wroth , that he may do his work , his singular work ; and to accomplish his labor , his strange labor . * And now be ye no longer scornful , lest your bonds be made strong ; for as completed and fully decreed have I heard it from the Lord Eternal of hosts over all the earth . * Give ye ear , and hear my voice ; listen , and hear my speech . * Doth the ploughman plough all the time to sow ? doth he open and harrow his ground ? * Is it not so ? that , when he hath made level its surface he scattereth fennel , and streweth about cumin , and planteth the wheat in rows , and barley on its assigned , and millet on its proper spot ? * For his God instructed him rightly , taught him . * Truly not with a threshing instrument is fennel threshed , and a wagon –wheel is not turned about upon cumin ; but fennel is beaten out with a staff , and cumin with a stick . * Bread –corn is crushed ; but not for ever doth keep threshing it ; and though he drive over it the wheel of his wagon and his horses , he will not crush it . * This also cometh forth from the Lord of hosts ; wonderful is he in counsel , and excellent in wise deeds . * Woe to Ariel , to Ariel , the town where David dwelt ! add ye year to year ; let the festivals come round in order ; * Yet will I distress Ariel , and there shall be groaning and wailing : and it shall be unto me like Ariel . * And I will encamp against thee round about , and will lay siege against thee with hostile posts , and I will raise up entrenchments against thee . * And brought down low , shalt thou speak out of the earth , and out of the dust shall come forth thy speech ; and like one of a familiar spirit out of the earth shall be thy voice , and out of the dust shalt thou whisper forth thy speech . * And like the small dust shall be the multitude of thy barbarian enemies , and like the passing chaff the multitude of tyrants ; and shall be at unawares , suddenly . * From the Lord of hosts shall the visitation come with thunder , and with earthquake , and great noise , with storm and tempest , and the devouring flame of fire . * And as a dream of a night –vision shall be the multitude of all the nations that go to war against Ariel , even all that fight against her and raise towers against her , and that distress her . * And it shall even be as when a hungry man dreameth , that , behold , he eateth ; but he awaketh , and his soul is empty ; or as when a thirsty man dreameth , that , behold , he drinketh ; but he awaketh , and , behold , he is faint , and his soul yet longeth : so shall it be with the multitude of all the nations , that go to war against mount Zion . * Stay but still and wonder ; turn your eyes away , and be blinded ; they are drunken , but not with wine ; they stagger , but not with strong drink . * For the Lord hath poured out over you the spirit of deep sleep , and hath closed your eyes : the prophets , and your chiefs , the seers , hath he cast a vail . * And the vision of every thing is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed , which men deliver to one that can read , saying , Read this , I pray thee ; and he saith , I cannot ; for it is sealed : * And the book is then delivered to one that cannot read , saying , Read this , I pray thee ; and he saith , I cannot read . * And the Lord said , Forasmuch as this people draw near with their mouth , and with their lips do honor me , but have removed their heart far from me , and their fear toward me is but the acquired precept of men ; * Therefore , behold , I will do yet farther a marvelous work with this people , doing wonder on wonder ; so that the wisdom of their wise men shall be lost , and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hidden . * Woe unto those that seek to hide deeply their counsel from the Lord , so that their works may be in the dark , and they say , Who seeth us ? and who knoweth us ? * Oh your perverseness ! shall the potter be esteemed as the clay ? that the work shall say of its maker , He hath not made me ? or shall the thing framed say of its framer , He had no understanding ? * Lo ! but yet a very little while more , and Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field , and the fruitful field shall be esteemed as a forest ! * And on that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book , and out of obscurity , and out of darkness , shall the eyes of the blind see . * And the sufferers shall have abundant joy in the Lord , and the needy among men shall be glad in the Holy One of Israel . * For the tyrant is no more , and consumed is the scorner , and cut off are all that watch for injustice ; * That cause mankind to sin by word ; and lay a snare for him that reproveth in the gate ; and pervert through fraud the cause of the just . * Therefore thus hath said the Lord unto the house of Jacob , he who hath redeemed Abraham , Not now shall Jacob be ashamed , and not now shall his face be made pale . * For when he seeth his children , the work of my hands in the midst of him , how they sanctify my name : then will they sanctify the Holy One of Jacob , and the God of Israel will they reverence . * They also that were erring in spirit shall acquire understanding , and they that murmured shall obtain instruction . * Woe to the rebellious children , saith the Lord , that take counsel , but not from me ; and that set themselves a ruler , but not by my spirit , in order that they may add sin to sin : * That travel to go down into Egypt , and have not asked my will ; to strengthen themselves through the strength of Pharaoh , and to seek shelter in the shadow of Egypt ! * Therefore shall the strength of Pharaoh become your shame , and the shelter in the shadow of Egypt your disgrace . * For his princes were at Zo ’an , and his ambassadors had reached Chanes . * They all are ashamed because of a people that cannot profit them , neither be a help nor give profit ; but shame , and also a reproach . * The doom of the beasts of the south : Through the land of trouble and anguish , whence come the lioness and the lion , the viper and flying dragons , they will carry upon the shoulders of young asses their riches , and upon the humps of camels their treasures , to a people that cannot profit . * And the Egyptians will help in vain , and to no purpose ; therefore have I called this , Boasters they are in sitting still . * Now go , write it before them on a table , and note it in a book , that it may be for the latest time to come , for ever , and to eternity : * For this is a rebellious people , lying children , children that will not hear the law of the Lord : * Who have said to the seers , Ye shall not see ; and to the prophets , Reveal not unto us true things , speak unto us smooth things , reveal deceits ; * Depart you out of the way , turn aside out of the path , remove from before us the Holy One of Israel . * Therefore thus hath said the Holy One of Israel , Because ye despise this word , and trust in oppression and perverseness , and lean thereon for aid : * Therefore shall this iniquity be to you as a threatening breach , swelling out in a high –towering wall , the fall of which will come unawares , suddenly . * And he will break it , as one breaketh a potter ’s vessel , dashing it in pieces without sparing it ; so that there cannot be found among its fragments a sherd to rake fire from a hearth and to draw water from a pit . * For thus hath said the Lord Eternal , the Holy One of Israel , In repose and rest shall ye be helped ; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength ; and ye would not . * And ye said , "No ; for upon horses will we flee ;" therefore shall ye flee : and , "Upon swift beasts will we ride ;" therefore shall your pursuers be swift . * One thousand at the threatening of one ; at the threatening of five shall ye flee : till ye be left as a pole upon a mountain –top , and as an ensign on a hill . * And therefore will the Lord wait , to be gracious unto you , and therefore will he exalt himself , to have mercy upon you ; for a God of justice is the Lord : happy are all those that wait for him . * For O people of Zion that shall dwell at Jerusalem ! thou shalt indeed not weep : he will be surely gracious unto thee at the voice of thy cry ; so soon as he heareth it , he answereth thee . * And the Lord will give you bread adversity , and water oppression ; and thy teachers shall not have to hide themselves in a corner any more , but thy eyes shall see thy teachers : * And thy ears shall hear the word behind thee , saying , "This is the way , walk ye in it ," when ye turn to the right hand , and when ye turn to the left . * And ye will regard as unclean the covering of thy graven idols of silver , and the ornament of thy molten images of gold : thou wilt cast them away as a filthy thing ; "Get thee hence ," wilt thou say unto them . * Then will he give the rain for thy seed , that thou mayest sow in the ground ; and bread ––the produce of the ground ––this shall be fat and nutritious : thy cattle shall feed on that day in extensive pastures . * The oxen likewise and the young asses that till the ground shall eat salted provender , which hath been winnowed with the shovel and with the fan . * And there shall be upon every high mountain , and upon every prominent hill , rivulets , streams of waters on the day of the great slaughter , when towers fall . * And the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun , and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold , as the light of the seven days , on the day that the Lord bindeth up the broken of his people , and healeth the bruise of their wound . * Behold , the name of the Lord cometh from afar , burning is his anger , and heavy the smoke ; his lips are full of indignation , and his tongue is like a devouring fire ; * And his breath , like an overflowing stream , shall reach to the midst of the neck , to toss the nations with the van of falsehood : and a deceiving bridle on the jaws of the people . * shall ye have a song , as in the night when a festival is ushered in , and joy of heart , as when one goeth with the flute to come unto the mountain of the Lord , to the Rock of Israel . * And the Lord will cause his majestic voice to be heard , and will show the stretching down of his arm , in the indignation of anger , and in the flame of a devouring fire , in flood , and tempest , and stones of hail . * For because of the voice of the Lord shall be terrified Asshur , that smote with the rod . * And at every passage of the appointed staff which the Lord will let fall on him , there shall be on tambourine and harp ; and in the tumult of battles will he fight with them . * For already of old is Topheth made ready ; also this is prepared for the king ––deep and wide ; its pile hath fire and wood in plenty , the breath of the Lord , like a stream of sulfur , will kindle it into a flame . * Woe to those that go down to Egypt for help ; and depend for support on horses , and trust on chariots , because they are many ; and on horsemen , because they are very strong ; but who turn not unto the Holy One of Israel , and seek not the Lord !

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