Chapter 28

Ephraim’s Captivity Predicted

1 Woe to the proud crown of the adrunkards of bEphraim,

And to the fading flower of its glorious beauty,

Which is at the head of the 1fertile valley

Of those who are 2overcome with wine!

2 Behold, the Lord has a strong and amighty agent;

As a storm of bhail, a tempest of destruction,

Like a storm of cmighty overflowing waters,

He has cast it down to the earth with His hand.

3 The proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim is atrodden under foot.

4 And the fading flower of its glorious beauty,

Which is at the head of the 1fertile valley,

Will be like the afirst-ripe fig prior to summer,

Which 2one sees,

And 3as soon as it is in his 4hand,

He swallows it.

5 In that day the aLord of hosts will become a beautiful bcrown

And a glorious diadem to the remnant of His people;

6 A aspirit of justice for him who sits in judgment,

A bstrength to those who repel the 1onslaught at the gate.

7 And these also areel with wine and stagger from strong drink:

bThe priest and cthe prophet reel with strong drink,

They are confused by wine, they stagger from dstrong drink;

They reel while 1having evisions,

They totter when rendering judgment.

8 For all the tables are full of filthy avomit, without a single clean place.

9 “To awhom would He teach knowledge,

And to whom would He interpret the message?

Those just bweaned from milk?

Those just taken from the breast?

10 “For He says,

‘1aOrder on order, order on order,

Line on line, line on line,

A little here, a little there.’ ”

11 Indeed, He will speak to this people

Through astammering lips and a foreign tongue,

12 He who said to them, “Here is arest, give rest to the weary,”

And, “Here is repose,” but they would not listen.

13 So the word of the Lord to them will be,

“1Order on order, order on order,

Line on line, line on line,

A little here, a little there,”

That they may go and astumble backward, be broken, snared and taken captive.

Judah Is Warned

14 Therefore, ahear the word of the Lord, O bscoffers,

Who rule this people who are in Jerusalem,

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

And with 1Sheol we have made a 2pact.

bThe overwhelming 3scourge will not reach us when it passes by,

For we have made cfalsehood our refuge and we have dconcealed ourselves with deception.”

16 Therefore thus says the Lord 1God,

“aBehold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a tested bstone,

A costly cornerstone for the foundation, 2firmly placed.

He who believes in it will not be 3disturbed.

17 “I will make ajustice the measuring line

And righteousness the level;

Then bhail will sweep away the refuge of lies

And the waters will overflow the secret place.

18 “Your acovenant with death will be 1bcanceled,

And your pact with Sheol will not stand;

When the aoverwhelming scourge passes through,

Then you become its ctrampling place.

19 “As aoften as it passes through, it will 1seize you;

For bmorning after morning it will pass through, anytime during the day or night,

And it will be 2sheer cterror to understand 3what it means.”

20 The bed is too short on which to stretch out,

And the ablanket is too 1small to wrap oneself in.

21 For the Lord will rise up as at Mount aPerazim,

He will be stirred up as in the valley of bGibeon,

To do His ctask, His 1dunusual task,

And to work His work, His 2extraordinary work.

22 And now do not carry on as ascoffers,

Or your fetters will be made stronger;

For I have heard from the Lord 1God of hosts

Of decisive bdestruction on all the earth.

23 Give ear and hear my voice,

Listen and hear my words.

24 Does the 1farmer plow 2continually to plant seed?

Does he continually 3turn and harrow the ground?

25 Does he not level its surface

And sow dill and scatter acummin

And 1plant bwheat in rows,

Barley in its place and rye within its 2area?

26 For his God instructs and teaches him properly.

27 For dill is not threshed with a athreshing sledge,

Nor is the cartwheel 1driven over cummin;

But dill is beaten out with a rod, and cummin with a club.

28 Grain for bread is crushed,

Indeed, he does not continue to thresh it forever.

Because the wheel of his cart and his horses eventually 1damage it,

He does not thresh it longer.

29 This also comes from the Lord of hosts,

Who has made His counsel awonderful and His wisdom bgreat.