Isaiah 28


28:1 Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim,
 whose glorious beauty [is] a fading flower; who [are] on the
 head of the rich valleys of them that are overcome with wine!
28:2 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.
28:3 The crown of pride, the drunkards of Ephraim shall be
 trodden under feet.
28:4 And the glorious beauty, which [is] on the head of the rich
 valley, shall be a fading flower, [and] as the early fruit
 before the summer; which, [when] he that looketh upon it, seeth
 while it is yet in his hand he eateth it up.
28:5 In that day will the LORD of hosts be for a crown of glory,
 and for a diadem of beauty, to the residue of his people,
28:6 And for a spirit of judgment to him that sitteth in
 judgment, and for strength to them that turn the battle to the
 gate.
28:7 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 overwhelmed with wine, they are
 out of the way through strong drink; they err in vision, they
 stumble [in] judgment.
28:8 For all tables are full of vomit [and] filthiness, [so that
 there is] no place [clean].
28:9 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.
28:10 For precept [must be] upon precept, precept upon precept;
 line upon line, line upon line; here a little, [and] there a
 little:
28:11 For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak
 to this people.
28:12 To whom he said, This [is] the rest [with which] ye may
 cause the weary to rest; and this [is] the refreshing: yet they
 would not hear.
28:13 But the word of the LORD was to 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.
28:14 Wherefore hear the word of the LORD, ye scornful men, that
 rule this people which [is] in Jerusalem.
28:15 Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death,
 and with hell are we in agreement; when the overflowing scourge
 shall pass through, it shall not reach us: for we have made
 lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves:
28:16 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.
28:17 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.
28:18 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.
28:19 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.
28:20 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].
28:21 For the LORD will rise as [on] mount Perazim, he will 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.
28:22 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.
28:23 Give ye ear, and hear my voice; hearken, and hear my
 speech.
28:24 Doth the plowman plow all day to sow? doth he open and
 break the clods of his ground?
28:25 When he hath made even the face of it, doth he not cast
 abroad the vetches, and scatter the cummin, and cast in the
 principal wheat, and the appointed barley, and the rye in their
 place?
28:26 For his God doth instruct him to discretion, [and] doth
 teach him.
28:27 For the vetches are not threshed with a threshing
 instrument, neither is a cart-wheel turned about upon the
 cummin; but the vetches are beaten out with a staff, and the
 cummin with a rod.
28:28 Bread-[corn] is bruised; because he will not always be
 threshing it, nor break [it with] the wheel of his cart, nor
 bruise it [with] his horsemen.
28:29 This also cometh forth from the LORD of hosts, [who] is
 wonderful in counsel, [and] excellent in operation.