Isaiah 28-30

Easy-to-Read Version

Warnings to Northern Israel

⁵ At that time the Lord All-Powerful will become the “Beautiful Crown.” He will be the “Wonderful Crown of Flowers” for his people who are left. ⁶ Then he will give wisdom to the judges who rule his people. He will give strength to the people who are in battles at the city gates. ⁷ But now those leaders are drunk. The priests and prophets are all drunk with wine and beer. They stumble and fall down. The prophets are drunk when they see their dreams. The judges are drunk when they make their decisions. ⁸ Every table is covered with vomit. There is not a clean place anywhere.

God Wants to Help His People

⁹ The people say, “Who does he think he is trying to teach and explain his message to? Does he think we are babies who were at their mother’s breast only a very short time ago? ¹⁰ He speaks to us as though we were babies:

¹¹ So God will use this strange way of talking, and he will use other languages to speak to these people.

¹² In the past he spoke to them and said, “Here is a resting place. Let those who are tired come and rest. This is the place of peace.”

But they would not listen to him. ¹³ So the Lord’s words will be senseless sounds^[c] to them:

When the people try to walk, they will fall backwards. They will be defeated, trapped, and captured.

No One Escapes God’s Judgment

¹⁴ You leaders in Jerusalem should listen to the Lord’s message, but now you refuse to listen to him. ¹⁵ You have said, “We have made an agreement with death. We have a contract with death. So we will not be punished. Punishment will pass us without hurting us. We will hide behind our tricks and lies.”

¹⁶ Because of these things, the Lord God says, “I will put a rock—a cornerstone—in the ground in Zion. This will be a very precious stone.^[d] Everything will be built on this very important rock. Anyone who trusts in that rock will not be disappointed.^[e]

¹⁷ “Workers use a string and weight to show their work is straight and true. I will use justice as the string and goodness as the weight when I lay that foundation. But your safe places were built on lies. So they will be destroyed and washed away when the troubles come against you like hail storms and floods. ¹⁸ Your agreement with death will be erased. Your contract with Sheol will not help you.

“Someone will come and punish you. He will make you like the dirt he walks on. ¹⁹ He will come and take you away. Your punishment will be terrible. Your punishment will come early in the morning, and it will continue late into the night.

“Then you will understand this story: ²⁰ A man tried to sleep on a bed that was too short for him. He had a blanket that was not wide enough to cover him. The bed and blanket were useless, and so were your agreements.”

²¹ The Lord will fight as he did at Mount Perazim. He will be angry as he was in Gibeon Valley.^[f] He will do what he must do. It will be what some stranger should do, but he will finish his work. Yes, this is a stranger’s job. ²² Now don’t complain about these things. If you fight against them, you will only tighten the ropes around you.

The words I heard will not change. They came from the Lord God All-Powerful, the ruler of all the earth, and these things will be done.

The Lord Punishes Fairly

²³ Listen closely to the message I am telling you. ²⁴ Does a farmer plow his field all the time? No, he doesn’t work the soil all the time. ²⁵ A farmer prepares the ground, and then he plants the seed. He plants different kinds of seeds different ways. He scatters dill seeds, he throws cumin seeds on the ground, and he plants wheat in rows. A farmer plants barley in its special place, and he plants spelt seeds at the edge of his field.

²⁶ Our God is using this to teach you a lesson. This example shows us that God is fair when he punishes his people. ²⁷ Does a farmer use large boards with sharp teeth to crush dill seeds? No, and he doesn’t use a wagon to crush cumin seeds. A farmer uses a small stick to break the hulls from these seeds of grain. ²⁸ People grind grain to make flour, but they don’t grind it forever. As God does in punishing people, a worker might drive his wagon over the grain to remove the hulls, but he does not allow the horses^[g] to crush it. ²⁹ This lesson comes from the Lord All-Powerful, who gives wonderful advice. He is very wise.

