6 1In the days to come Jacob awill take root,

Israel will bblossom and sprout,

And they will fill the 2whole world with cfruit.

7 Like the striking of Him who has struck them, has aHe struck them?

Or like the slaughter of His slain, 1have they been slain?

8 You contended with them 1by banishing them, by adriving them away.

With His fierce wind He has expelled them on the day of the beast wind.

9 Therefore through this Jacob’s iniquity will be aforgiven;

And this will be 1the full price of the 2bpardoning of his sin:

When he makes all the caltar stones like pulverized chalk stones;

When 3Asherim and incense altars will not stand.

10 For the fortified city is aisolated,

A 1homestead forlorn and forsaken like the desert;

bThere the calf will graze,

And there it will lie down and 2feed on its branches.

11 When its alimbs are dry, they are broken off;

Women come and make a fire with them,

For they are not a people of bdiscernment,

Therefore ctheir Maker dwill not have compassion on them.

And their Creator will not be gracious to them.

12 In that day the Lord awill start His threshing from the flowing stream of the bEuphrates to the brook of Egypt, and you will be cgathered up one by one, O sons of Israel.

13 It will come about also in that day that a great atrumpet will be blown, and those who were perishing in the land of bAssyria and who were scattered in the land of Egypt will come and cworship the Lord in the holy mountain at Jerusalem.

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.