Judgment on Ephraim

1Woe to the crown of pride of the drunkards of Ephraim, and to the fading flower of his glorious beauty, which is on the head of the fat valley of them that are overcome with wine!

2Behold, the Lord hath a mighty and strong one; as a tempest of hail, a destroying storm, as a tempest of mighty waters overflowing, shall he cast down to the earth with the hand.

3The crown of pride of the drunkards of Ephraim shall be trodden under foot:

4and the fading flower of his glorious beauty, which is on the head of the fat valley, shall be as the firstripe fig before the summer; which when he that looketh upon it seeth, while it is yet in his hand he eateth it up.

5In that day shall the LORD of hosts be for a crown of glory, and for a diadem of beauty, unto the residue of his people:

6and for a spirit of judgment to him that sitteth in judgment, and for strength to them that turn back the battle at the gate.

7But these also have erred through wine, and through strong drink are gone astray; the priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink, they are swallowed up of wine, they are gone astray through strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble in judgment.

8For all tables are full of vomit and filthiness, so that there is no place clean.

9Whom will he teach knowledge? and whom will he make to understand the message? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts?

10For it is precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, there a little.

11Nay, but by men of strange lips and with another tongue will he speak to this people:

12to whom he said, This is the rest, give ye rest to him that is weary; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear.

13Therefore shall the word of the LORD be unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, there a little; that they may go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.

A Cornerstone in Zion

(1 Corinthians 3:10-15; 1 Peter 2:4-12)

14Wherefore hear the word of the LORD, ye scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem:

15Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us; for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves:

16therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone of sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.

17And I will make judgment 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 disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it.

19As often as it passeth through, it shall take you; for morning by morning shall it pass through, by day and by night: and it shall be nought but terror to understand the message.

20For the bed is shorter than that a man can stretch himself on it; and the covering narrower than that he can wrap himself in it.

21For the LORD shall rise up as in mount Perazim, he shall be wroth as in the valley of Gibeon; that he may do his work, his strange work, and bring to pass his act, his strange act.

22Now therefore be ye not scorners, lest your bands be made strong: for a consummation, and that determined, have I heard from the Lord, the LORD of hosts, upon the whole earth.

Listen and Hear God's Voice

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

24Doth the plowman plow continually to sow? doth he continually open and break the clods of his ground?

25When he hath made plain the face thereof, doth he not cast abroad the fitches, and scatter the cummin, and put in the wheat in rows and the barley in the appointed place and the spelt in the border thereof?

26For his God doth instruct him aright, and doth teach him.

27For the fitches are not threshed with a sharp threshing instrument, neither is a cart wheel turned about upon the cummin; but the fitches are beaten out with a staff, and the cummin with a rod.

28Bread corn is ground; for he will not ever be threshing it: and though the wheel of his cart and his horses scatter it, he doth not grind it.

29This also cometh forth from the LORD of hosts, which is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in wisdom.