God Punishes Jerusalem

29 God says, “Look at Ariel,^[h] the city where David camped. Keep on having your festivals, year after year. ² But I will punish Ariel. The city will be filled with sadness and crying, but it will always be my Ariel.

³ “I will put armies all around you, Ariel. I will raise war towers against you. ⁴ You will be pulled to the ground. Your voice will rise from the ground like the voice of a ghost. Your words come like a whisper from the dirt.”

⁵ There will be so many foreigners that they will be like dust. Cruel people will be like the chaff blowing in the wind. Then suddenly, ⁶ the Lord All-Powerful will punish you with earthquakes, thunder, and loud noises. There will be storms, strong winds, and a burning, destructive fire. ⁷ Many nations will fight against Ariel. It will be a nightmare. Armies will surround Ariel and punish her. ⁸ But it will also be like a dream to those armies. They will not get what they want. It will be like a hungry man dreaming about food. When the man wakes up, he is still hungry. It will be like a thirsty man dreaming about water. When the man wakes up, he is still thirsty. The same thing is true about all the nations fighting against Zion. Those nations will not get what they want.

¹¹ To you my words are like the words in a book that is closed and sealed.^[i] You can give the book to someone who can read and tell that person to read it. But that person will say, “I cannot read the book. It is closed and I cannot open it.” ¹² Or you can give the book to someone who cannot read and tell that person to read it. That person will say, “I cannot read the book because I don’t know how to read.”

¹³ The Lord says, “These people come to honor me with words, but I am not really important to them. The worship they give me is nothing but human rules they have memorized. ¹⁴ So I will continue to amaze them by doing powerful and amazing things. Their wise men will lose their wisdom. Even the most intelligent among them will not be able to understand.”

¹⁵ Look at them! They try to hide things from the Lord. They think he will not understand. They do their evil things in darkness. They tell themselves: “No one can see us. No one will know who we are.”

¹⁶ You turn things upside down. You think the clay is equal to the potter. You think that something that is made can tell the one who made it, “You did not make me!” This is like a pot telling its maker, “You know nothing.”

A Better Time Is Coming

¹⁷ This is the truth: After a very short time, Lebanon will become rich farmland, and the farmland will be like thick forests. ¹⁸ The deaf will hear the words in the book. The blind will see through the darkness and fog. ¹⁹ The Lord will make poor people happy. The poorest people will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.

²⁰ This will happen when the people who are mean and cruel have come to an end. It will happen when those who enjoy doing bad things are gone. ²¹ (They lie about good people. They try to trap people in court. They try to destroy innocent people.)

²² So the Lord, who made Abraham free, speaks to Jacob’s family. He says, “Now the people of Jacob will not be embarrassed and ashamed.

²⁴ Many of these people did not understand, so they did what was wrong. They complained, but now they will learn their lesson.”

Israel Should Trust in God, Not Egypt

30 The Lord said, “Look at these children. They don’t obey me. They make plans, but they don’t ask me to help them. They make agreements with other nations, but my Spirit does not want those agreements. These people are adding more and more sins to the ones they have already done. ² They are going down to Egypt for help, but they did not ask me if that was the right thing to do. They hope they will be saved by the Pharaoh. They want Egypt to protect them.

³ “But I tell you, hiding in Egypt will not help you. Pharaoh will not be able to protect you. ⁴ Your leaders have gone to Zoan, and your representatives have gone to Hanes.^{[k] 5} But they will be disappointed. They are depending on a nation that cannot help them. Egypt is useless—it will not help. Egypt will bring nothing but shame and embarrassment.”

