Isa 28-33 | ESV | STEP | Ah , the proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim , and the fading flower of its glorious beauty , which is on the head of the rich valley of those overcome with wine !

1 Ah, the proud crown of ^athe drunkards of Ephraim,
and the fading flower of its glorious beauty,
which is on the head of the rich valley of those overcome with wine!
2 Behold, the Lord has ^bone who is mighty and strong;
like a storm of hail, a destroying tempest,
like ^ca storm of mighty, overflowing waters,
he casts down to the earth with his hand.
3 ^dThe proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim
will be trodden underfoot;
4 ^eand the fading flower of its glorious beauty,
which is on the head of the rich valley,
will be like ^fa first-ripe fig before the summer:
when someone sees it, he swallows it
as soon as it is in his hand.
5 ^gIn that day the Lord of hosts will be a crown of glory, ^{▼▼The Hebrew words for glory and hosts sound alike}
and a diadem of beauty, to the remnant of his people,
6 and ⁱa spirit of justice to him who sits in judgment,
and ^jstrength to those who turn back the battle at the gate.
7 ^kThese also reel with wine
and ^lstagger with strong drink;
the priest and ^mthe prophet reel with strong drink,
they are swallowed by ^{▼▼Or confused by} wine,
they stagger with strong drink,
they reel in vision,
they stumble in giving judgment.
8 For all tables are full of filthy vomit,
with no space left.
9 ^o“To whom will he teach knowledge,
and to whom will he explain the message?
Those who are weaned from the milk,
those taken from the breast?
10 For it is precept upon precept, precept upon precept,
line upon line, line upon line,
here a little, there a little.”
11 ^pFor by people of strange lips
and with a foreign tongue
the Lord will speak to this people,
12 to whom he has said,
^q“This is rest;
give rest to the weary;
and this is repose”;
yet they would not hear.
13 And the word of the Lord will be to them
precept upon precept, precept upon precept,
line upon line, line upon line,
here a little, there a little,
^rthat they may go, and fall backward,
and be broken, and snared, and taken.

A Cornerstone in Zion

14 Therefore hear the word of the Lord, you ^sscoffers,
who rule this people in Jerusalem!
15 Because you have said, “We have made a covenant with death,
and with Sheol we have an agreement,
when the ^toverwhelming whip passes through
it will not come to us,
for we have made ^ulies our refuge,
and in falsehood we have taken shelter”;
16 therefore thus says the Lord God,
^v“Behold, I am the one who has laid ^{▼▼Dead Sea Scroll I am laying} as a foundation ^xin Zion,
a stone, a tested stone,
a precious cornerstone, of a sure foundation:
‘Whoever believes will not be in haste.’
17 And I will make justice ^ythe line,
and righteousness ^zthe plumb line;
and hail will sweep away the refuge of lies,
and waters will overwhelm the shelter.”
18 Then ^aayour covenant with death will be annulled,
and your agreement with Sheol will not stand;
when the overwhelming scourge passes through,
you will be beaten down by it.
19 As often as it passes through it will take you;
^abfor morning by morning it will pass through,
by day and by night;
and it will be ^acsheer terror to understand the message.
20 For the bed is too short to stretch oneself on,
and the covering too narrow to wrap oneself in.
21 For the Lord will rise up ^adas on Mount Perazim;
^aeas in the Valley of ^afGibeon he will be roused;
to do his deed—strange is his deed!
and to work his work—alien is his work!
22 Now therefore do not ^agscoff,
lest your bonds be made strong;
for I have heard ^aha decree of destruction
from the Lord God of hosts against the whole land.
23 Give ear, and hear my voice;
give attention, and hear my speech.
24 Does he who plows for sowing plow continually?
Does he continually open and harrow his ground?
25 ^aiWhen he has leveled its surface,
does he not scatter dill, sow cumin,
and put in wheat in rows
and barley in its proper place,
and emmer ^{▼▼A type of wheat} as the border?
26 ^akFor he is rightly instructed;
his God teaches him.
27 Dill is not threshed with a threshing sledge,
nor is a cart wheel rolled over cumin,
but dill is beaten out with a stick,
and cumin with a rod.
28 Does one crush grain for bread?
No, he does not thresh it forever; ^{▼▼Or Grain is crushed for bread; he will surely thresh it, but not forever}
when he drives his cart wheel over it
with his horses, he does not crush it.
29 This also comes from the Lord of hosts;
he is ^amwonderful in counsel
and excellent in wisdom.

