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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.