God’s Message to Judah

⁶ This is a message^[l] about the Negev animals^[m]:

There is a dangerous place full of lions, adders,^[n] deadly snakes,^[o] and useless people. And there are people who load their wealth onto donkeys and their treasures on the backs of camels. They carry them to a people who cannot help. ⁷ That useless nation is Egypt. Egypt’s help is worth nothing, so I call Egypt the “Do-Nothing Dragon.”^[p]

⁸ Now write this on a sign so that all people can see it, and write this in a book. Write these things for a future time. This will be far, far in the future:^[q]

⁹ These people are like children who refuse to obey. They lie and refuse to listen to the Lord’s teachings. ¹⁰ They tell the prophets, “Don’t see dreams^[r] about things we should do. Don’t tell us the truth. Say nice things to us and make us feel good. See only good things for us. ¹¹ Stop seeing things that will really happen. Get out of our way. Stop telling us about the Holy One of Israel.”

Judah’s Help Comes Only From God

¹² The Holy One of Israel says, “You people have refused to accept this message from me. You depend on fighting and lies to help you. ¹³ You are guilty of these things. So you are like a tall wall with cracks in it. That wall will fall and break into small pieces. ¹⁴ You will be like a large clay jar that breaks into many small, useless pieces. You cannot use them to get a hot coal from the fire or to get water from a pool in the ground.”

¹⁵ The Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, says, “If you come back to me you will be saved. Only by remaining calm and trusting in me can you be strong.”

But you don’t want to do that. ¹⁶ You say, “No, we need fast horses for battle.” That is true—you will need fast horses, but only to run away because your enemy will be faster than your horses. ¹⁷ One enemy soldier will make threats, and a thousand of your men will run away. And when five of them make threats, all of you will run away. The only thing that will be left of your army will be a flagpole on a hill.

God Will Help His People

¹⁸ So the Lord is waiting to show his mercy to you. He wants to rise and comfort you. The Lord is the God who does the right thing, so he will bless everyone who waits for his help.

¹⁹ You people who live in Jerusalem on Mount Zion will not continue crying. The Lord will hear your crying, and he will comfort you. When he hears you, he will help you.

²⁰ The Lord might give you sorrow and pain like the bread and water you eat every day. But God is your teacher, and he will not continue to hide from you. You will see your teacher with your own eyes. ²¹ If you wander from the right path, either to the right or to the left, you will hear a voice behind you saying, “You should go this way. Here is the right way.”

²² Then you will take your idols covered with gold and silver and make them unfit to be used again. You will throw them away like filthy rags^[s] and say, “Go away!”

²³ At that time the Lord will send you rain. You will plant seeds, and the ground will grow food for you. You will have a very large harvest. You will have plenty of food in the fields for your animals. There will be large fields for your sheep. ²⁴ Your cattle and donkeys will have all the food they need. There will be much food. You will have to use shovels and pitchforks to spread all the food^[t] for your animals to eat. ²⁵ Every mountain and hill will have streams filled with water. These things will happen after many people are killed and the enemy’s towers are pulled down.

²⁶ At that time the light from the moon will be as bright as the sun, and the light from the sun will be seven times brighter than it is now. One day of sunlight will be like a whole week’s worth. This will happen when the Lord bandages his broken people and heals the hurts from their beatings.

²⁷ Look! The Lord is coming from far away. His anger is like a fire with thick clouds of smoke. His mouth is filled with anger, and his tongue is like a burning fire. ²⁸ His breath is like a great river that rises until it reaches the throat. He will judge the nations as if putting them through a strainer that separates the ones fit for destruction. He will put a bit in their mouths to lead them to the place they don’t want to go.

²⁹ You will sing happy songs, like the nights when you begin a festival. You will be very happy walking to the Lord’s mountain and listening to the flute on the way to worship the Rock of Israel.

³⁰ The Lord will cause all people to hear his great voice and to see his powerful arm come down in anger. That arm will be like a great fire that burns everything. His power will be like a great storm with much rain and hail. ³¹ Assyria will be frightened by the Lord’s voice and the stick that will beat him. ³² And as the Lord beats Assyria, his people will keep the rhythm with their drums and harps.

³³ Topheth^[u] has been made ready for a long time. It is ready for the king.^[v] It was made very deep and wide. There is a very big pile of wood and fire there, and the Lord’s breath will come like a stream of burning sulfur to start the fire.