Isaiah 29

The Siege of Jerusalem

1 Ah, Ariel, Ariel,
the city ^anwhere David encamped!
Add year to year;
let the feasts run their round.
2 Yet I will distress Ariel,
and there shall be moaning and lamentation,
and she shall be to me like an Ariel. ^{▼▼ Ariel could mean lion of God, or hero (2 Samuel 23:20), or altar hearth (Ezekiel 43:15–16)}
3 ^apAnd I will encamp against you all around,
and will besiege you ^aqwith towers
and I will raise siegeworks against you.
4 ^arAnd you will be brought low; from the earth you shall speak,
and from the dust your speech will be bowed down;
your voice shall come from the ground like ^asthe voice of a ghost,
and from the dust your speech shall whisper.
5 But the multitude of your foreign foes shall be like ^atsmall dust,
and the multitude of the ruthless like passing chaff.
^auAnd in an instant, suddenly,
6 ^avyou will be visited by the Lord of hosts
with thunder and with earthquake and great noise,
with whirlwind and tempest, and the flame of a devouring fire.
7 And ^awthe multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel,
all that fight against her and her stronghold and distress her,
shall be ^axlike a dream, a vision of the night.
8 ^ayAs when a hungry man dreams, and behold, he is eating,
and awakes with his hunger not satisfied,
or as when a thirsty man dreams, and behold, he is drinking
and awakes faint, with his thirst not quenched,
so shall the multitude of all the nations be
that fight against Mount Zion.
9 Astonish yourselves ^{▼▼Or Linger awhile} and be astonished;
blind yourselves and be blind!
Be drunk, but not with wine;
^bastagger, but not with strong drink!
10 ^bbFor the Lord has poured out upon you
a spirit of deep sleep,
and has closed your eyes (the prophets),
and covered your heads (the seers).
11 And the vision of all this has become to you like the words of a book that is ^bcsealed. When men give it to one who can read, saying, “Read this,” he says, “I cannot, for it is sealed.” 12 And when they give the book to one who cannot read, saying, “Read this,” he says, “I cannot read.”

13 And the Lord said:
“Because ^bdthis people ^bedraw near with their mouth
and honor me with their lips,
while their hearts are far from me,
and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men,
14 therefore, behold, ^bfI will again
do wonderful things with this people,
with wonder upon wonder;
and ^bgthe wisdom of their wise men shall perish,
and the discernment of their discerning men shall be hidden.”
15 Ah, ^bhyou who hide deep from the Lord your counsel,
whose deeds are ^biin the dark,
and who say, “Who sees us? Who knows us?”
16 ^bjYou turn things upside down!
Shall the potter be regarded as the clay,
that the thing made should say of its maker,
“He did not make me”;
or the thing formed say of him who formed it,
“He has no understanding”?
17 Is it not yet a very little while
^bkuntil Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field,
and the fruitful field shall be regarded as a forest?
18 In that day ^blthe deaf shall hear
^bmthe words of a book,
and out of their gloom and darkness
^bnthe eyes of the blind shall see.
19 ^boThe meek shall obtain fresh joy in the Lord,
and the poor among mankind shall exult in the Holy One of Israel.
20 For the ruthless shall come to nothing
and ^bpthe scoffer cease,
and all who watch to do evil shall be cut off,
21 who by a word make a man out to be an offender,
and ^bqlay a snare for him who reproves in the gate,
and with an empty plea ^brturn aside him who is in the right.
22 Therefore thus says the Lord, ^bswho redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob:

“Jacob shall no more be ashamed,
no more shall his face grow pale.
23 For when he sees his children,
^btthe work of my hands, in his midst,
they will sanctify my name;
^buthey will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob
and will stand in awe of the God of Israel.
24 And those ^bvwho go astray in spirit will come to understanding,
and those who murmur will accept instruction.”

