| [an error occurred while processing this directive] | International Standard Version |
| 1[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 1How terrible it will be for that arrogant garland— the drunks of Ephraim! How terrible it will be for that fading flower of his glorious beauty, which sits on the heads of people bloated with food, of people overcome with wine! |
| 2[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 2Look! The LORD has one who is mighty and strong, like a hailstorm and destructive tempest, like a storm of mighty, overflowing water— and he will give rest to the land. |
| 3[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 3With hands and feet, that proud garland — those drunks of Ephraim—will be trampled. |
| 4[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 4And that fading flower, his glorious beauty, which sits on the heads of people bloated with food, will be like an early fig before summer— whenever someone sees it, he swallows it as soon as it's in his hand. |
| 5[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 5At that time, the LORD of the Heavenly Armies will become a glorious crown, a beautiful diadem for the remnant of his people, |
| 6[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 6and a spirit of justice to the one who sits in judgment, a source of strength to those who turn back the battle at the gate. |
| 7[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 7These people also stagger from wine and reel from strong drink. Priests and prophets stagger from strong drink; they're drunk from wine; they reel from strong drink, waver when seeing visions, and stumble when rendering decisions. |
| 8[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 8For all the tables are covered in vomit and filth, with no clean space left. |
| 9[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 9To whom will he teach knowledge, and to whom will he explain the message? To children just weaned from milk? To those just taken from the breast? |
| 10[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 10For it is: "Do this and do that, do this and do that, Line upon line, line upon line, a little here, a little there." |
| 11[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 11Very well, then, through the mouths of foreigners and foreign languages the LORD will speak to this people |
| 12[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 12to whom he said, "This is the resting place, so give rest to the weary"' and, "This is the place of repose"— but they would not listen. |
| 13[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 13So, then, the message from the LORD to them will become: "Do this and do that, do this and do that, line upon line, line upon line, a little here, a little there," so that they will go, but fall backward, and be injured, snared, and captured. |
| 14[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 14"Therefore hear the message from the LORD, you scoffers who rule this people that are in Jerusalem. |
| 15[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 15Because you said: 'We have entered into a covenant with death, and we have an agreement with Sheol, so when the overwhelming scourge makes its choice, it cannot reach us, since we have made lies our refuge and have concealed ourselves inside falsehood' |
| 16[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 16therefore this is what the LORD God says: "Look! I am laying a foundation stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation: Whoever believes firmly will not act hastily. |
| 17[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 17And I will make justice the measuring line, and righteousness the plumb line; hail will sweep away your refuge of lies, and floods will overflow your hiding place. |
| 18[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 18"Then your covenant with death will be annulled, and your agreement with Sheol will not stand; when the overwhelming scourge sweeps by, you will be trampled by it. |
| 19[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 19As often as it sweeps through, it will carry you away, for it will sweep by morning after morning in the day; but understanding this message will bring sheer terror at night, |
| 20[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 20because the bed is too short to stretch out on, and its blankets too narrow to wrap around oneself! |
| 21[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 21For the LORD will stand upon Mount Perazim, he will rouse himself in the Valley of Gibeon; to carry out his work— his strange deed, and to perform his task— his alien task! |
| 22[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 22But as for you, don't start mocking, or your chains will become tighter; for I have heard from the LORD of the Heavenly Armies about destruction, and it is decreed against the whole land. |
| 23[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 23"Pay attention! Listen to what I have to say; Pay attention, and hear my speech. |
| 24[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 24Does he who plows for sowing plow all the time? Does he keep on breaking up and harrowing his field? |
| 25[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 25When he has leveled its surface, he scatters caraway and sows cumin, doesn't he? He plants wheat in rows, barley in its designated place, and feed for livestock around its borders, doesn't he? |
| 26[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 26His God instructs him regarding the correct way, directing him how to plant. |
| 27[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 27For caraway is not threshed with a sharp sledge, nor is a cart wheel rolled over cumin. Instead, caraway is winnowed with a stick, and cumin with a rod. |
| 28[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 28It must be ground; one cannot keep threshing it forever. Even if he drives his cart and horses over it, he cannot crush it. |
| 29[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 29This insight also comes from the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, who is distinguished in practical advice and magnificent in sound wisdom." |
| [an error occurred while processing this directive] | The Holy Bible: International Standard Version® Release 2.1 Copyright © 1996-2012 The ISV Foundation
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED INTERNATIONALLY. |
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