God’s People Anticipate Vindication

26:7 9 The way of the righteous is level,

the path of the righteous that you make is straight.10

26:8 Yes, as your judgments unfold,11

O Lord, we wait for you.

We desire your fame and reputation to grow.12

26:9 I13 look for14 you during the night,

my spirit within me seeks you at dawn,

for when your judgments come upon the earth,

those who live in the world learn about justice.15

26:10 If the wicked are shown mercy,

they do not learn about justice.16

Even in a land where right is rewarded, they act unjustly;17

they do not see the Lord’s majesty revealed.

26:11 O Lord, you are ready to act,18

but they don’t even notice.

They will see and be put to shame by your angry judgment against humankind,19

yes, fire will consume your enemies.20

26:12 O Lord, you make us secure,21

for even all we have accomplished, you have done for us.22

26:13 O Lord, our God,

masters other than you have ruled us,

but we praise your name alone.

26:14 The dead do not come back to life,

the spirits of the dead do not rise.23

That is because24 you came in judgment25 and destroyed them,

you wiped out all memory of them.

26:15 You have made the nation larger,26 O Lord,

you have made the nation larger and revealed your splendor,27

you have extended all the borders of the land.

26:16 O Lord, in distress they looked for you;

they uttered incantations because of your discipline.28

26:17 As when a pregnant woman gets ready to deliver

and strains and cries out because of her labor pains,

so were we because of you, O Lord.

26:18 We were pregnant, we strained,

we gave birth, as it were, to wind.29

We cannot produce deliverance on the earth;

people to populate the world are not born.30

26:19 31 Your dead will come back to life;

your corpses will rise up.

Wake up and shout joyfully, you who live in the ground!32

For you will grow like plants drenched with the morning dew,33

and the earth will bring forth its dead spirits.34

26:20 Go, my people! Enter your inner rooms!

Close your doors behind you!

Hide for a little while,

until his angry judgment is over!35

26:21 For look, the Lord is coming out of the place where he lives,36

to punish the sin of those who live on the earth.

The earth will display the blood shed on it;

it will no longer cover up its slain.37

27:1 At that time1 the Lord will punish

with his destructive,2 great, and powerful sword

Leviathan the fast-moving3 serpent,

Leviathan the squirming serpent;

he will kill the sea monster.4

27:2 When that time comes,5

sing about a delightful vineyard!6

27:3 I, the Lord, protect it;7

I water it regularly.8

I guard it night and day,

so no one can harm it.9

27:4 I am not angry.

I wish I could confront some thorns and briers!

Then I would march against them10 for battle;

I would set them11 all on fire,

27:5 unless they became my subjects12

and made peace with me;

let them make peace with me.13

27:6 The time is coming when Jacob will take root;14

Israel will blossom and grow branches.

The produce15 will fill the surface of the world.16

27:7 Has the Lord struck down Israel like he did their oppressors?17

Has Israel been killed like their enemies?18

27:8 When you summon her for divorce, you prosecute her;19

he drives her away20 with his strong wind in the day of the east wind.21

27:9 So in this way Jacob’s sin will be forgiven,22

and this is how they will show they are finished sinning:23

They will make all the stones of the altars24

like crushed limestone,

and the Asherah poles and the incense altars will no longer stand.25

27:10 For the fortified city26 is left alone;

it is a deserted settlement

and abandoned like the desert.

Calves27 graze there;

they lie down there

and eat its branches bare.28

27:11 When its branches get brittle,29 they break;

women come and use them for kindling.30

For these people lack understanding,31

therefore the one who made them has no compassion on them;

the one who formed them has no mercy on them.

27:12 At that time32 the Lord will shake the tree,33 from the Euphrates River34 to the Stream of Egypt. Then you will be gathered up one by one, O Israelites.35 27:13 At that time36 a large37 trumpet will be blown, and the ones lost38 in the land of Assyria will come, as well as the refugees in39 the land of Egypt. They will worship the Lord on the holy mountain in Jerusalem.40

The Lord Will Judge Samaria

28:1 The splendid crown of Ephraim’s drunkards is doomed,1

the withering flower, its beautiful splendor,2

situated3 at the head of a rich valley,

the crown of those overcome with wine.4

28:2 Look, the sovereign master5 sends a strong, powerful one.6

With the force of a hailstorm or a destructive windstorm,7

with the might of a driving, torrential rainstorm,8

he will knock that crown9 to the ground with his hand.10

28:3 The splendid crown of Ephraim’s drunkards

will be trampled underfoot.