Isaiah 30

Do Not Go Down to Egypt

1 “Ah, ^bwstubborn children,” declares the Lord,
^bx“who carry out a plan, but not mine,
and who make ^byan alliance, ^{▼▼Hebrew who weave a web} but not of my Spirit,
that they may add sin to sin;
2 ^cawho set out to go down to Egypt,
without asking for my direction,
to take refuge in the protection of Pharaoh
and to seek shelter in the shadow of Egypt!
3 ^cbTherefore shall the protection of Pharaoh turn to your shame,
and the shelter in the shadow of Egypt to your humiliation.
4 For though his officials are at ^ccZoan
and ^cdhis envoys reach ^ceHanes,
5 everyone comes to shame
through ^cfa people that cannot profit them,
that brings neither help nor profit,
but shame and disgrace.”
6 An ^cgoracle on ^chthe beasts of ^cithe Negeb.

Through a land of trouble and anguish,
from where come the lioness and the lion,
the adder and the ^cjflying fiery serpent,
they carry their riches on the backs of donkeys,
and their treasures on the humps of camels,
to a people that cannot profit them.
7 Egypt’s ^ckhelp is worthless and empty;
therefore I have called her
^cl“Rahab who sits still.”

A Rebellious People

8 And now, go, ^cmwrite it before them on a tablet
and inscribe it in a book,
that it may be for the time to come
as a witness forever. ^{▼▼Some Hebrew manuscripts, Syriac, Targum, Vulgate, and Greek versions; Masoretic Text forever and ever}
9 ^coFor they are a rebellious people,
lying children,
children unwilling to hear
the instruction of the Lord;
10 ^cpwho say to ^cqthe seers, “Do not see,”
and to the prophets, “Do not prophesy to us what is right;
speak to us ^crsmooth things,
prophesy illusions,
11 leave the way, turn aside from the path,
let us hear no more about the Holy One of Israel.”
12 Therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel,
“Because you despise this word
and trust in ^csoppression and perverseness
and rely on them,
13 therefore this iniquity shall be to you
^ctlike a breach in a high wall, bulging out and about to collapse,
whose breaking comes suddenly, in an instant;
14 and its breaking is ^culike that of a potter’s vessel
that is smashed so ruthlessly
that among its fragments not a shard is found
with which to take fire from the hearth,
or to dip up water out of the cistern.”
15 For thus said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel,
“In ^cvreturning ^{▼▼Or repentance} and ^cxrest you shall be saved;
in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.”
But you were unwilling, 16 and you said,
“No! We will flee upon ^cyhorses”;
therefore you shall flee away;
and, “We will ride upon swift steeds”;
therefore your pursuers shall be swift.
17 ^czA thousand shall flee at the threat of one;
at the threat of five you shall flee,
till you are left
like a flagstaff on the top of a mountain,
like a signal on a hill.

The Lord Will Be Gracious

18 Therefore the Lord ^dawaits to be gracious to you,
and therefore he ^dbexalts himself to show mercy to you.
For the Lord is a God of justice;
^dcblessed are all those who wait for him.
19 For a people shall dwell ^ddin Zion, in Jerusalem; you shall weep no more. He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry. As soon as he hears it, he answers you. 20 And though the Lord give you the ^debread of adversity and the ^dfwater of affliction, ^dgyet your Teacher will not hide himself anymore, but your eyes shall see your Teacher. 21 ^dhAnd your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is ^dithe way, walk in it,” when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left. 22 Then you will defile your carved idols overlaid with silver and your gold-plated metal images. ^djYou will scatter them as unclean things. You will say to them, “Be gone!”

23 ^dkAnd he will give ^dlrain for the seed with which you sow the ground, and bread, the produce of the ground, which will be rich and plenteous. ^dmIn that day your livestock will graze in large pastures, 24 and ^dnthe oxen and the donkeys that work the ground will eat seasoned fodder, which has been winnowed with shovel and fork. 25 And ^doon every lofty mountain and every high hill there will be brooks running with water, in the day of the great slaughter, ^dpwhen the towers fall. 26 ^dqMoreover, the light of the moon will be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day when ^drthe Lord binds up ^dsthe brokenness of his people, and heals the wounds inflicted by his blow.

