Bible, King James Version
Isaiah
Isa.28
[1] Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of
Ephraim, whose glorious beauty is a fading flower, which are on
the head of the fat valleys of them that are overcome with
wine!
[2] Behold, the Lord hath a mighty and strong one, which
as a tempest of hail and a destroying storm, as a flood of mighty
waters overflowing, shall cast down to the earth with the
hand.
[3] The crown of pride, the drunkards of Ephraim, shall be
trodden under feet:
[4] And the glorious beauty, which is on the head of the
fat valley, shall be a fading flower, and as the hasty fruit
before the summer; which when he that looketh upon it seeth,
while it is yet in his hand he eateth it up.
[5] In that day shall the LORD of hosts be for a crown of
glory, and for a diadem of beauty, unto the residue of his
people,
[6] And for a spirit of judgment to him that sitteth in
judgment, and for strength to them that turn the battle to the
gate.
[7] But they also have erred through wine, and through
strong drink are out of the way; the priest and the prophet have
erred through strong drink, they are swallowed up of wine, they
are out of the way through strong drink; they err in vision, they
stumble in judgment.
[8] For all tables are full of vomit and filthiness, so
that there is no place clean.
[9] Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make
to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and
drawn from the breasts.
[10] For precept must be upon precept, precept upon
precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there
a little:
[11] For with stammering lips and another tongue will he
speak to this people.
[12] To whom he said, This is the rest wherewith ye may
cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they
would not hear.
[13] But the word of the LORD was unto them precept upon
precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line;
here a little, and there a little; that they might go, and fall
backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.
[14] Wherefore hear the word of the LORD, ye scornful men,
that rule this people which is in Jerusalem.
[15] Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with
death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing
scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we
have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid
ourselves:
[16] Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in
Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner
stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make
haste.
[17] Judgment also will I lay to the line, and
righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the
refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding
place.
[18] And your covenant with death shall be disannulled,
and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the
overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden
down by it.
[19] From the time that it goeth forth it shall take you:
for morning by morning shall it pass over, by day and by night:
and it shall be a vexation only to understand the report.
[20] For the bed is shorter than that a man can stretch
himself on it: and the covering narrower than that he can wrap
himself in it.
[21] For the LORD shall rise up as in mount Perazim, he
shall be wroth as in the valley of Gibeon, that he may do his
work, his strange work; and bring to pass his act, his strange
act.
[22] Now therefore be ye not mockers, lest your bands be
made strong: for I have heard from the Lord GOD of hosts a
consumption, even determined upon the whole earth.
[23] Give ye ear, and hear my voice; hearken, and hear my
speech.
[24] Doth the plowman plow all day to sow? doth he open
and break the clods of his ground?
[25] When he hath made plain the face thereof, doth he not
cast abroad the fitches, and scatter the cummin, and cast in the
principal wheat and the appointed barley and rie in their
place?
[26] For his God doth instruct him to discretion, and doth
teach him.
[27] For the fitches are not threshed with a threshing
instrument, neither is a cart wheel turned about upon the cummin;
but the fitches are beaten out with a staff, and the cummin with
a rod.
[28] Bread corn is bruised; because he will not ever be
threshing it, nor break it with the wheel of his cart, nor bruise
it with his horsemen.
[29] This also cometh forth from the LORD of hosts, which
is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working.
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