English Standard Version

New Living Translation

1Ah, the proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim, and the fading flower of its glorious beauty, which is on the head of the rich valley of those overcome with wine!

1What sorrow awaits the proud city of Samaria— the glorious crown of the drunks of Israel. It sits at the head of a fertile valley, but its glorious beauty will fade like a flower. It is the pride of a people brought down by wine.

2Behold, the Lord has one who is mighty and strong; like a storm of hail, a destroying tempest, like a storm of mighty, overflowing waters, he casts down to the earth with his hand.

2For the Lord will send a mighty army against it. Like a mighty hailstorm and a torrential rain, they will burst upon it like a surging flood and smash it to the ground.

3The proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim will be trodden underfoot;

3The proud city of Samaria— the glorious crown of the drunks of Israel — will be trampled beneath its enemies’ feet.

4and the fading flower of its glorious beauty, which is on the head of the rich valley, will be like a first-ripe fig before the summer: when someone sees it, he swallows it as soon as it is in his hand.

4It sits at the head of a fertile valley, but its glorious beauty will fade like a flower. Whoever sees it will snatch it up, as an early fig is quickly picked and eaten.

5In that day the LORD of hosts will be a crown of glory, and a diadem of beauty, to the remnant of his people,

5Then at last the LORD of Heaven’s Armies will himself be Israel’s glorious crown. He will be the pride and joy of the remnant of his people.

6and a spirit of justice to him who sits in judgment, and strength to those who turn back the battle at the gate.

6He will give a longing for justice to their judges. He will give great courage to their warriors who stand at the gates.

7These also reel with wine and stagger with strong drink; the priest and the prophet reel with strong drink, they are swallowed by wine, they stagger with strong drink, they reel in vision, they stumble in giving judgment.

7Now, however, Israel is led by drunks who reel with wine and stagger with alcohol. The priests and prophets stagger with alcohol and lose themselves in wine. They reel when they see visions and stagger as they render decisions.

8For all tables are full of filthy vomit, with no space left.

8Their tables are covered with vomit; filth is everywhere.

9“To whom will he teach knowledge, and to whom will he explain the message? Those who are weaned from the milk, those taken from the breast?

9“Who does the LORD think we are?” they ask. “Why does he speak to us like this? Are we little children, just recently weaned?

10For it is precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little.”

10He tells us everything over and over— one line at a time, one line at a time, a little here, and a little there!”

11For by people of strange lips and with a foreign tongue the LORD will speak to this people,

11So now God will have to speak to his people through foreign oppressors who speak a strange language!

12to whom he has said, “This is rest; give rest to the weary; and this is repose”; yet they would not hear.

12God has told his people, “Here is a place of rest; let the weary rest here. This is a place of quiet rest.” But they would not listen.

13And the word of the LORD will be to them precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little, that they may go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.

13So the LORD will spell out his message for them again, one line at a time, one line at a time, a little here, and a little there, so that they will stumble and fall. They will be injured, trapped, and captured.

14Therefore hear the word of the LORD, you scoffers, who rule this people in Jerusalem!

14Therefore, listen to this message from the LORD, you scoffing rulers in Jerusalem.

15Because you have said, “We have made a covenant with death, and with Sheol we have an agreement, when the overwhelming whip passes through it will not come to us, for we have made lies our refuge, and in falsehood we have taken shelter”;

15You boast, “We have struck a bargain to cheat death and have made a deal to dodge the grave. The coming destruction can never touch us, for we have built a strong refuge made of lies and deception.”

16therefore thus says the Lord GOD, “Behold, I am the one who has laid as a foundation in Zion, a stone, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, of a sure foundation: ‘Whoever believes will not be in haste.’

16Therefore, this is what the Sovereign LORD says: “Look! I am placing a foundation stone in Jerusalem, a firm and tested stone. It is a precious cornerstone that is safe to build on. Whoever believes need never be shaken.

17And I will make justice the line, and righteousness the plumb line; and hail will sweep away the refuge of lies, and waters will overwhelm the shelter.”

17I will test you with the measuring line of justice and the plumb line of righteousness. Since your refuge is made of lies, a hailstorm will knock it down. Since it is made of deception, a flood will sweep it away.

18Then your covenant with death will be annulled, and your agreement with Sheol will not stand; when the overwhelming scourge passes through, you will be beaten down by it.

18I will cancel the bargain you made to cheat death, and I will overturn your deal to dodge the grave. When the terrible enemy sweeps through, you will be trampled into the ground.

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.

19Again and again that flood will come, morning after morning, day and night, until you are carried away.” This message will bring terror to your people.

20For the bed is too short to stretch oneself on, and the covering too narrow to wrap oneself in.

20The bed you have made is too short to lie on. The blankets are too narrow to cover you.

21For the LORD will rise up as on Mount Perazim; as in the Valley of Gibeon he will be roused; to do his deed—strange is his deed! and to work his work—alien is his work!

21The LORD will come as he did against the Philistines at Mount Perazim and against the Amorites at Gibeon. He will come to do a strange thing; he will come to do an unusual deed:

22Now therefore do not scoff, lest your bonds be made strong; for I have heard a decree of destruction from the Lord GOD of hosts against the whole land.

22For the Lord, the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, has plainly said that he is determined to crush the whole land. So scoff no more, or your punishment will be even greater.

23Give ear, and hear my voice; give attention, and hear my speech.

23Listen to me; listen, and pay close attention.

24Does he who plows for sowing plow continually? Does he continually open and harrow his ground?

24Does a farmer always plow and never sow? Is he forever cultivating the soil and never planting?

25When he has leveled its surface, does he not scatter dill, sow cumin, and put in wheat in rows and barley in its proper place, and emmer as the border?

25Does he not finally plant his seeds— black cumin, cumin, wheat, barley, and emmer wheat— each in its proper way, and each in its proper place?

26For he is rightly instructed; his God teaches him.

26The farmer knows just what to do, for God has given him understanding.

27Dill is not threshed with a threshing sledge, nor is a cart wheel rolled over cumin, but dill is beaten out with a stick, and cumin with a rod.

27A heavy sledge is never used to thresh black cumin; rather, it is beaten with a light stick. A threshing wheel is never rolled on cumin; instead, it is beaten lightly with a flail.

28Does one crush grain for bread? No, he does not thresh it forever; when he drives his cart wheel over it with his horses, he does not crush it.

28Grain for bread is easily crushed, so he doesn’t keep on pounding it. He threshes it under the wheels of a cart, but he doesn’t pulverize it.

29This also comes from the LORD of hosts; he is wonderful in counsel and excellent in wisdom.

29The LORD of Heaven’s Armies is a wonderful teacher, and he gives the farmer great wisdom.

ESV Text Edition: 2016. The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®) copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. The ESV® text has been reproduced in cooperation with and by permission of Good News Publishers. Unauthorized reproduction of this publication is prohibited. All rights reserved.

Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.