Isaiah 28:1
New International Version
Woe to that wreath, the pride of Ephraim’s drunkards, to the fading flower, his glorious beauty, set on the head of a fertile valley— to that city, the pride of those laid low by wine!

New Living Translation
What sorrow awaits the proud city of Samaria— the glorious crown of the drunks of Israel. It sits at the head of a fertile valley, but its glorious beauty will fade like a flower. It is the pride of a people brought down by wine.

English Standard Version
Ah, the proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim, and the fading flower of its glorious beauty, which is on the head of the rich valley of those overcome with wine!

Berean Standard Bible
Woe to the majestic crown of Ephraim’s drunkards, to the fading flower of his glorious splendor, set on the summit above the fertile valley, the pride of those overcome by wine.

King James Bible
Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, whose glorious beauty is a fading flower, which are on the head of the fat valleys of them that are overcome with wine!

New King James Version
Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, Whose glorious beauty is a fading flower Which is at the head of the verdant valleys, To those who are overcome with wine!

New American Standard Bible
Woe to the proud crown of the habitually drunk of Ephraim, 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!

NASB 1995
Woe to the proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim, 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!

NASB 1977
Woe to the proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim, 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!

Legacy Standard Bible
Woe to the proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim, 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!

Amplified Bible
Woe (judgment is coming) to [Samaria] the splendid crown of the drunkards of Ephraim, And to the fading flower of its glorious beauty, Which is at the head of the rich valley Of those who are overcome with wine!

Christian Standard Bible
Woe to the majestic crown of Ephraim’s drunkards, and to the fading flower of its beautiful splendor, which is on the summit above the rich valley. Woe to those overcome with wine.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
Woe to the majestic crown of Ephraim’s drunkards, and to the fading flower of its beautiful splendor, which is on the summit above the rich valley. Woe to those overcome with wine.

American Standard Version
Woe to the crown of pride of the drunkards of Ephraim, and to the fading flower of his glorious beauty, which is on the head of the fat valley of them that are overcome with wine!

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
Woe to the glorious crown of the drunkard Aphreim, and to the shameful garland, the power of his glory that is at the head of the heavenly valley of those who are confused with wine!

Brenton Septuagint Translation
Woe to the crown of pride, the hirelings of Ephraim, the flower that has fallen from the glory of the top of the fertile mountain, they that are drunken without wine.

Contemporary English Version
The city of Samaria above a fertile valley is in for trouble! Its leaders are drunkards, who stuff themselves with food and wine. But they will be like flowers that dry up and wilt.

Douay-Rheims Bible
WOE to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, and to the fading flower the glory of his joy, who were on the head of the fat valley, staggering with wine.

English Revised Version
Woe to the crown of pride of the drunkards of Ephraim, and to the fading flower of his glorious beauty, which is on the head of the fat valley of them that are overcome with wine!

GOD'S WORD® Translation
How horrible it will be for the arrogant drunks of Ephraim. Their glorious beauty is [like] a withered flower. They are at the entrance to a fertile valley where they lie drunk from wine.

Good News Translation
The kingdom of Israel is doomed! Its glory is fading like the crowns of flowers on the heads of its drunken leaders. Their proud heads are well perfumed, but there they lie, dead drunk.

International Standard Version
How terrible it will be for that arrogant garland— the drunks of Ephraim! How terrible it will be for that fading flower of his glorious beauty, which sits on the heads of people bloated with food, of people overcome with wine!

JPS Tanakh 1917
Woe to the crown of pride of the drunkards of Ephraim, And to the fading flower of his glorious beauty, Which is on the head of the fat valley of them that are smitten down with wine!

Literal Standard Version
Woe [to] the proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim. And the fading flower of the beauty of his glory, | That [is] on the head of the fat valley of the broken down of wine.

Majority Standard Bible
Woe to the majestic crown of Ephraim’s drunkards, to the fading flower of his glorious splendor, set on the summit above the fertile valley, the pride of those overcome by wine.

New American Bible
Ah! majestic garland of the drunkards of Ephraim, Fading blooms of his glorious beauty, at the head of the fertile valley, upon those stupefied with wine.

NET Bible
The splendid crown of Ephraim's drunkards is doomed, the withering flower, its beautiful splendor, situated at the head of a rich valley, the crown of those overcome with wine.

New Revised Standard Version
Ah, the proud garland of the drunkards of Ephraim, and the fading flower of its glorious beauty, which is on the head of those bloated with rich food, of those overcome with wine!

New Heart English Bible
Woe to the crown of pride of the drunkards of Ephraim, and to the fading flower of his glorious beauty, which is on the head of the fertile valley of those who are overcome with wine.

Webster's Bible Translation
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!

