Isaiah 28:1

Wine is a mocker and beer is a brawler. Whoever is led astray by them is not wise.

Don’t be among ones drinking too much wine, or those who gorge themselves on meat:

The pride of Israel testifies to his face; yet they haven’t returned to Yahweh their God, nor sought him, for all this.

Yahweh says: “For three transgressions of Damascus, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment; because they have threshed Gilead with threshing instruments of iron;

Proclaim in the palaces at Ashdod, and in the palaces in the land of Egypt, and say, “Assemble yourselves on the mountains of Samaria, and see what unrest is in her, and what oppression is among them.”

“Don’t prophesy!” They prophesy. “Don’t prophesy about these things. Disgrace won’t overtake us.”

If you take your neighbor’s garment as collateral, you shall restore it to him before the sun goes down,

“You and your sons are not to drink wine or strong drink whenever you go into the Tent of Meeting, or you will die. This shall be a statute forever throughout your generations.

For Yahweh will strike Israel, as a reed is shaken in the water; and he will root up Israel out of this good land which he gave to their fathers, and will scatter them beyond the River, because they have made their Asherah poles, provoking Yahweh to anger.

Yahweh rejected all the offspring of Israel, afflicted them, and delivered them into the hands of raiders, until he had cast them out of his sight.

For many fell slain, because the war was of God. They lived in their place until the captivity.

So the God of Israel stirred up the spirit of Pul king of Assyria, and the spirit of Tilgath Pilneser king of Assyria, and he carried them away, even the Reubenites, and the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, and brought them to Halah, Habor, Hara, and to the river of Gozan, to this day.

Those who stay long at the wine; those who go to seek out mixed wine.

For before the child knows to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land whose two kings you abhor shall be forsaken.

But there shall be no more gloom for her who was in anguish. In the former time, he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali; but in the latter time he has made it glorious, by the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations.

The fortress shall cease from Ephraim, and the kingdom from Damascus, and the remnant of Syria. They will be as the glory of the children of Israel,” says Yahweh of Armies.

“Your own wickedness will correct you, and your backsliding will rebuke you. Know therefore and see that it is an evil and bitter thing, that you have forsaken Yahweh your God, and that my fear is not in you,” says the Lord, Yahweh of Armies.

“An astonishing and horrible thing has happened in the land.

Though our iniquities testify against us, work for your name’s sake, Yahweh; for our rebellions are many. We have sinned against you.

I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hidden from me; for now, Ephraim, you have played the prostitute. Israel is defiled.

On the day of our king, the princes made themselves sick with the heat of wine. He joined his hand with mockers.

It will happen at that time, that I will search Jerusalem with lamps, and I will punish the men who are settled on their dregs, who say in their heart, “Yahweh will not do good, neither will he do evil.”

They set apart Kedesh in Galilee in the hill country of Naphtali, Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim, and Kiriath Arba (also called Hebron) in the hill country of Judah.

Ben Hadad listened to king Asa, and sent the captains of his armies against the cities of Israel, and struck Ijon, and Dan, and Abel Beth Maacah, and all Chinneroth, with all the land of Naphtali.

In the fifty-second year of Azariah king of Judah, Pekah the son of Remaliah began to reign over Israel in Samaria for twenty years.

So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath Pileser king of Assyria, saying, “I am your servant and your son. Come up and save me out of the hand of the king of Syria, and out of the hand of the king of Israel, who rise up against me.”

In the ninth year of Hoshea the king of Assyria took Samaria, and carried Israel away to Assyria, and placed them in Halah, and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.

Tilgath Pilneser king of Assyria came to him, and gave him trouble, but didn’t strengthen him.

It is not for kings, Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine, nor for princes to say, ‘Where is strong drink?’

Yahweh has mixed a spirit of perverseness in the middle of her; and they have caused Egypt to go astray in all of its works, like a drunken man staggers in his vomit.

They also who err in spirit will come to understanding, and those who grumble will receive instruction.”

who tell the seers, “Don’t see!” and the prophets, “Don’t prophesy to us right things. Tell us pleasant things. Prophesy deceits.

Truly, Yahweh, the kings of Assyria have destroyed all the countries and their land,

Your first father sinned, and your teachers have transgressed against me.

Listen to me, you stubborn-hearted, who are far from righteousness!

Therefore Yahweh says: “Ask now among the nations, ‘Who has heard such things?’ The virgin of Israel has done a very horrible thing.

She gave herself as a prostitute to them, all of them the choicest men of Assyria. She defiled herself with the idols of whoever she lusted after.

“Ephraim is like an easily deceived dove, without understanding. They call to Egypt. They go to Assyria.

They haven’t cried to me with their heart, but they howl on their beds. They assemble themselves for grain and new wine. They turn away from me.

Listen to this word, you cows of Bashan, who are on the mountain of Samaria, who oppress the poor, who crush the needy, who tell their husbands, “Bring us drinks!”

but don’t prophesy again any more at Bethel; for it is the king’s sanctuary, and it is a royal house!”

Misery is mine! Indeed, I am like one who gathers the summer fruits, as gleanings of the vineyard: There is no cluster of grapes to eat. My soul desires to eat the early fig.

All your fortresses will be like fig trees with the first-ripe figs: if they are shaken, they fall into the mouth of the eater.

“Woe to him who gives his neighbor drink, pouring your inflaming wine until they are drunk, so that you may gaze at their naked bodies!

I heard, and my body trembled. My lips quivered at the voice. Rottenness enters into my bones, and I tremble in my place, because I must wait quietly for the day of trouble, for the coming up of the people who invade us.

