1
Woe to the proudcrown of the drunkards of Ephraim, And to the fadingflower of its gloriousbeauty, Which is at the head of the fertilevalley Of those who are overcome with wine!
2
Behold, the Lord has a strong and mighty agent; As a storm of hail, a tempest of destruction, Like a storm of mightyoverflowingwaters, He has cast it down to the earth with His hand.
4
And the fadingflower of its gloriousbeauty, Which is at the head of the fertilevalley, Will be like the first-ripefigprior to summer, Which one sees, And as soon as it is in his hand, He swallows it.
7
And thesealsoreel with wine and stagger from strongdrink: The priest and the prophetreel with strongdrink, They are confused by wine, they stagger from strongdrink; They reel while having visions, They totter when rendering judgment.
13
So the word of the LORD to them will be, "Order on order, order on order, Line on line, line on line, A littlehere, a little there," That they may go and stumblebackward, be broken, snared and takencaptive.
15
Because you have said, "We have made a covenant with death, And with Sheol we have made a pact. The overwhelmingscourge will not reach us when it passes by, For we have madefalsehood our refuge and we have concealed ourselves with deception."
16
Thereforethussays the LordGOD, "Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a testedstone, A costlycornerstone for the foundation, firmlyplaced. He who believes in it will not be disturbed.
17
"I will makejustice the measuringline And righteousness the level; Then hail will sweepaway the refuge of lies And the waters will overflow the secretplace.
18
"Your covenant with death will be canceled, And your pact with Sheol will not stand; When the overwhelmingscourgepassesthrough, Then you become its trampling place.
19
"As often as it passesthrough, it will seize you; For morning after morning it will passthrough, anytime during the day or night, And it will be sheerterror to understandwhat it means."
21
For the LORD will rise up as at MountPerazim, He will be stirred up as in the valley of Gibeon, To do His task, His unusualtask, And to work His work, His extraordinarywork.
22
And now do not carry on as scoffers, Or your fetters will be madestronger; For I have heard from the LordGOD of hosts Of decisivedestruction on all the earth.
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 damage it, He does not thresh it longer.