28 *Woe to athe crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim,

Whose bglorious beauty is a fading flower,

bWhich are con the head of the fat valleys of them that are †overcome with wine!

2  Behold, the Lord hath da mighty and strong one,

Which as a tempest of ehail and a fdestroying gstorm,

As a flood of hmighty waters goverflowing,

Shall icast down to the earth with the hand.

3  aThe crown of pride, the drunkards of Ephraim,

Shall be trodden †under feet:

4  And bthe glorious beauty, bwhich is on the head of the fat valley, shall be a fading flower,

And as kthe hasty fruit before the summer;

Which when he that looketh upon it seeth,

While it is yet in his hand he †eateth it up.

5  lIn that day shall the Lord of hosts be for ma crown of glory,

And for a diadem of bbeauty, unto the residue of his people,

6  And for a spirit of judgment to him that sitteth in judgment,

And for strength to them that turn the battle nto the gate.

7  But they also ohave erred through wine, and pthrough strong drink are out of the way;

qThe 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 rjudgment.

8  For sall tables are full of vomit and filthiness,

So that there is no place clean.

9  tWhom shall he teach knowledge?

And whom shall he make to understand †doctrine?

uThem that are weaned from the milk,

And drawn from the breasts.

10  For precept ||must be upon precept, precept upon precept;

vLine upon line, line upon line;

Here a little, and there a little:

11  For wwith †xstammering lips and another tongue

||Will he speak to this people.

12  To whom he said,

yThis is the rest wherewith ye may cause zthe weary to rest;

And this is athe refreshing: wyet they would not hear.

13  But the word of the Lord was unto them

bPrecept upon precept, precept upon precept;

bLine upon line, line upon line;

Here a little, and there a little;

That they might go, and cfall backward, and cbe broken,

And csnared, and ctaken.

14  Wherefore hear the word of the Lord, dye scornful men,

That rule this people which is in Jerusalem.

15  Because ye have said, We have emade a covenant with death,

And ewith hell are we at agreement;

When fthe overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us:

For gwe have made lies our refuge,

And gunder falsehood have we hid ourselves:

16  Therefore thus saith the Lord God,

hBehold, I lay in Zion for a foundation ia stone,

jA tried stone, ia precious corner stone, ka sure foundation:

hlHe that believeth shall not make haste.

17  Judgment also will I lay to bmthe line,

And righteousness to mthe plummet:

And nthe hail shall sweep away gthe refuge of lies,

And the waters shall foverflow gthe hiding place.

18  And eyour covenant with death shall be disannulled,

And eyour agreement with hell shall not stand;

fWhen 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 nnmorning by morning shall it pass over, by day and by night:

And it shall be oa vexation only ||to understand pthe report.

20  For the bed is shorter than that a man can stretch himself on it:

And qthe covering narrower than that he can wrap himself in it.

21  For the Lord shall rise up ras in mount Perazim,

He shall be wroth sas in the valley of tGibeon,

That he may do his work, uhis strange work;

And bring to pass his act, his strange act.

22  Now therefore dbe ye not mockers,

Lest your bands be made strong:

For I have heard from the Lord God of hosts

wA 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 xbreak 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 ydiscretion, and doth teach him.

27  For the fitches are not threshed with za threshing instrument,

Neither is a cart awheel turned about upon the cummin;

But the fitches are aabeaten 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,

bWhich is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in cworking.