1Woe to the crown of pride of the drunkards of Ephraim, and to the fading flower of its glorious beauty, which is at the head of the fertile valley of those struck down by wine!
2Behold, the Lord has one mighty and strong; like a downpour of hail, a destroying storm, like a downpour of mighty, overflowing waters, he casts them down to the earth with his hand.
3By feet it will be trampled—the crown of pride of the drunkards of Ephraim.
4And the fading flower of its glorious beauty, which is on the head of the fertile valley, will be like a first-ripe fig before summer: whoever sees it, while it is still in his hand, swallows it.
5In that day Yahweh of Hosts will be a crown of beauty and a diadem of glory to the remnant of his people,
6and a spirit of justice to the one who sits in judgment, and strength to those who turn back the battle at the gate.
7But these also have reeled with wine and staggered with strong drink: priest and prophet have reeled with strong drink, they are swallowed up by wine, they have staggered from strong drink; they reel in vision, they stumble in judgment.
8For all the tables are full of vomit and filth, with no clean place.
9Whom will he teach knowledge, and to whom will he explain the message? Those weaned from milk, those taken from the breast?
10For it is tsav la-tsav, tsav la-tsav, qav la-qav, qav la-qav, a little here, a little there.
11Indeed, by stammering lips and by 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 were not willing to hear.
13So the word of Yahweh will be to them tsav la-tsav, tsav la-tsav, qav la-qav, qav la-qav, a little here, a little there—so that they may go and stumble backward, and be broken, and snared, and captured.
14Therefore hear the word of Yahweh, you men of scoffing, you who rule this people that is in Jerusalem.
15Because you have said, “We have cut a covenant with death, and with Sheol we have made an agreement; when the overwhelming scourge passes through, it will not reach us, for we have made a lie our refuge and hidden ourselves in falsehood”—
16therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; the one who believes will not be in haste.
17And I will make justice the measuring line and righteousness the plumb line; and hail will sweep away the refuge of lies, and waters will overflow the hiding place.
18Your covenant with death will be annulled, and your agreement with Sheol will not stand; when the overwhelming scourge passes through, you will become a trampling for it.
19As often as it passes through, it will take you; for morning by morning it will pass through, by day and by night; and it will be sheer terror to understand the message.
20For the bed is too short to stretch out on, and the covering too narrow to wrap oneself in.
21For Yahweh will rise up as at Mount Perazim; he will be roused as in the valley of Gibeon, to do his deed—strange is his deed!—and to work his work—foreign is his work!
22Now therefore do not scoff, lest your bonds be made strong; for I have heard from the Lord Yahweh of Hosts a complete destruction decreed upon the whole land.
23Give ear and hear my voice; pay attention and hear my speech.
24Does the plowman plow all day to sow? Does he keep opening and harrowing his ground?
25When he has leveled its surface, does he not scatter dill and sow cumin, and put in wheat in rows, and barley in its place, and spelt as its border?
26For his God instructs him in what is right; he teaches him.
27For dill is not threshed with a sledge, nor is a cart wheel rolled over cumin; but dill is beaten out with a stick, and cumin with a rod.
28Grain for bread must be crushed, but one does not thresh it forever; he drives the wheel of his cart over it, yet his horses do not crush it.
29This also comes from Yahweh of Hosts; he is wonderful in counsel and great in wisdom.
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