Isaiah 28; Isaiah 29

1 Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, and to the fading flower the glory his joy, who were on the head of the fat valley, staggering with wine.

2 Behold the Lord is mighty and strong, as a storm of hail: a destroying whirlwind, as the violence of many waters overflowing, and sent forth upon a spacious land.

3 The crown of pride of the drunkards of Ephraim shall be trodden under feet.

4 And the fading tower the glory of his joy, who is on the head of the fat valley, shall be as a hasty fruit before the ripeness of autumn: which when he that seeth it shall behold, as soon he taketh it in his hand, he will eat it up.

5 In that day the Lord of hosts shall be a crown of glory, and a garland of joy to the residue of his people:

6 And a spirit of judgment to him that sitteth in judgment, and strength to them that return out of the battle to the gate.

7 But these also have been ignorant through wine, and through drunkenness have erred: the priest and the prophet have been ignorant through drunkenness, they are swallowed up with wine, they have gone astray in drunkenness, they have not known him that seeth, they have been ignorant of judgment.

8 For all the tables were full of vomit and filth, so that there was no more place.

9 Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand the hearing? them that are weaned from the milk, that are drawn away from the breasts.

10 For command, command again; command, command again; expect, expect again; a little there, a little there.

11 For with the speech of lips, and with another tongue he will speak to this people.

12 To whom he said: This is my rest, refresh the weary, and this is my refreshing: and they would not hear.

13 And the word of the Lord shall be to them: Command, command again; command, command again; expect, expect again; a little there, a little there: that they may go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.

14 Wherefore hear the word of the Lord, ye scornful men, who rule over my people that is in Jerusalem.

15 For you have said: We have entered into a league with death, and we have made a covenant with hell. When the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come upon us: for we have placed our hope in lies, and by falsehood we are protected.

16 Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Behold I will lay a stone in the foundations of Sion, a tried stone, a corner stone, a precious stone, founded in the foundation. He that believeth, let him not hasten.

17 And I will set judgment in weight, and justice in measure: and hail shall overturn the hope of falsehood: and waters shall overflow its protection.

18 And your league with death shall be abolished, and your covenant with hell shall not stand: when the overflowing scourge shall pass, you shall be trodden down by it.

19 Whensoever it shall pass through, it shall take you away: because in the morning early it shall pass through, in the day and in the night, and vexation alone shall make you understand what you hear.

20 For the bed is straitened, so that one must fall out, and a short covering cannot cover both.

21 For the Lord shall stand up as in the mountain of divisions: he shall be angry as in the valley which is in Gabaon: that he may do his work, his strange work: that he may perform his work, his work is strange to him.

22 And now do not mock, lest your bonds be tied strait. For I have heard of the Lord the God of hosts a consumption and a cutting short upon all the earth.

23 Give ear, and hear my voice, hearken, and hear my speech.

24 Shall the ploughman plough all the day to sow, shall he open and harrow his ground?

25 Will he not, when he hath made plain the surface thereof, soweth, and scatter cummin, and put wheat in order, and barley, and millet, and vetches in their bounds?

26 For he will instruct him in judgment: his God will teach him.

27 For gith shall not be thrashed with saws, neither shall the cart wheel turn about upon cummin: but gith shall be beaten out with a rod, and cumin with a staff.

28 But breadcorn shall be broken small: but the thrasher shall not thrash it for ever, neither shall the cart wheel hurt it, nor break it with its teeth.

29 This also is come forth from the Lord God of hosts, to make his counsel wonderful, and magnify justice.

1 Woe to Ariel, to Ariel the city which David took: year is added to year. the solemnities are at an end.

2 And I will make a trench about Ariel, and it shall be in sorrow and mourning, and it shall be to me as Ariel.

3 And I will make a circle round about thee, and I will cast up a rampart against thee, and raise up bulwarks to besiege thee.

4 Thou shalt be brought down, thou shall speak out of the earth, and thy speech shall be heard out of the ground: and thy voice shall be from the earth like that of the python, and out of the earth thy speech shall mutter.

5 And the multitude of them that fan thee, shall be like small dust: and as ashes passing away, the multitude of them that have prevailed against thee.

6 And it shall be at an instant suddenly. A visitation shall come from the Lord of hosts in thunder, and with earthquake, and with a great noise of whirlwind and tempest; and with the flame of devouring fire.

7 And the multitude of all nations that have fought against Ariel, shall be as the dream of a vision by night, and all that have fought, and besieged and prevailed against it.

8 And as he that is hungry dreameth, and eateth, but when he is awake, his soul is empty: and as he that is thirsty dreameth, and drinketh and after he is awake, is yet faint with thirst, and his soul is empty: so shall be the multitude of all the Gentiles, that have fought against mount Sion.

9 Be astonished, and wonder, waver, and stagger: be drunk, and not with wine: stagger, and not with drunkenness.

10 For the Lord hath mingled for you the spirit of a deep sleep, he will shut up your eyes, he will cover your prophets and princes, that see visions.

11 And the vision of all shall be unto you as the words of a book that is sealed which when they shall deliver to one that is learned, they shall say: Read this: and he shall answer: I cannot, for it is sealed.

12 And the book shall be given to one that knoweth no letters, and it shall be said to him: Read: and he shall answer: I know no letters.

13 And the Lord said: Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips glorify me, but their heart is far from me, and they have feared me with the commandment and doctrines of men:

14 Therefore behold I will proceed to cause an admiration in this people, by a great and wonderful miracle: for wisdom shall perish from their wise men, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid.

15 Woe to you that are deep of heart, to hide your counsel from the Lord: and their works are in the dark, and they say: Who seeth us, and who knoweth us?

16 This thought of yours is perverse: as if the clay should think against the potter, and the work should say to the maker thereof: Thou madest me not: or the thing framed should say to him that fashioned it: Thou understandest not.

17 Is it not yet a very little while, and Libanus shall be turned into charmel, and charmel shall be esteemed as a forest?

18 And in that day the deaf shall hear the words of the book, and out of darkness and obscurity the eyes of the blind shall see.

19 And the meek shall increase their joy in the Lord, and the poor men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.

20 For he that did prevail hath failed, the scorner is consumed, and they are all cut off that watched for iniquity:

21 That made men sin by word, and supplanted him that reproved them in the gate, and declined in vain from the just.

22 Therefore thus saith the Lord to the house of Jacob, he that redeemed Abraham: Jacob shall not now be confounded, neither shall his countenance now be ashamed:

23 But when he shall see his children, the work of my hands in the midst of him sanctifying my name, and they shall sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and shall glorify the God of Israel:

24 And they that erred in spirit, shall know understanding, and they that murmured, shall learn the law.