1Woe to the crown of pride of the drunkards of Ephraim, and the fading flower of his glorious beauty, which is on the head of the fat valley of those struck down with wine!
2Behold, my Lord (Adonai) has a strong and mighty one, like a storm of hail, a tempest of destruction, like a storm of mighty waters overflowing; he casts down to the earth with the hand.
3With feet shall be trodden down the crown of pride of the drunkards of Ephraim.
4And the fading flower of his glorious beauty, which is on the head of the fat valley, shall be like the first-ripe fig before summer, which when one who sees it sees it, while it is yet in his hand he swallows it.
5In that day YHWH of hosts (tzevaot) shall be for a crown of glory, and for a diadem of beauty, to the remnant of his people,
6and for a spirit (ruach) of judgment (mishpat) to him who sits over the judgment (mishpat), and for strength to those who turn back the battle at the gate.
7And these also reel through wine, and stagger through strong drink; the priest and the prophet reel through strong drink, they are swallowed up by wine, they stagger through strong drink; they reel in vision, they totter in judgment.
8For all the tables are full of vomit and filth, with no place clean.
9Whom shall he teach knowledge? And whom shall he make to understand the message? Those weaned from milk, those drawn from the breasts.
10For it is precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, a little there, a little there.
11For with stammering lips and with another tongue he will speak to this people,
12he who said to them, "This is the rest, give rest to the weary, and this is the repose"; yet they would not hear.
13And the word of YHWH shall be to them precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, a little there, a little there; that they may go, and stumble backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.
14Therefore hear the word of YHWH, you men (ish) of scorning, rulers of this people who are in Jerusalem.
15Because you have said, "We have cut a covenant (berit) with death, and with Sheol we have made an agreement; the overflowing scourge, when it passes through, shall not come to us, for we have made a lie our refuge, and in falsehood we have hidden ourselves";
16therefore thus says my Lord (Adonai) YHWH: Behold, I lay in Zion a stone, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; he who believes shall not be in haste.
17And I will make judgment (mishpat) the line, and righteousness the plummet; and hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.
18And your covenant (berit) with death shall be annulled, and your agreement with Sheol shall not stand; the overflowing scourge, when it passes through, then you shall be for it a trampling place.
19As often as it passes through, it shall take you; for morning by morning it shall pass through, by day and by night; and it shall be only terror to understand the message.
20For the bed is too short to stretch out, and the covering too narrow to wrap oneself.
21For like Mount Perazim YHWH shall rise, like the valley in Gibeon he shall be wroth; to do his deed—strange is his deed—and to work (avad) his labor (avodah)—foreign is his labor (avodah).
22And now do not scoff, lest your bonds be made strong; for a full end, and a decree, I have heard from my Lord (Adonai) YHWH of hosts (tzevaot) upon all the earth.
23Give ear, and hear my voice; listen, and hear my speech.
24Does the plowman plow all day to sow? Does he open and harrow his ground (adamah)?
25When he has leveled its face, does he not scatter the black cumin, and sow the cumin, and set the wheat in rows, and the barley in the appointed place, and the spelt at its border?
26For he instructs him for judgment (mishpat); his God teaches him.
27For the black cumin is not threshed with a threshing-sledge, nor is a cart-wheel turned about upon the cumin; but the black cumin is beaten out with a staff, and the cumin with a rod.
28Bread grain is crushed; for he does not thresh it forever, and though he drives the wheel of his cart and his horsemen, he does not crush it.
29This also comes forth from YHWH of hosts (tzevaot); he is wonderful in counsel, great in wisdom.