⁵ In that day the Lord of hosts will be
For a crown of glory and a diadem of beauty
To the remnant of His people,
⁶ For a spirit of justice to him who sits in judgment,
And for strength to those who turn back the battle at the gate.

⁷ But they also ^(B)have erred through wine,
And through intoxicating drink are out of the way;
^(C)The priest and the prophet have erred through intoxicating drink,
They are swallowed up by wine,
They are out of the way through intoxicating drink;
They err in vision, they stumble in judgment.
⁸ For all tables are full of vomit and filth;
No place is clean.

⁹ “Whom^(D) will he teach knowledge?
And whom will he make to understand the message?
Those just weaned from milk?
Those just drawn from the breasts?
^10 (E)For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept,
Line upon line, line upon line,
Here a little, there a little.”

¹¹ For with ^(F)stammering lips and another tongue
He will speak to this people,
¹² To whom He said, “This is the ^(G)rest with which
You may cause the weary to rest,”
And, “This is the refreshing”;
Yet they would not hear.
¹³ But the word of the Lord was to them,
“Precept upon precept, precept upon precept,
Line upon line, line upon line,
Here a little, there a little,”
That they might go and fall backward, and be broken
And snared and caught.

¹⁴ Therefore hear the word of the Lord, you scornful men,
Who rule this people who are in Jerusalem,
¹⁵ Because you have said, “We have made a covenant with death,
And with Sheol we are in agreement.
When the overflowing scourge passes through,
It will not come to us,
^(H)For we have made lies our refuge,
And under falsehood we have hidden ourselves.”

^(A)“Inasmuch as these people draw near with their mouths
And honor Me ^(B)with their lips,
But have removed their hearts far from Me,
And their fear toward Me is taught by the commandment of men,

“Behold, I lay in Zion ^(A)a stone for a foundation,
A tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation;
Whoever believes will not act hastily.
¹⁷ Also I will make justice the measuring line,
And righteousness the plummet;
The hail will sweep away the refuge of lies,
And the waters will overflow the hiding place.
¹⁸ Your covenant with death will be annulled,
And your agreement with Sheol will not stand;
When the overflowing scourge passes through,
Then you will be trampled down by it.
¹⁹ As often as it goes out it will take you;
For morning by morning it will pass over,
And by day and by night;
It will be a terror just to understand the report.”

²⁰ For the bed is too short to stretch out on,
And the covering so narrow that one cannot wrap himself in it.
²¹ For the Lord will rise up as at Mount ^(B)Perazim,
He will be angry as in the Valley of ^(C)Gibeon—
That He may do His work, ^(D)His awesome work,
And bring to pass His act, His ^[a]unusual act.
²² Now therefore, do not be mockers,
Lest your bonds be made strong;
For I have heard from the Lord God of hosts,
^(E)A ^[b]destruction determined even upon the whole earth.

²⁷ For the black cummin is not threshed with a threshing sledge,
Nor is a cartwheel rolled over the cummin;
But the black cummin is beaten out with a stick,
And the cummin with a rod.
²⁸ Bread flour must be ground;
Therefore he does not thresh it forever,
Break it with his cartwheel,
Or crush it with his horsemen.
²⁹ This also comes from the Lord of hosts,
^(F)Who is wonderful in counsel and excellent in ^[d]guidance.

What ails you now, that you have all gone up to the housetops,
² You who are full of noise,
A ^[b]tumultuous city, ^(A)a joyous city?
Your slain men are not slain with the sword,
Nor dead in battle.
³ All your rulers have fled together;
They are captured by the archers.
All who are found in you are bound together;
They have fled from afar.
⁴ Therefore I said, “Look away from me,
^(B)I will weep bitterly;
Do not labor to comfort me
Because of the plundering of the daughter of my people.”

^5 (C)For it is a day of trouble and treading down and perplexity
^(D)By the Lord God of hosts
In the Valley of Vision—
Breaking down the walls
And of crying to the mountain.
^6 (E)Elam bore the quiver
With chariots of men and horsemen,
And ^(F)Kir uncovered the shield.
⁷ It shall come to pass that your choicest valleys
Shall be full of chariots,
And the horsemen shall set themselves in array at the gate.

^8 (G)He removed the ^[c]protection of Judah.
You looked in that day to the armor ^(H)of the House of the Forest;
^9 (I)You also saw the ^[d]damage to the city of David,
That it was great;
And you gathered together the waters of the lower pool.
¹⁰ You numbered the houses of Jerusalem,
And the houses you broke down
To fortify the wall.
^11 (J)You also made a reservoir between the two walls
For the water of the old ^(K)pool.
But you did not look to its Maker,
Nor did you have respect for Him who fashioned it long ago.

¹² And in that day the Lord God of hosts
^(L)Called for weeping and for mourning,
^(M)For baldness and for girding with sackcloth.
¹³ But instead, joy and gladness,
Slaying oxen and killing sheep,
Eating meat and ^(N)drinking wine:
^(O)“Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!”

^14 (P)Then it was revealed in my hearing by the Lord of hosts,
“Surely for this iniquity there ^(Q)will be no atonement for you,
Even to your death,” says the Lord God of hosts.

⁵ “Moreover the multitude of your ^(D)foes
Shall be like fine dust,
And the multitude of the terrible ones
Like ^(E)chaff that passes away;
Yes, it shall be ^(F)in an instant, suddenly.
^6 (G)You will be punished by the Lord of hosts
With thunder and ^(H)earthquake and great noise,
With storm and tempest
And the flame of devouring fire.
^7 (I)The multitude of all the nations who fight against ^[b]Ariel,
Even all who fight against her and her fortress,
And distress her,
Shall be ^(J)as a dream of a night vision.
^8 (K)It shall even be as when a hungry man dreams,
And look—he eats;
But he awakes, and his soul is still empty;
Or as when a thirsty man dreams,
And look—he drinks;
But he awakes, and indeed he is faint,
And his soul still craves:
So the multitude of all the nations shall be,
Who fight against Mount Zion.”

^15 (C)Woe to those who seek deep to hide their counsel far from the Lord,
And their works are in the dark;
^(D)They say, “Who sees us?” and, “Who knows us?”
¹⁶ Surely you have things turned around!
Shall the potter be esteemed as the clay;
For shall the ^(E)thing made say of him who made it,
“He did not make me”?
Or shall the thing formed say of him who formed it,
“He has no understanding”?