Discovery BoxIsaiah 28:1-3 
Context28:1 The splendid crown of Ephraim’s drunkards is doomed, 1
the withering flower, its beautiful splendor, 2
situated 3 at the head of a rich valley,
the crown of those overcome with wine. 4
28:2 Look, the sovereign master 5 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 crown 9 to the ground with his hand. 10
28:3 The splendid crown of Ephraim’s drunkards
will be trampled underfoot.
Isaiah 28:7
Context28:7 Even these men 11 stagger because of wine,
they stumble around because of beer –
priests and prophets stagger because of beer,
they are confused 12 because of wine,
they stumble around because of beer;
they stagger while seeing prophetic visions, 13
they totter while making legal decisions. 14
1 tn Heb “Woe [to] the crown [or “wreath”] of the splendor [or “pride”] of the drunkards of Ephraim.” The “crown” is Samaria, the capital city of the northern kingdom (Ephraim). Priests and prophets are included among these drunkards in v. 7.
2 tn Heb “the beauty of his splendor.” In the translation the masculine pronoun (“his”) has been replaced by “its” because the referent (the “crown”) is the city of Samaria.
3 tn Heb “which [is].”
4 tn Heb “ones overcome with wine.” The words “the crown of” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The syntactical relationship of the final phrase to what precedes is uncertain. הֲלוּמֵי יָיִן (halume yayin, “ones overcome with wine”) seems to correspond to שִׁכֹּרֵי אֶפְרַיִם (shikkore ’efrayim, “drunkards of Ephraim”) in line 1. The translation assumes that the phrase “the splendid crown” is to be understood in the final line as well.
5 tn The Hebrew term translated “sovereign master” here and in vv. 16, 22 is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).
6 tn Heb “Look, a strong and powerful [one] belongs to the Lord.”
7 tn Heb “like a rainstorm of hail, a wind of destruction.”
8 tn Heb “like a rainstorm of mighty, overflowing waters.”
9 tn The words “that crown” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The object of the verb is unexpressed in the Hebrew text.
10 tn Or “by [his] power.”
11 tn Heb “these.” The demonstrative pronoun anticipates “priests and prophets” two lines later.
12 tn According to HALOT 135 s.v. III בלע, the verb form is derived from בָּלַע (bala’, “confuse”), not the more common בָּלַע (“swallow”). See earlier notes at 3:12 and 9:16.
13 tn Heb “in the seeing.”
14 tn Heb “[in] giving a decision.”
