1Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, whose glorious beauty is a fading flower which is on the head of the fat valleys of those who are overcome with wine!

2Behold, the LORD is a mighty and strong one, like a hailstorm, a destroying storm; like a flood of mighty waters overflowing, He casts them down to the earth with the hand.

3The crown of pride, the drunkards of Ephraim, shall be trampled under foot;

4And the glorious beauty, on the head of the fat valley, shall be a fading flower, and as the first ripe fruit before summer; which the beholder of it swallows up while it is yet in his hand.

5In that day the LORD of hosts shall be for a crown of glory, and for a diadem of beauty, for the remnant of His people,

6And for a spirit of judgment to him who sits in judgment, and for strength to those who turn back the battle at the gate.

7But they also stagger through wine, and reel through strong drink. The priest and the prophet stagger through drink; they are confused by wine; they reel through strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble in judgment,

8For all tables are full of vomit and filthiness; no place is clean.

9"Whom shall He teach knowledge? And whom shall He make to understand doctrine? Those who are weaned from the milk and drawn from the breasts,

10For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, there a little;"

11For with stammering lips and foreign tongue He will speak to this people.

12To whom He said, "This is the rest He gives to the weary;" and "This is the refreshing," yet they were not willing to hear.

13So then the Word of the LORD was to them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, there a little; that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken and snared and taken.

14Therefore hear the Word of the LORD, you scornful men who rule this people in Jerusalem.

15Because you have said, "We have made a covenant with death, and we have made an agreement with the grave; when the overwhelming rod shall pass through, it shall not come to us; for we have made lies our refuge, and we have hidden ourselves under falsehood,"

16Therefore, thus says the Lord GOD, "Behold, I place in Zion a Stone for a foundation, a tried Stone, a precious Cornerstone, a sure Foundation; he who believes shall not be ashamed.

17Also I will make justice the line, and righteousness the plummet; and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.

18And your covenant with death shall be annulled, and your agreement with the grave shall not stand; when the overwhelming scourge shall pass through, then you shall be beaten down."

19As often as it passes through, it shall take you; for morning by morning it shall pass over, by day and by night; and it shall be only sheer terror to understand the message."

20For the bed is shorter than one can stretch himself on, and the cover is narrower than one can wrap himself in;

21For the LORD shall rise up as in Mount Perazim; He shall be angry as in the valley of Gibeon, so that He may do His work, His strange work; and bring to pass His act, His strange act.

22Now therefore do not be mockers, lest your bands be made strong; for I have heard from the Lord GOD of hosts that a full end is decreed upon all the earth.

23Give ear and hear my voice; hearken, and hear my speech.

24Does the plowman plow all day to sow? Does he open and break the clods of his ground?

25When he has made the face of it level, does he not cast out the dill and scatter the cummin? Does he not plant wheat in its place, barley in its plot, and rye in its field?

26His God teaches and instructs him in the right way;

27For the dill is not threshed with a threshing instrument, nor is a cart wheel turned upon cummin; but the dill is beaten out with a staff and the cummin with a rod.

28Grain must be ground to make bread; so one does not go on threshing forever. Though he drives the wheels of his threshing cart over it, his wheels do not crush it.

29This also comes forth from the LORD of hosts, wonderful is His counsel; and great is His wisdom.