27 Behold, the name of the Lord comes from afar,
burning with his anger, and in thick rising smoke; ^{▼▼Hebrew in weight of uplifted clouds}
his lips are full of fury,
and his tongue is like a devouring fire;
28 ^duhis breath is ^dvlike an overflowing stream
that reaches up to the neck;
to sift the nations with the sieve of destruction,
and to place on the jaws of the peoples ^dwa bridle that leads astray.
29 You shall have a song as in the night when a holy feast is kept, and gladness of heart, ^dxas when one sets out to the sound of the flute to go to ^dythe mountain of the Lord, to ^dzthe Rock of Israel. 30 And the Lord ^eawill cause his majestic voice to be heard and the descending blow of his arm to be seen, in furious anger ^eband a flame of devouring fire, with a cloudburst ^ecand storm and hailstones. 31 The Assyrians will be terror-stricken at the voice of the Lord, ^edwhen he strikes with his rod. 32 And every stroke of the appointed staff that the Lord lays on them ^eewill be to the sound of tambourines and lyres. ^efBattling with brandished arm, he will fight with them. 33 For ^ega burning place ^{▼▼Or For Topheth} has long been prepared; indeed, for the king it is made ready, ^eiits pyre made deep and wide, with fire and wood in abundance; ^ejthe breath of the Lord, like a stream of sulfur, kindles it.

Isaiah 31

Woe to Those Who Go Down to Egypt

1 Woe to ^ekthose who go down to Egypt for help
and rely on horses,
who ^eltrust in chariots because they are many
and in horsemen because they are very strong,
but ^emdo not look to the Holy One of Israel
or consult the Lord!
2 And ^enyet he is wise and brings disaster;
^eohe does not call back his words,
but ^epwill arise against the house of the evildoers
and against the helpers of ^eqthose who work iniquity.
3 The Egyptians are man, and not God,
and their horses ^erare flesh, and not spirit.
When the Lord stretches out his hand,
the helper will stumble, and he who is helped will fall,
and they will all perish together.
4 For thus the Lord said to me,
^es“As a lion or a young lion growls over his prey,
and when a band of shepherds is called out against him
he is not terrified by their shouting
or daunted at their noise,
^etso the Lord of hosts will come down
to fight ^{▼▼The Hebrew words for hosts and to fight sound alike} on Mount Zion and on its hill.
5 ^evLike birds hovering, so the Lord of hosts
will protect Jerusalem;
he will protect and deliver it;
he will spare and rescue it.”
6 ^ewTurn to him from whom people ^{▼▼Hebrew they} have ^eydeeply revolted, O children of Israel. 7 For in that day ^ezeveryone shall cast away his idols of silver and his idols of gold, which your hands have sinfully made for you.

8 ^fa“And the Assyrian shall fall by a sword, not of man;
and a sword, not of man, shall devour him;
and he shall flee from the sword,
and his young men shall be ^fbput to forced labor.
9 ^fcHis rock shall pass away in terror,
and his officers desert the standard in panic,”
declares the Lord, whose ^fdfire is in Zion,
and whose ^fefurnace is in Jerusalem.

Isaiah 32

A King Will Reign in Righteousness

1 Behold, ^ffa king will reign in righteousness,
and princes will rule in justice.
2 ^fgEach will be like a hiding place from the wind,
a shelter from the storm,
^fhlike streams of water in a dry place,
like the shade of a great rock in a weary land.
3 ^fiThen the eyes of those who see will not be closed,
and the ears of those who hear will give attention.
4 The heart of the hasty will understand and know,
^fjand the tongue of the stammerers will hasten to speak distinctly.
5 ^fkThe fool will no more be called noble,
nor the scoundrel said to be honorable.
6 For ^flthe fool speaks folly,
and his heart is busy with iniquity,
to practice ungodliness,
to utter error concerning the Lord,
^fmto leave the craving of the hungry unsatisfied,
and to deprive the thirsty of drink.
7 As for the scoundrel— ^fnhis devices are evil;
he plans wicked schemes
to ruin the poor with lying words,
even when the plea of the needy is right.
8 But he who is noble plans noble things,
and on noble things he stands.

