Chapter 28 Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, whose
glorious beauty is a fading flower, which are on the head of the fat valleys
of them that are overcome with wine!
Behold the Lord hath a mighty and strong one, which, as a tempest of hail,
and a destroying storm, as a flood of mighty waters overflowing, shall cast down
to the earth with a hand.
The crown of pride, the drunkards of Ephraim, shall be trodden under feet.
And the glorious beauty, which is on the head of the fat valley, shall be a fading
flower, and as the hasty fruit before the summer, which, when he that looketh upon
it seeth, while it is yet in his hand, he eateth it up.
In 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.
And for a spirit of judgment to him that sitteth in judgment, and for strength to
them that turn the battle to the gate.
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.
For all tables are full of vomit and filthiness, so that there is no place
clean.
Whom shall he teach knowledge?
And whom shall he make to understand doctrine?
Them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts.
For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line,
line upon line, here a little, and there a little.
For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people.
To whom he said, this is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest,
and this is the refreshing.
Yet they would not hear, but the word of the Lord was upon 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.
Wherefore hear the word of the Lord, ye scornful men, that rule this people
which is in Jerusalem.
Because 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.
Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a
stone, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation.
He that believeth shall not make haste.
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 water shall overflow the
hiding place.
And 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.
From the time that it goeth forth, it shall take you.
For morning by morning shall it pass over, by day and by night.
And it shall be a vexation only to understand the report.
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.
For the Lord shall rise up as in Mount Berezin.
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.
Now therefore be ye not mockers, lest your bands be made strong.
For I have heard from the Lord God of hosts a consumption even determined upon
the whole earth.
Give ye ear, and hear my voice.
Hearken, and hear my speech.
Doth the ploughman plough all day to sow?
Doth he open and break the clods of his ground?
When he hath made plain the face thereof, doth he not cast abroad the fitches,
and scatter the cumin, and cast in the principal wheat, and the appointed barley,
and the rye in their place?
For his God doth instruct him to discretion, and doth teach him.
For the fitches are not threshed with a threshing instrument, neither is a
cartwheel turned about upon the cumin, but the fitches are beaten out with a
staff, and the cumin with a rod.
Bread corn is bruised, because he will not ever be threshing it, nor break it with
the wheel of his cart, nor bruise it with his horseman.
This also cometh forth from the Lord of hosts, which is wonderful in counsel,
and excellent in working.