1 Woe to the haughty crown of Ephraim's drunkards, to the withering flower of its glorious splendor, set on the head of the fertile valley of men knocked flat by wine!
2 Look, the Lord has someone strong and mighty; like a hailstorm, a destructive gale, like a downpour of mighty, flooding waters, he will throw it to the ground by force.
3 The haughty crown of Ephraim's drunkards will be stamped underfoot,
4 and the withering flower of its glorious splendor, set on the head of the fertile valley, will be like an early fig before summer: whoever spots it swallows it the moment he has it in his hand.
5 On that day the LORD of hosts himself will be a glorious crown and a beautiful wreath for the remnant of his people,
6 a spirit of justice for the one who sits as judge, and strength for those who drive the battle back to the gate.
7 But these too stagger from wine and lurch from strong drink: priest and prophet stagger from strong drink and are befuddled by wine; they lurch from strong drink, they stagger while seeing visions, they totter when giving verdicts.
8 Every table is covered with vomit and filth; not a clean spot is left.
9 "Who is he trying to teach knowledge? To whom is he explaining his message? To children just weaned from milk, just taken from the breast?
10 For it is rule on rule, rule on rule, line on line, line on line, a little here, a little there."
11 Very well, with stammering lips and in a foreign language he will speak to this people,
12 to whom he once said, "Here is rest; let the weary rest; here is a place of repose." But they would not listen.
13 So the word of the LORD to them will be rule on rule, rule on rule, line on line, line on line, a little here, a little there, so that they will go and fall backward, be injured, trapped and captured.
14 So listen to the word of the LORD, you mockers who govern this people in Jerusalem!
15 You say, "We have cut a covenant with death and made a pact with Sheol; when the overwhelming scourge sweeps by, it will not touch us, for we have made a lie our shelter and hidden ourselves behind falsehood."
16 So this is what the Lord GOD says: "Look, I am setting a stone in Zion as a foundation, a tested stone, a valuable cornerstone, firmly laid; whoever believes will not hurry away.
17 I will make justice the measuring line and righteousness the level; hail will wash away the shelter of lies, and water will flood the hiding place.
18 Your covenant with death will be canceled and your pact with Sheol will not hold; when the overwhelming scourge sweeps by, you will be beaten down by it.
19 Every time it sweeps by, it will carry you off; morning after morning it will pass through, by day and by night. Merely to understand the message will bring sheer terror."
20 The bed is too short to stretch out in, the blanket too narrow to wrap around you.
21 For the LORD will rise up as he did at Mount Perazim; he will rouse himself as in the Valley of Gibeon, to do his work, his strange work, and carry out his task, his unfamiliar task.
22 So stop your mocking, or your chains will be pulled tighter, for I have heard from the Lord GOD of hosts that destruction has been decided against the whole land.
23 Listen and hear my voice; pay attention and hear what I say.
24 Does the plowman keep on plowing every day to plant seed? Does he keep breaking up and harrowing his soil?
25 Once he has leveled the surface, does he not scatter dill, sow cumin, put wheat in its rows, barley in its plot, and spelt along its edges?
26 His God teaches him the right way and instructs him.
27 Dill is not threshed with a sledge, nor is a cartwheel driven over cumin; dill is beaten out with a stick, and cumin with a rod.
28 Bread grain must be crushed, yet no one goes on threshing it forever; he drives his cartwheel and his horses over it, but he does not grind it to powder.
29 This too comes from the LORD of hosts, whose counsel is wonderful and whose wisdom is great.