World English Bible
Woe to the crown of pride of the drunkards of Ephraim, and to the fading flower of his glorious beauty, which is on the head of the fertile valley of those who are overcome with wine!

Young's Literal Translation
Woe to the proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim. And the fading flower of the beauty of his glory, That is on the head of the fat valley of the broken down of wine.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Judgment on Ephraim
1Woe to the majestic crown of Ephraim’s drunkards, to the fading flower of his glorious splendor, set on the summit above the fertile valley, the pride of those overcome by wine. 2Behold, the Lord has one who is strong and mighty. Like a hailstorm or destructive tempest, like a driving rain or flooding downpour, he will smash that crown to the ground.…

Cross References
Leviticus 26:19
I will break down your stubborn pride and make your sky like iron and your land like bronze,

Isaiah 5:11
Woe to those who rise early in the morning in pursuit of strong drink, who linger into the evening, to be inflamed by wine.

Isaiah 9:9
All the people will know it--Ephraim and the dwellers of Samaria. With pride and arrogance of heart they will say:

Isaiah 28:7
These also stagger from wine and stumble from strong drink: Priests and prophets reel from strong drink and are befuddled by wine. They stumble because of strong drink, muddled in their visions and stumbling in their judgments.

Hosea 5:9
Ephraim will be laid waste on the day of rebuke. Among the tribes of Israel I proclaim what is certain.

Hosea 7:5
The princes are inflamed with wine on the day of our king; so he joins hands with those who mock him.


Treasury of Scripture

Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, whose glorious beauty is a fading flower, which are on the head of the fat valleys of them that are overcome with wine!

A.

Isaiah 28:3
The crown of pride, the drunkards of Ephraim, shall be trodden under feet:

Hosea 5:5
And the pride of Israel doth testify to his face: therefore shall Israel and Ephraim fall in their iniquity; Judah also shall fall with them.

Hosea 6:10
I have seen an horrible thing in the house of Israel: there is the whoredom of Ephraim, Israel is defiled.

drunkards

Isaiah 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 swallowed up of wine, they are out of the way through strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble in judgment.

Isaiah 5:11,22
Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink; that continue until night, till wine inflame them! …

Proverbs 23:29
Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who hath babbling? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes?

whose

Isaiah 28:4
And the glorious beauty, which is on the head of the fat valley, shall be a fading flower, and as the hasty fruit before the summer; which when he that looketh upon it seeth, while it is yet in his hand he eateth it up.

Isaiah 7:8,9
For the head of Syria is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin; and within threescore and five years shall Ephraim be broken, that it be not a people…

Isaiah 8:4
For before the child shall have knowledge to cry, My father, and my mother, the riches of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria shall be taken away before the king of Assyria.

overcome.

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Beauty City Crown Dead Drink Drunkards Ephraim E'phraim Ephraim's Fading Fat Fertile Flower Glorious Glory Head Laid Overcome Pride Proud Rich Smitten Strong Valley Valleys Wine Wo Woe
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Isaiah 28
1. The prophet threatens Ephraim for their pride and drunkenness
5. The residue shall be advanced in the kingdom of Christ
7. He rebukes their error
9. Their unwillingness to learn
14. And their security
16. Christ the sure foundation is promised
17. Their security shall be tried
23. They are incited to the consideration of God's providence














XXVIII.

(1) Woe to the crown of pride . . .--Better, the proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim. The chapter is remarkable, as showing that the prophet's work was not limited to Judah and Jerusalem, but extended to the northern kingdom. The warning was clearly uttered before the capture of Samaria by Salmaneser, or, more probably, by Sargon, and paints in vivid colours--reminding us in part of Amos 6:4-6, not without a side glance at the like vices in Jerusalem (Isaiah 22:13)--the license into which the capital of the northern kingdom had fallen. With a bold personification the words paint (1) the banquet with its revellers, crowned, as in the later days of Rome, with wreaths of flowers; and (2) Samaria itself as such a wreath, once beautiful, now fading, crowning the "head" of the "fat," or luxuriant, valley (literally, valley of oils, or, fat things) in which the revellers held their feasts. Cheyne notes that the inscription of Salmaneser records that the tribute of Jehu consisted of bowls, cups, and goblets of gold, as illustrating the luxury of the palace of Samaria (Records of the Past, v. 41). The LXX. strangely renders the last clause, "drunk without wine," as if from a reminiscence of Isaiah 29:9, and gives the "hirelings of Ephraim" instead of "drunkards."

