Woe to the crown of
pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, whose
glorious beauty is a fading flower, which are on
the head of the fat valleys of them that are
overcome with wine!
02 Behold, the Lord hath a mighty and strong one,
which as a tempest of hail and a destroying
storm, as a flood of mighty waters overflowing,
shall cast down to the earth with the hand.
03 The crown of pride, the drunkards of Ephraim,
shall be trodden under feet:
04 And the glorious beauty, which is on the head
of the fat valley, shall be a fading flower, and
as the hasty fruit before the summer; which when
he that looketh upon it seeth, while it is yet in
his hand he eateth it up.
05 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,
06 And for a spirit of judgment to him that
sitteth in judgment, and for strength to them
that turn the battle to the gate.
07 But they also have erred through wine, and
through strong drink are out of the way; the
priest and the prophet have erred through strong
drink, they are swallowed up of wine, they are
out of the way through strong drink; they err in
vision, they stumble in judgment.
08 For all tables are full of vomit and
filthiness, so that there is no place clean.
09 Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall
he make to understand doctrine? them that are
weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts.
10 For precept must be upon precept, precept upon
precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a
little, and there a little:
11 For with stammering lips and another tongue
will he speak to this people.
12 To whom he said, This is the rest wherewith ye
may cause the weary to rest; and this is the
refreshing: yet they would not hear.
13 But the word of the Lord was unto them precept
upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon
line, line upon line; here a little, and there a
little; that they might go, and fall backward,
and be broken, and snared, and taken.
14 Wherefore hear the word of the Lord, ye
scornful men, that rule this people which is in
Jerusalem.
15 Because ye have said, We have made a covenant
with death, and with hell are we at agreement;
when the overflowing scourge shall pass through,
it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies
our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid
ourselves:
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16 Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I
lay in Zion for a foundation 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 line, and
righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall
sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters
shall overflow the hiding place.
18 And your covenant with death shall be
disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall
not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall
pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by
it.
19 From the time that it goeth forth it shall
take you: for morning by morning shall it pass
over, by day and by night: and it shall be a
vexation only to understand the report.
20 For the bed is shorter than that a man can
stretch himself on it: and the covering narrower
than that he can wrap himself in it.
21 For the Lord shall rise up 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 ye not mockers, lest your
bands be made strong: for I have heard from the
Lord God of hosts a consumption, even determined
upon the whole earth.
23 Give ye ear, and hear my voice; hearken, and
hear my speech.
24 Doth the plowman plow all day to sow? doth he
open and break the clods of his ground?
25 When he hath made plain the face thereof, doth
he not cast abroad the fitches, and scatter the
cummin, and cast in the principal wheat and the
appointed barley and the rie in their place?
26 For his God doth instruct him to discretion,
and doth teach him.
27 For the fitches are not threshed with a
threshing instrument, neither is a cart wheel
turned about upon the cummin; but the fitches are
beaten out with a staff, and the cummin with a
rod.
28 Bread corn is bruised; because he will not
ever be threshing it, nor break it with the wheel
of his cart, nor bruise it with his horsemen.
29 This also cometh forth from the Lord of hosts,
which is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in
working.
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