1. Woe to the crown of pride of the drunkards of Ephraim, whose glorious beauty is a fading flower on the head of the fat valley of those who are overcome with wine!
2. Behold, the Lord is a mighty and strong one; like a hailstorm, a destroying storm; like a storm of mighty waters overflowing; He sets down to the earth with His hand.
3. The crown of pride of the drunkards of Ephraim shall be trampled down.
4. And the glorious beauty which is on the head of the fat valley shall be a fading flower, like the first ripe fig before summer which the seeing one sees; while it is yet in his hand, he swallows it.
5. In that day Jehovah of Hosts shall become a crown of glory and a diadem of beauty to the rest of His people,
6. and a spirit of justice to him who sits on the judgment seat; and for might to those turning back the battle toward the gate.
7. But they also have gone astray by wine, and have erred through fermented drink; priest and prophet have erred through fermented drink; they have been swallowed by wine; they strayed from fermented drink; they err in vision; they stumble in judgment;
8. for all tables are full of vomit and filth, without a clean place.
9. To whom shall He teach knowledge? And to whom shall He explain the message? Those weaned from milk, those moving from breasts?
10. For precept must be on precept, precept on precept; line on line, line on line; here a little, there a little.
11. For with stammering lip and other languages, He will speak to this people;
12. to whom He said, This is the rest; cause the weary to rest. Also, This is the repose. But they willed not to hear.
13. Yet the Word of Jehovah was to them, precept on precept, precept on precept; line on line, line on line; here a little, there a little; that they might go, and stumble, and be broken, and snared, and taken.
14. So hear the Word of Jehovah, scornful men, rulers of this people in Jerusalem.
15. Because you have said, We have cut a covenant with death; and, We have made a vision with Sheol, when the overwhelming rod passes through it will not come to us for we have made the lie our refuge, and we have hidden in falsehood.
16. So, the Lord Jehovah says this: Behold, I place in Zion a Stone for a foundation, a tried Stone, a precious Cornerstone, a sure Foundation; he who believes shall not hasten.
17. And I will lay justice for a line, and righteousness for a plummet; and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of the lie; and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.
18. And your covenant with death shall be covered; and your vision with Sheol shall not rise up. When the overwhelming whip passes through, then you shall be for a trampling to it.
19. As often as it passes, it shall take you; for morning by morning it shall pass; and by day and by night, it shall only be a terror to understand the message.
20. For the bed is shorter than one can stretch himself on; and the cover is narrower than one can wrap himself in.
21. For Jehovah shall rise up, as at Mount Perazim; He shall be stirred as in the Gibeon Valley; to do His work, His strange work; and to perform His task, His alien task.
22. So, then, do not be mockers, that your bonds not be made strong. For I have heard from the Lord Jehovah of Hosts that a full end is decreed on all the earth.
23. Give ear and hear My voice; pay attention and hear My Word:
24. Does the plowman plow all day to sow? Does he open and break the clods of his ground?
25. When he has leveled its surface, does he not strew black cummin, and scatter cummin, and place wheat in rows, and barley in its place, and spelt in its border?
26. And He instructs him for the right; his God teaches him.
27. For black cummin is not threshed with the sledge; nor is a cartwheel turned on cummin. But black cummin is beaten out with the staff, and cummin with the rod.
28. Bread is crushed, but not always does one thresh it with threshing; and he drives the wheel of his cart; and his horses do not beat it small.
29. This also comes from Jehovah of Hosts, doing wonders in counsel, making sound wisdom great.