28:4 The withering flower, its beautiful splendor,

situated at the head of a rich valley,

will be like an early fig before harvest—

as soon as someone notices it,

he grabs it and swallows it.11

28:5 At that time12 the Lord who commands armies will become a beautiful crown

and a splendid diadem for the remnant of his people.

28:6 He will give discernment to the one who makes judicial decisions,

and strength to those who defend the city from attackers.13

28:7 Even these men14 stagger because of wine,

they stumble around because of beer—

priests and prophets stagger because of beer,

they are confused15 because of wine,

they stumble around because of beer;

they stagger while seeing prophetic visions,16

they totter while making legal decisions.17

28:8 Indeed, all the tables are covered with vomit;

no place is untouched.18

28:9 Who is the Lord19 trying to teach?

To whom is he explaining a message?20

Those just weaned from milk!

Those just taken from their mother’s breast!21

28:10 Indeed, they will hear meaningless gibberish,

senseless babbling,

a syllable here, a syllable there.22

28:11 For with mocking lips and a foreign tongue

he will speak to these people.23

28:12 In the past he said to them,24

“This is where security can be found.

Provide security for the one who is exhausted!

This is where rest can be found.”25

But they refused to listen.

28:13 So the Lord’s word to them will sound like

meaningless gibberish,

senseless babbling,

a syllable here, a syllable there.26

As a result, they will fall on their backsides when they try to walk,27

and be injured, ensnared, and captured.28

The Lord Will Judge Jerusalem

28:14 Therefore, listen to the Lord’s word,

you who mock,

you rulers of these people

who reside in Jerusalem!29

28:15 For you say,

“We have made a treaty with death,

with Sheol30 we have made an agreement.31

When the overwhelming judgment sweeps by32

it will not reach us.

For we have made a lie our refuge,

we have hidden ourselves in a deceitful word.”33

28:16 Therefore, this is what the sovereign master, the Lord, says:

“Look, I am laying34 a stone in Zion,

an approved35 stone,

set in place as a precious cornerstone for the foundation.36

The one who maintains his faith will not panic.37

28:17 I will make justice the measuring line,

fairness the plumb line;

hail will sweep away the unreliable refuge,38

the floodwaters will overwhelm the hiding place.

28:18 Your treaty with death will be dissolved;39

your agreement40 with Sheol will not last.41

When the overwhelming judgment sweeps by,42

you will be overrun by it.43

28:19 Whenever it sweeps by, it will overtake you;

indeed,44 every morning it will sweep by,

it will come through during the day and the night.”45

When this announcement is understood,

it will cause nothing but terror.

28:20 For the bed is too short to stretch out on,

and the blanket is too narrow to wrap around oneself.46

28:21 For the Lord will rise up, as he did at Mount Perazim,47

he will rouse himself, as he did in the Valley of Gibeon,48

to accomplish his work,

his peculiar work,

to perform his task,

his strange task.49

28:22 So now, do not mock,

or your chains will become heavier!

For I have heard a message about decreed destruction,

from the sovereign master, the Lord who commands armies, against the entire land.50

28:23 Pay attention and listen to my message!51

Be attentive and listen to what I have to say!52

28:24 Does a farmer just keep on plowing at planting time?53

Does he keep breaking up and harrowing his ground?

28:25 Once he has leveled its surface,

does he not scatter the seed of the caraway plant,

sow the seed of the cumin plant,

and plant the wheat, barley, and grain in their designated places?54

28:26 His God instructs him;

he teaches him the principles of agriculture.55

28:27 Certainly56 caraway seed is not threshed with a sledge,

nor is the wheel of a cart rolled over cumin seed.57

Certainly caraway seed is beaten with a stick,

and cumin seed with a flail.

28:28 Grain is crushed,

though one certainly does not thresh it forever.

The wheel of one’s wagon rolls over it,

but his horses do not crush it.

28:29 This also comes from the Lord who commands armies,

who gives supernatural guidance and imparts great wisdom.58