Haftarah Torah Portion Shemot
Isaiah 27:6 - 28:13 29:22-23

Isaiah 27

6 In coming days,
    Jacob will take root;
    Israel will blossom and sprout
    and fill the whole world with produce.

7 Did God strike Israel as he struck those who struck him?
    Was Israel killed as his killers were killed?
8 By frightening Jerusalem, by sending her away,
    you contended with her,
    expelling with a fierce blast
    on the day of the east wind.
9 By this Jacob’s guilt is reconciled,
    and this was how his sins were finally removed:
    he made all the altar stones like shattered chalk,
    sacred poles and incense altars that couldn’t stand.

10 The fortified city lies alone,
    a hut forsaken,
    abandoned like the desert.
Calves graze there;
    they lie down there and feed on its boughs.
11 When its branches are dry, they are broken.
    Women come and set fire to it.
These people have no understanding;
    therefore, their maker won’t have compassion;
    the one who formed them won’t be gracious.

12 On that day, the Lord will beat grain from the channel of the Euphrates up to the Valley of Egypt. You will be collected, Israelites, one by one. 13 On that day, a great trumpet will be played. Those who were lost in the land of Assyria and those who were scattered in the land of Egypt will come. They will bow to the Lord at his holy mountain in Jerusalem.

Isaiah 28

28 Oh, the majestic garland of Ephraim’s drunks
    and the fading flower of its splendid beauty
    on the head that flows with perfume
    of those hammered with wine.
2 Look! The Lord has someone who is powerful and strong;
    like a hailstorm, a disastrous tempest,
    like a downpour of mighty, overflowing waters,
    he can level them to the ground with his hand.
3 The majestic garland of Ephraim’s drunks
    will be trampled underfoot.
4     The withered flower, which is a thing of beauty
        as it sits on the head of those bloated with fat,
        will be like an early fig before the summer harvest:
    whoever sees it swallows it as soon as it is in hand.

5 On that day, the Lord of heavenly forces will be a splendid garland and a beautiful wreath for the people who survive, 6 and a spirit of justice for the one who sits in judgment, and a strength for those who repel the assault at the gate.

7 These also stagger from wine and stumble from beer:
    priest and prophet stagger from beer;
    they are confused by wine;
    they stray on account of beer;
    they err when receiving visions;
    they stumble when making judgments.
8 All the tables are covered with vomit;
    filth overruns the place.

9 To whom will God teach knowledge?
    To whom will he explain the message?
    To those just weaned from milk?
    To those who have hardly outgrown the breast?
10 It is “tsav letsav, tsav lestav; qav leqav, qav leqav,”
    a little of this, a little of that.
11 With derisive speech and a foreign tongue,
    he will speak to this people.
12 He has said to them,
    “This is the place of rest;
    give rest to the weary;
    this is the place of repose”;
        but they refused to listen.
13 So the Lord’s word will be for them:
    “tsav letsav, tsav letsav; qav leqav, qav leqav,”
    a little of this, a little of that.
So that they will go and stagger backward,
    they will be broken, snared, and captured.

Isaiah 29

22 Therefore, proclaims the Lord, the God of the house of Jacob, who redeemed Abraham: Jacob won’t be ashamed now, and his face won’t grow pale now.

23 When he sees his children among them,
    the work of my hands,
    proclaiming my name holy,
    they will make holy the holy one of Jacob,
    and stand in awe of Israel’s God.

Jacob won’t be ashamed now,
    and his face won’t grow pale now.
23 When he sees his children among them,
    the work of my hands,
    proclaiming my name holy,
    they will make holy the holy one of Jacob,
    and stand in awe of Israel’s God.