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[1]Woe to the crown of pride, the drunkards of Ephraim: for his glorious beauty shall be a fading flower, which is upon the head of the valley of them that be fat, and are overcome with wine.
[2]Behold, the Lord hath a mighty and strong host, like a tempest of hail, and a whirlwind that overthroweth, like a tempest of mighty waters that overflow, which throw to the ground mightily.
[3]They shall be trodden under foot, even the crown and the pride of the drunkards of Ephraim.
[4]For his glorious beauty shall be a fading flower, which is upon the head of the valley of them that be fat, and as the hasty fruit afore summer, which when he that looketh upon it, seeth it, while it is in his hand, he eateth it.
[5]In that day shall the Lord of hosts be for a crown of glory, and for a diadem of beauty unto the residue of his people:
[6]And for a spirit of judgment to him that sitteth in judgment, and for strength unto them that turn away the battle to the gate.
[7]But they have erred because of wine, and are out of the way by strong drink: the priest and the prophet have erred by strong drink: they are swallowed up with wine: they have gone astray through strong drink: they fail in vision: they stumble in judgment.
[8]For all their tables are full of filthy vomiting: no place is clean.
[9]Whom shall he teach knowledge? And whom shall he make to understand the things that he heareth? Them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts.
[10]For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept, line unto line, line unto line, there a little, and there a little.
[11]For with a stammering tongue and with a strange language shall he speak unto this people.
[12]Unto whom he said, This is the rest: give rest to him that is weary: and this is the refreshing, but they would not hear.
[13]Therefore shall the word of the Lord be unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line unto line, line unto line, there a little and there a little, that they may go, and fall backward, and be broken, and be snared, and be taken.
[14]Wherefore, hear the word of the Lord, ye scornful men that rule this people, which is at Jerusalem.
[15]Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement: though a scourge run over, and pass through, it shall not come at us: for we have made falsehood our refuge, and under vanity are we hid,
[16]Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I will lay in Zion a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation. He that believeth, shall not make haste.
[17]Judgment also will I lay to the rule, and righteousness to the balance, and the hail shall sweep away the vain confidence, and the waters shall overflow the secret place.
[18]And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand: when a scourge shall run over and pass through, then shall ye be trod down by it.
[19]When it passeth over, it shall take you away: for it shall pass through every morning in the day, and in the night, and there shall be only fear to make you to understand the hearing.
[20]For the bed is strait that it cannot suffice, and the covering narrow that one cannot wrap himself.
[21]For the Lord shall stand as in mount Perazim: he shall be wroth as in the valley of Gibeon, that he may do his work, his strange work, and bring to pass his act, his strange act.
[22]Now therefore be no mockers, lest your bonds increase: for I have heard of the Lord of hosts a consumption, even determined upon the whole earth.
[23]Hearken ye, and hear my voice: hearken ye, and hear my speech.
[24]Doth the plowman plow all the day, to sow? Doth he open, and break the clots of his ground?
[25]When he hath made it plain, will he not then sow the fitches, and sow cumin, and cast in wheat by measure, and the appointed barley and rye in their place?
[26]For his God doth instruct him to have discretion, and doth teach him.
[27]For fitches shall not be threshed with a threshing instrument, neither shall a cartwheel be turned about upon the cumin: but the fitches are beaten out with a staff, and cumin with a rod.
[28]Bread corn when it is threshed, he doth not always thresh it, neither doth the wheel of his cart still make a noise, neither will he break it with the teeth thereof.
[29]This also cometh from the Lord of hosts, which is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in works.
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