Complacent Women Warned of Disaster

9 ^foRise up, you women ^fpwho are at ease, hear my voice;
you complacent daughters, give ear to my speech.
10 In little more than a year
you will shudder, you complacent women;
for the grape harvest fails,
the fruit harvest will not come.
11 Tremble, you women ^fqwho are at ease,
shudder, you complacent ones;
^frstrip, and make yourselves bare,
^fsand tie sackcloth around your waist.
12 ^ftBeat your breasts for the pleasant fields,
for the fruitful vine,
13 ^fufor the soil of my people
growing up in thorns and briers,
^fvyes, for all the joyous houses
in the exultant city.
14 For the palace is forsaken,
the populous city deserted;
the hill and the watchtower
will become dens forever,
^fwa joy of wild donkeys,
a pasture of flocks;
15 until ^fxthe Spirit is poured upon us from on high,
and ^fythe wilderness becomes a fruitful field,
and the fruitful field is deemed a forest.
16 Then justice will dwell in the wilderness,
and righteousness abide in the fruitful field.
17 ^fzAnd the effect of righteousness will be peace,
and the result of righteousness, quietness and trust ^{▼▼Or security} forever.
18 My people will abide in a peaceful habitation,
in secure dwellings, and in quiet resting places.
19 ^gbAnd it will hail when the forest falls down,
^gcand the city will be utterly laid low.
20 ^gdHappy are you who sow beside all waters,
who let the feet of the ox and the donkey range free.

Isaiah 33

O Lord, Be Gracious to Us

1 ^geAh, you destroyer,
who yourself have not been destroyed,
you traitor,
whom none has betrayed!
When you have ceased to destroy,
you will be destroyed;
and when you have finished betraying,
they will betray you.
2 O Lord, be gracious to us; ^gfwe wait for you.
Be our arm every morning,
our salvation in the time of trouble.
3 ^ggAt the tumultuous noise peoples flee;
when you lift yourself up, nations are scattered,
4 and your spoil is gathered as the caterpillar gathers;
^ghas locusts leap, it is leapt upon.
5 ^giThe Lord is exalted, for he dwells on high;
he will fill Zion with justice and righteousness,
6 ^gjand he will be the stability of your times,
abundance of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge;
the fear of the Lord is Zion’s ^{▼▼Hebrew his} treasure.
7 Behold, their heroes cry in the streets;
^glthe envoys of peace weep bitterly.
8 ^gmThe highways lie waste;
the traveler ceases.
^gnCovenants are broken;
cities ^{▼▼Masoretic Text; Dead Sea Scroll witnesses} are despised;
there is no regard for man.
9 ^gpThe land mourns and languishes;
Lebanon is confounded and withers away;
Sharon is like a desert,
and Bashan and Carmel shake off their leaves.
10 ^gq“Now I will arise,” says the Lord,
“now I will lift myself up;
now I will be exalted.
11 ^grYou conceive chaff; you give birth to stubble;
your breath is ^gsa fire that will consume you.
12 And the peoples will be as if burned to lime,
^gtlike thorns cut down, that are burned in the fire.”
13 Hear, you who are far off, what I have done;
and you who are near, acknowledge my might.
14 The sinners in Zion are afraid;
trembling has seized the godless:
^gu“Who among us can dwell ^gvwith the consuming fire?
Who among us can dwell with everlasting burnings?”
15 ^gwHe who walks righteously and speaks uprightly,
who despises the gain of oppressions,
who shakes his hands, lest they hold a bribe,
who stops his ears from hearing of bloodshed
^gxand shuts his eyes from looking on evil,
16 he will dwell on the heights;
his place of defense will be the fortresses of rocks;
^gyhis bread will be given him; his water will be sure.
17 ^gzYour eyes will behold the king in his beauty;
^hathey will see a land that stretches afar.
18 ^hbYour heart will muse on the terror:
“Where is he who counted, where is ^hche who weighed the tribute?
Where is ^hdhe who counted the towers?”
19 ^heYou will see no more the insolent people,
the people ^hfof an obscure speech that you cannot comprehend,
stammering in a tongue that you cannot understand.
20 Behold Zion, the city of our appointed feasts!
^hgYour eyes will see Jerusalem,
an untroubled habitation, an ^hhimmovable tent,
whose stakes will never be plucked up,
nor will any of its cords be broken.
21 But there the Lord in majesty will be for us
a place of ^hibroad rivers and streams,
^hjwhere no galley with oars can go,
nor majestic ship can pass.
22 For the Lord is our ^hkjudge; the Lord is our ^hllawgiver;
the Lord is our ^hmking; he will save us.
23 Your cords hang loose;
they cannot hold the mast firm in its place
or keep the sail spread out.
^hnThen prey and spoil in abundance will be divided;
even ^hothe lame will take the prey.
24 And no inhabitant will say, ^hp“I am sick”;
^hqthe people who dwell there will be forgiven their iniquity.