28  Ah, the proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim,

and the ^dfading flower of its glorious beauty,

which is on the head of the rich valley of those overcome with wine!

2  Behold, the Lord has one who is mighty and strong;

like a storm of hail, a destroying tempest,

like a storm of mighty, overflowing waters,

he casts down to the earth with his hand.

3  The proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim

will be trodden underfoot;

4  and the fading flower of its glorious beauty,

which is on the head of the rich valley,

will be like a ^efirst-ripe fig¹ before the summer:

when someone sees it, he swallows it

as soon as it is in his hand.

5  In that day the Lord of hosts will be a ^fcrown of glory,²

and a diadem of beauty, to the ^gremnant of his people,

6  and a spirit of justice to him who sits in judgment,

and strength to those who turn back the battle at the gate.

7  These also reel with wine

and stagger with strong drink;

the priest and the prophet reel with strong drink,

they are swallowed by³ wine,

they stagger with strong drink,

they reel in vision,

they stumble in giving judgment.

8  For all tables are full of filthy vomit,

with no space left.

9  ^h“To whom will he teach knowledge,

and to whom will he explain the message?

Those who are weaned from the milk,

those taken from the breast?

10  For it is precept upon precept, precept upon precept,

line upon line, line upon line,

here a little, there a little.”

11  For ⁱby people of strange lips

and with a ^jforeign tongue

the Lord will speak to this people,

12  to whom he has said,

“This is rest;

give rest to the weary;

and this is repose”;

^kyet they would not hear.

13  And the word of the Lord will be to them

precept upon precept, precept upon precept,

line upon line, line upon line,

here a little, there a little,

that they may go, and ^lfall backward,

and be broken, and snared, and taken.

14  Therefore hear the word of the Lord, you scoffers,

who rule this people in Jerusalem!

15  Because you have said, “We have made a covenant with death,

and with Sheol we have an agreement,

when the overwhelming whip passes through

it will not come to us,

for we have made lies our refuge,

and in falsehood we have taken shelter”;

16  therefore thus says the Lord God,

^m“Behold, I am the one who has laid⁴ as a ⁿfoundation in Zion,

a ^ostone, a tested stone,

a precious cornerstone, of a sure foundation:

^p‘Whoever ^qbelieves will not be in haste.’

17  And I will make justice the ^rline,

and righteousness the plumb line;

and hail will sweep away the refuge of lies,

and waters will overwhelm the shelter.”

18  Then your covenant with death will be annulled,

and your agreement with Sheol will not stand;

when the overwhelming scourge passes through,

you will be beaten down by it.

19  As often as it passes through it will take you;

for morning by morning it will pass through,

by day and by night;

and it will be sheer terror to understand the message.

20  For the bed is too short to stretch oneself on,

and the covering too narrow to wrap oneself in.

21  For the Lord will rise up ^sas on Mount Perazim;

^tas in the Valley of Gibeon he will be roused;

to do his deed—strange is his deed!

and to work his work—alien is his work!

22  Now therefore do not scoff,

lest your bonds be made strong;

for I have heard a ^udecree of destruction

from the Lord God of hosts against the whole land.

23  Give ear, and hear my voice;

give attention, and hear my speech.

24  Does he who plows for sowing plow continually?

Does he continually open and harrow his ground?

25  When he has leveled its surface,

does he not scatter dill, sow cumin,

and put in wheat in rows

and barley in its proper place,

and emmer⁵ as the border?

26  For he is rightly instructed;

his God teaches him.

27  Dill is not threshed with a threshing sledge,

nor is a cart wheel rolled over cumin,

but dill is beaten out with a stick,

and cumin with a rod.

28  Does one crush grain for bread?

No, he does not thresh it forever;⁶

when he drives his cart wheel over it

with his horses, he does not crush it.

29  This also comes from the Lord of hosts;

he is ^vwonderful in counsel

and excellent in wisdom.

29  Ah, Ariel, Ariel,

the city where David encamped!

Add year to year;

let the feasts run their round.

2  Yet I will distress Ariel,

and there shall be moaning and lamentation,

and she shall be to me like an Ariel.¹

3  And I will encamp against you all around,

and will besiege you with towers

and I will raise siegeworks against you.

4  And you will be brought low; from the earth you shall speak,

and from the dust your speech will be bowed down;

your voice shall come from the ground like the voice of a ghost,

and from the dust your speech shall whisper.

5  But the multitude of your foreign foes shall be like small dust,

and the multitude of the ruthless like passing chaff.

And in an instant, suddenly,

6  you will be visited by the Lord of hosts

with thunder and with earthquake and great noise,

with whirlwind and tempest, and the ^wflame of a devouring fire.

7  And the multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel,

all that fight against her and her stronghold and distress her,

shall be like a dream, a vision of the night.

8  As when a hungry man dreams, and behold, he is eating,

and awakes with his hunger not satisfied,

or as when a thirsty man dreams, and behold, he is drinking,

and awakes faint, with his thirst not quenched,

so shall the multitude of all the nations be

that fight against Mount Zion.

9  Astonish yourselves² and be astonished;

blind yourselves and be blind!

Be drunk,^{3 x}but not with wine;

stagger,⁴ but not with strong drink!

10  For ^ythe Lord has poured out upon you

a spirit of deep sleep,

and has ^zclosed your eyes (the prophets),

and covered your heads (the seers).

13  And the Lord said:

“Because ^bthis people draw near with their mouth

and honor me with their lips,

while their hearts are far from me,

and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men,

14  therefore, behold, I will again

do wonderful things with this people,

with wonder upon wonder;

and ^cthe wisdom of their wise men shall perish,

and the discernment of their discerning men shall be hidden.”

15  Ah, you who hide deep from the Lord your counsel,

whose deeds are in the dark,

and who say, ^d“Who sees us? Who knows us?”

16  You turn things upside down!

Shall the potter be regarded as the clay,

^ethat the thing made should say of its maker,

“He did not make me”;

or the thing formed say of him who formed it,

“He has no understanding”?

17  Is it not yet a very little while

until Lebanon shall be ^fturned into a fruitful field,

and the fruitful field shall be regarded as a forest?

18  In that day ^gthe deaf shall hear

the words of a book,

and out of their gloom and darkness

^hthe eyes of the blind shall see.

19  The ⁱmeek shall obtain fresh joy in the Lord,

and the poor among mankind shall exult in the Holy One of Israel.

20  For the ruthless shall come to nothing

and the scoffer cease,

and all who watch to do evil shall be cut off,

21  who by a word make a man out to be an offender,

and lay a snare for him who reproves in the gate,

and with an empty plea turn aside him who is in the right.

“Jacob shall ^jno more be ashamed,

no more shall his face grow pale.

23  For when he sees his children,

the work of my hands, in his midst,

they will ^ksanctify my name;

they will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob

and will stand in awe of the God of Israel.

24  And those who go astray in spirit will come to understanding,

and those who murmur will accept instruction.”