Chronological

28 ¶ Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim and to the open flower of the beauty of their glory which is upon the head of the fertile valley of those that are overcome with wine!

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

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

⁴ And the fading flower of the beauty of their glory, which is upon the head of the fertile valley, shall be as the early fig, which comes first before the other fruits of the summer; which when he that looks upon it sees it; as soon as he has it in his hand, he eats it up.

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

⁶ And for a spirit of judgment to him that sits upon the throne of judgment, and for strength to those that turn the battle to the gate.

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

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

⁹ ¶ Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? Those that are weaned from the milk and drawn from the breasts.

¹⁰ For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little:

¹¹ For with stammering lips and another tongue he will speak to this people.

¹² To whom he said, This is the rest with which ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear.

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

¹⁴ ¶ Therefore hear the word of the LORD, ye scornful men, that have taken rule over this people which is in Jerusalem.

¹⁵ Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with Sheol we are 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 we have hid ourselves:

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

¹⁷ Judgment also will I lay to the line and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.

¹⁸ And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with Sheol shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it.

¹⁹ From the time that it goes forth, it shall take you: for it shall come suddenly, by day and by night: and it shall be that the terror only causes one to understand the report.

²⁰ For 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.

²¹ For 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.

²² Now therefore do not be mockers lest your bands be made strong: for I have heard from the Lord GOD of the hosts that consumption and destruction are determined upon the whole earth.

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

²⁴ Does the plowman plow all day to sow? does he open and break the clods of his ground?

²⁵ When he has levelled the face thereof, does he not cast abroad the fitches and scatter the cummin and cast in the principal wheat and the appointed barley and the rye in their place?

²⁶ For his God teaches him to know how to judge and instructs him.

²⁷ For the fitches are not threshed with a 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.

²⁸ Grain is thrashed to make bread; but he will not ever be threshing it, nor shall he grind it with the wheel of his cart, nor crush it with the teeth of his thrashing instrument.

²⁹ This also comes forth from the LORD of the hosts to make his counsel wonderful, and to increase wisdom.

29 ¶ Woe to Ariel, to Ariel, the city where David dwelt! add ye one year to another; the lambs shall cease.

² Yet I will distress Ariel, and there shall be heaviness and sorrow: and it shall be unto me as Ariel.

³ And I will camp against thee round about and will lay siege against thee with a mount, and I will raise forts against thee.

⁴ And thou shalt be brought down and shalt speak out of the ground, and thy speech shall be low out of the dust, and thy voice shall be as that of a spiritist, out of the ground, and thy speech shall whisper out of the dust.

⁵ Moreover the multitude of thy enemies that shall come from afar shall be like small dust, and the multitude of the strong ones shall be as chaff that passes away: yea, it shall be at an instant suddenly.

⁶ Thou shalt be visited of the LORD of the hosts with thunders, with earthquakes, and with great noise, with whirlwind and tempest, and the flame of devouring fire.

⁷ And the multitude of all the Gentiles that shall fight against Ariel, even all that shall fight against her and their siege weapons, and those that shall distress her, shall be as a dream of a night vision.

⁸ It shall even be as he who dreams that he is hungry, and in his dream, he eats; but when he awakes, his soul is empty; and as he who dreams that he is thirsty, and, in his dream, he drinks; but he awakes, and, behold, he is faint, and his soul is still thirsty: so shall the multitude of all the Gentiles be, that shall fight against Mount Zion.

⁹ ¶ Become ye dumb, and make others dumb; become ye blind, and blind others: they are drunken, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with strong drink.

¹⁰ For the LORD has extended upon you the spirit of deep sleep and has closed your eyes: the prophets and your rulers, he has covered the seers with sleep.

¹¹ And every vision is unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which if it were delivered to one that knows how to read, saying, Read this, I pray thee: he shall say, I cannot; for it is sealed:

¹² And if the book were delivered to him that does not know how to read, saying, Read this, I pray thee: he shall say, I do not know how to read.

¹³ Therefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people sacrifice unto me and honour me with their lips, but have removed their heart far from me, and their worship with which they honour me was taught by the commandment of men:

¹⁴ Therefore, behold, I will again do a marvellous work among this people with a fearful miracle: for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the prudence of their prudent men shall fade away.

¹⁵ Woe unto those that hide themselves from the LORD, covering the counsel; and their works are in the dark, and they say, Who sees us? and who knows us?

¹⁶ Surely your subversion shall be as the potter’s clay: for shall the work say of him that made it, He did not make me? or shall the vessel say of him that made it, He did not understand?

¹⁷ ¶ Is it not yet a very little while, and Lebanon shall be turned into Carmel a fruitful field, and shall not Carmel be esteemed as a forest?

¹⁸ And in that day the deaf shall hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see in the midst of darkness, and of gross darkness.

¹⁹ Then the humble shall grow in joy in the LORD, and the poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.

²⁰ For the violent one shall be done away with, and the scorner shall be consumed, and all those that rose early unto iniquity shall be cut off:

²¹ Those that made men to sin in word; those that laid a snare for him that reproved in the gate, and turned that which is just into vanity.