But immediately after the suffering of those days, the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light, the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken;

“So be careful, or your hearts will be loaded down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that day will come on you suddenly.

You have lived in luxury on the earth, and taken your pleasure. You have nourished your hearts as in a day of slaughter.

When Jabin king of Hazor heard of it, he sent to Jobab king of Madon, to the king of Shimron, to the king of Achshaph,

Kedesh, Edrei, En Hazor,

Yahweh sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor; the captain of whose army was Sisera, who lived in Harosheth of the Gentiles.

and Beerah his son, whom Tilgath Pilneser king of Assyria carried away captive. He was prince of the Reubenites.

He stirs up the sea with his power, and by his understanding he strikes through Rahab.

The proud animals have not trodden it, nor has the fierce lion passed by there.

He sees everything that is high. He is king over all the sons of pride.”

They reel back and forth, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits’ end.

Happy are you, land, when your king is the son of nobles, and your princes eat in due season, for strength, and not for drunkenness!

As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. My people, those who lead you cause you to err, and destroy the way of your paths.

The harp, lyre, tambourine, and flute, with wine, are at their feasts; but they don’t respect the work of Yahweh, neither have they considered the operation of his hands.

Manasseh, Ephraim; and Ephraim, Manasseh; and they together shall be against Judah. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.

The foot shall tread it down, even the feet of the poor and the steps of the needy.”

The fading flower of his glorious beauty, which is on the head of the fertile valley, shall be like the first-ripe fig before the summer; which someone picks and eats as soon as he sees it.

They also reel with wine, and stagger with strong drink. The priest and the prophet reel with strong drink. They are swallowed up by wine. They stagger with strong drink. They err in vision. They stumble in judgment.

“Come,” say they, “I will get wine, and we will fill ourselves with strong drink; and tomorrow will be as today, great beyond measure.”

In the prophets of Jerusalem I have also seen a horrible thing: they commit adultery and walk in lies. They strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that no one returns from his wickedness. They have all become to me as Sodom, and its inhabitants as Gomorrah.”

“Therefore I delivered her into the hand of her lovers, into the hand of the Assyrians, on whom she doted.

Speak and say, ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “Behold, I am against you, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great monster that lies in the middle of his rivers, that has said, ‘My river is my own, and I have made it for myself.’

“The virgin of Israel has fallen; She shall rise no more. She is cast down on her land; there is no one to raise her up.”

For being not yet born, neither having done anything good or bad, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him who calls,

Don’t be drunken with wine, in which is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit,

For the overseer must be blameless, as God’s steward, not self-pleasing, not easily angered, not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for dishonest gain;

For we have spent enough of our past time doing the desire of the Gentiles, and having walked in lewdness, lusts, drunken binges, orgies, carousings, and abominable idolatries.

Take your father and your households, and come to me, and I will give you the good of the land of Egypt, and you will eat the fat of the land.’

but the land that you go over to possess is a land of hills and valleys which drinks water from the rain of the sky,

In the days of Pekah king of Israel, Tiglath Pileser king of Assyria came and took Ijon, Abel Beth Maacah, Janoah, Kedesh, Hazor, Gilead, and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali; and he carried them captive to Assyria.

For Pekah the son of Remaliah killed in Judah one hundred twenty thousand in one day, all of them valiant men, because they had forsaken Yahweh, the God of their fathers.

As for man, his days are like grass. As a flower of the field, so he flourishes.

Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has strife? Who has complaints? Who has needless bruises? Who has bloodshot eyes?

Woe to those who rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink, who stay late into the night, until wine inflames them!

Woe to those who are mighty to drink wine, and champions at mixing strong drink;

For before the child knows how to say, ‘My father,’ and, ‘My mother,’ the riches of Damascus and the plunder of Samaria will be carried away by the king of Assyria.”

All the people will know, including Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria, who say in pride and in arrogance of heart,

The earth mourns and fades away. The world languishes and fades away. The lofty people of the earth languish.

The crown of pride of the drunkards of Ephraim will be trodden under foot.

Concerning the prophets: My heart within me is broken. All my bones shake. I am like a drunken man, and like a man whom wine has overcome, because of Yahweh, and because of his holy words.

“ ‘Behold, the day! Behold, it comes! Your doom has gone out. The rod has blossomed. Pride has budded.

Prostitution, wine, and new wine take away understanding.

The pride of Israel testifies to his face. Therefore Israel and Ephraim will stumble in their iniquity. Judah also will stumble with them.

In the house of Israel I have seen a horrible thing. There is prostitution in Ephraim. Israel is defiled.

When I would heal Israel, then the iniquity of Ephraim is uncovered, also the wickedness of Samaria; for they commit falsehood, and the thief enters in, and the gang of robbers ravages outside.

and they lay themselves down beside every altar on clothes taken in pledge; and in the house of their God they drink the wine of those who have been fined.

“But you gave the Nazirites wine to drink, and commanded the prophets, saying, ‘Don’t prophesy!’

Woe to those who are at ease in Zion, and to those who are secure on the mountain of Samaria, the notable men of the chief of the nations, to whom the house of Israel come!

who drink wine in bowls, and anoint themselves with the best oils; but they are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph.

Foreigners will dwell in Ashdod, and I will cut off the pride of the Philistines.

not a drinker, not violent, not greedy for money, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not covetous;

For the sun arises with the scorching wind and withers the grass, and the flower in it falls, and the beauty of its appearance perishes. So the rich man will also fade away in his pursuits.

promising them liberty, while they themselves are bondservants of corruption; for a man is brought into bondage by whoever overcomes him.