Sermon Central
Isaiah 28
Ephraim’s Captivity Predicted
And to the fading flower of its glorious beauty,
Which is at the head of the fertile valley
Of those who are overcome with wine!
As a storm of hail, a tempest of destruction,
Like a storm of mighty overflowing waters,
He has cast it down to the earth with His hand.
Which is at the head of the fertile valley,
Will be like the first-ripe fig prior to summer,
Which one sees,
And as soon as it is in his hand,
He swallows it.
And a glorious diadem to the remnant of His people;
A strength to those who repel the onslaught at the gate.
The priest and the prophet reel with strong drink,
They are confused by wine, they stagger from strong drink;
They reel while having visions,
They totter when rendering judgment.
And to whom would He interpret the message?
Those just weaned from milk?
Those just taken from the breast?
‘Order on order, order on order,
Line on line, line on line,
A little here, a little there.’”
Through stammering lips and a foreign tongue,
And, “Here is repose,” but they would not listen.
“Order on order, order on order,
Line on line, line on line,
A little here, a little there,”
That they may go and stumble backward, be broken, snared and taken captive.
Who rule this people who are in Jerusalem,
And with Sheol we have made a pact.
The overwhelming scourge will not reach us when it passes by,
For we have made falsehood our refuge and we have concealed ourselves with deception.”
16Therefore thus says the Lord GOD,
A costly cornerstone for the foundation, firmly placed.
He who believes in it will not be disturbed.
And righteousness the level;
Then hail will sweep away the refuge of lies
And the waters will overflow the secret place.
And your pact with Sheol will not stand;
When the overwhelming scourge passes through,
Then you become its trampling place.
For morning after morning it will pass through, anytime during the day or night,
And it will be sheer terror to understand what it means.”
And the blanket is too small to wrap oneself in.
He will be stirred up as in the valley of Gibeon,
To do His task, His unusual task,
And to work His work, His extraordinary work.
Or your fetters will be made stronger;
For I have heard from the Lord GOD of hosts
Of decisive destruction on all the earth.
Listen and hear my words.
Does he continually turn and harrow the ground?
And sow dill and scatter cummin
And plant wheat in rows,
Barley in its place and rye within its area?
Nor is the cartwheel driven over cummin;
But dill is beaten out with a rod, and cummin with a club.
Indeed, he does not continue to thresh it forever.
Because the wheel of his cart and his horses eventually damage it,
He does not thresh it longer.
Who has made His counsel wonderful and His wisdom great.