²² Therefore thus saith the LORD, who ransomed Abraham, unto the house of Jacob, Jacob shall not now be ashamed, neither shall his face now wax pale;

²³ for he shall see his children, the work of my hands, in the midst of him, they shall sanctify my name, and shall sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and shall fear the God of Israel;

²⁴ and those that erred in spirit shall learn understanding, and they that murmured shall learn doctrine.

30 ¶ Woe to the sons that leave, saith the LORD, to make counsel, but not of me; to cover themselves with a covering, and not by my spirit, adding sin unto sin!

² They leave to descend into Egypt and have not asked for a word from my mouth, to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh and to place their hope in the shadow of Egypt.

³ But the strength of Pharaoh shall become your shame, and the hope in the shadow of Egypt your confusion.

⁴ When his princes shall be in Zoan, and his ambassadors have come to Hanes,

⁵ all shall be ashamed of the people that shall not profit them, nor be a help, nor bring them increase, but a shame, and also a reproach.

⁶ The burden of the beasts of the south: into the land of trouble and anguish, from whence come the young and old lion, the viper and fiery flying serpent; they will carry their riches upon the shoulders of young asses and their treasures upon the bunches of camels, to a people that shall not profit them.

⁷ For the Egyptians shall help in vain and to no purpose; therefore I have cried out concerning this that your strength should be to sit still.

⁸ ¶ Now go, write this vision before them on a tablet and note it in a book that it may remain unto the last day, for ever, unto all ages.

⁹ That this is a rebellious people, lying sons, sons that did not desire to hear the law of the LORD:

¹⁰ Who say to those that see, See not; and to the prophets, Do not prophesy right things unto us, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits:

¹¹ Get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to leave our presence.

¹² Therefore thus saith the Holy One of Israel, Because ye despise this word, and trust in violence and perversity and build upon this:

¹³ Therefore this sin shall be to you as an open wall ready to fall and as a breach in a high defence, whose breaking comes suddenly at an instant.

¹⁴ And your destruction shall be as the breaking of a potter’s vessel that without mercy is broken to pieces so that there shall not be found in the bursting of it even a shard to take fire from the hearth or to take water from the well.

¹⁵ For the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel has said; In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength: and ye would not.

¹⁶ But ye said, No; for we will flee upon horses; therefore shall ye flee: and, We will ride upon the swift; therefore shall they that pursue you be even more swift.

¹⁷ One thousand shall flee at the rebuke of one; at the rebuke of five ye shall all flee: until ye are left as a mast upon the top of a mountain and as a banner of example on a hill.

¹⁸ ¶ And therefore will the LORD wait for you, that he may have mercy on you, and therefore will he be exalted having mercy upon you: for the LORD is a God of judgment: blessed are all those that wait for him.

¹⁹ For the people shall dwell in Zion, in Jerusalem: thou shalt weep no more: he who has mercy shall show mercy unto thee; at the voice of thy cry when he shall hear it, he will answer thee.

²⁰ But the Lord shall give you the bread of adversity, and the water of affliction; thy rain shall never more be taken away, but thine eyes shall see thy rain:

²¹ Then thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, that ye not turn to the right hand and that ye not turn to the left hand.

²² Ye shall defile also the covering of thy graven images of silver and the protection of thy molten images of gold: thou shalt cast them away as a menstruous cloth; thou shalt say unto it, Go away from here.

²³ Then he shall give the rain unto thy planting when thou shalt sow the ground; and bread of the fruit of the earth, and it shall be fat and fertile: in that day thy cattle shall feed in large pastures.

²⁴ Thine oxen and thine asses that work the ground shall eat clean grain, which has been winnowed with the shovel and with the fan.

²⁵ And there shall be upon every high mountain and upon every high hill, rivers and streams of waters in the day of the great slaughter, when the towers shall fall.

²⁶ Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold as the light of seven days, in the day that the LORD binds up the breach of his people and heals the stroke of their wound.

²⁷ ¶ Behold, the name of the LORD comes from afar; his face is blazing and difficult to gaze upon: his lips are full of indignation and his tongue as a devouring fire:

²⁸ And his Spirit, as an overflowing stream, shall break even unto the neck to sift the Gentiles with the sieve of vanity and to put a bridle in the jaws of the people, causing them to err.

²⁹ Ye shall have a song, as in the night in which the Passover is kept and gladness of heart as when one goes with a flute to come into the mountain of the LORD to the mighty One of Israel.

³⁰ And the LORD shall cause the power of his voice to be heard and shall cause the lighting down of his arm to be seen, with the indignation of his countenance and with the flame of a devouring fire, with scattering and tempest and hailstones.

³¹ For through the voice of the LORD shall the Assyrian be beaten down, which smote with a rod.

³² And in every evil place there shall be a staff that the LORD shall cause to lay upon him with tambourines and harps: and with the strength of heaven he will fight against her.

³³ For Tophet is ordained of yesterday for the king of Babylon, it is also prepared; he has deepened and enlarged the pile of her fire and much wood; the breath of the LORD like a stream of brimstone kindles it.