Verses 1-4. - A WARNING TO SAMARIA. The prophet has now east his eagle glance over the whole world and over all time. He has denounced woe upon all the principal nations of the earth (Isaiah 13-23.), glanced at the destruction of the world itself (Isaiah 24:17-20), and sung songs over the establishment of Christ's kingdom, and the ingathering of the nations into it (Isaiah 25-27.). In the present chapter he returns to the condition of things in his own time and among his own people. After a brief warning, addressed to Samaria, he turns to consider the condition of Judah, which he accuses of following the example of Samaria, of perishing through self-indulgence and lack of knowledge (vers. 7-12). He then proceeds to expostulate seriously with the "rulers of Jerusalem," on whom lies the chief responsibility for its future. Verse 1. - Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkard; rather, of the drunkards, The "drunkards of Ephraim," or of the ten tribes, were at once intoxicated with wine (Amos 4:1; Amos 6:6) and with pride (Amos 6:13). As the external aspect of affairs grew mere and more threatening through the advances of Tiglath-Pileser and Shalmaneser, they gave themselves up more and more to self-indulgence and luxury, lay upon beds of ivory, drank wine from bowls, feasted to the sound of the viol, and even invented fresh instruments of music (Amos 6:4, 5). At the same time, they said in their hearts, "Have we not taken by our own strength?" (Amos 6:13). They persisted in regarding themselves as secure, when even ordinary political foresight might have seen that their end was approaching. Whose glorious beauty is a fading flower; rather, and to the fading flower of his glorious beauty. The "glorious beauty" of Samaria was a beauty of magnificent luxury. "Summer" and "winter houses," distinct each from the other (Amos 3:15); "ivory palaces" (1 Kings 22:39; Amos 3:15); a wealth of "gardens, vineyards, fig-orchards, and olive yards" (Amos 4:9); residences of "hewn stone" (Amos 5:11); feasts enlivened with "the melody of viols" (Amos 5:23); "beds of ivory" (Amos 6:4); "wine in bowls" (Amos 6:6); "chief ointments" (Amos 6:6); constituted a total of luxurious refinement beyond which few had proceeded at the time, and which Isaiah was fain to recognize, in a worldly point of view, as "glorious" and "beautiful." But the beauty was of a kind liable to fade, and it was already fading under the sirocco of Assyrian invasion. Which are on the head of the fat valleys; rather, which is on the head (or, which decks the head) of the rich valley. Samaria was built on a hill of an oval form, which rose up in the midst of a fertile valley shut in by mountains. The prophet identifies the valley with the kingdom itself, and then personifies it, and regards its head as crowned by the fading flower of Samaria's beauty.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
Woe
ה֗וֹי (hō·w)
Interjection
Strong's 1945: Ah! alas! ha!

to the majestic
גֵּאוּת֙ (gê·’ūṯ)
Noun - feminine singular construct
Strong's 1348: Arrogance, majesty, ornament

crown
עֲטֶ֤רֶת (‘ă·ṭe·reṯ)
Noun - feminine singular construct
Strong's 5850: A crown, wreath

of Ephraim’s
אֶפְרַ֔יִם (’ep̄·ra·yim)
Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 669: Ephraim -- a son of Joseph, also his descendants and their territory

drunkards,
שִׁכֹּרֵ֣י (šik·kō·rê)
Adjective - masculine plural construct
Strong's 7910: Intoxicated, as a, state, a habit

to the fading
נֹבֵ֖ל (nō·ḇêl)
Verb - Qal - Participle - masculine singular
Strong's 5034: To wilt, to fall away, fail, faint, to be foolish, wicked, to despise, disgrace

flower
וְצִ֥יץ (wə·ṣîṣ)
Conjunctive waw | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 6731: Glistening, a burnished plate, a flower, a wing

of his glorious
צְבִ֣י (ṣə·ḇî)
Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 6643: Splendor, a gazelle

splendor,
תִפְאַרְתּ֑וֹ (ṯip̄·’ar·tōw)
Noun - feminine singular construct | third person masculine singular
Strong's 8597: Beauty, glory

set
אֲשֶׁ֛ר (’ă·šer)
Pronoun - relative
Strong's 834: Who, which, what, that, when, where, how, because, in order that

on
עַל־ (‘al-)
Preposition
Strong's 5921: Above, over, upon, against

the summit
רֹ֥אשׁ (rōš)
Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 7218: The head

above the fertile
שְׁמָנִ֖ים (šə·mā·nîm)
Noun - masculine plural
Strong's 8081: Grease, liquid, richness

valley,
גֵּֽיא־ (gê-)
Noun - common singular construct
Strong's 1516: A valley

[the pride] of those overcome
הֲל֥וּמֵי (hă·lū·mê)
Verb - Qal - QalPassParticiple - masculine plural construct
Strong's 1986: To strike down, to hammer, stamp, conquer, disband

by wine.
יָֽיִן׃ (yā·yin)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 3196: Wine, intoxication


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OT Prophets: Isaiah 28:1 Woe to the crown of pride (Isa Isi Is)
Isaiah 27:13
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