Ephraim's Fading Crown
28 1 Woe to the proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim, and to the fading flower of its glorious beauty, which sits on the head of the lush valley of those overcome with wine! 2 Look, the Sovereign Father has one who is mighty and strong; like a hailstorm, a destroying tempest, like a storm of mighty, overflowing waters, he will hurl it down to the earth with his hand. 3 The proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim will be trampled underfoot. 4 And the fading flower of its glorious beauty, which sits on the head of the lush valley, will be like a first-ripe fig before summer—whoever sees it swallows it as soon as it is in his hand. 5 In that day the Father of heaven's armies will be a crown of glory and a diadem of beauty to the remnant of his people, 6 and a spirit of justice to the one who sits in judgment, and strength to those who turn back the battle at the gate.
7 These also reel with wine and stagger with strong drink: the priest and the prophet reel with strong drink, they are confused by wine, they stagger with strong drink, they reel when they see visions, they stumble in giving their rulings. 8 For all the tables are covered with filthy vomit, with no clean place left.
9 "Whom will he teach knowledge, and to whom will he explain the message? Those just weaned from milk, those just taken from the breast?" 10 For it is order on order, order on order, line on line, line on line, a little here, a little there." a a v10 The singsong repetition likely mocks the prophet's teaching style — tedious, drilled lessons the rulers refused to take seriously.
11 Indeed, by people of strange lips and a foreign tongue he will speak to this people, 12 to whom he had said, "This is the rest; give rest to the weary; this is the resting place"—yet they were not willing to listen. 13 So the word of our Father will be to them rule on rule, rule on rule, line on line, line on line, a little here, a little there, that they may go and stumble backward, and be broken, and snared, and captured.
14 Therefore hear the word of our Father, you scoffers who rule this people in Jerusalem! 15 Because you have said, "We have struck a covenant with death, and with the grave we have made an agreement; when the overwhelming flood passes through, it will not reach us, for we have made lies our refuge and hidden ourselves in falsehood"— b b v15 Sheol: the realm of the dead in Hebrew thought — the underworld where all the departed go.
16 therefore this is what the Sovereign Father says: "Look, I am laying in Zion a stone, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation: the one who believes will not panic." c c v16 Paul and Peter both apply this verse to Jesus — Romans 9:33 and 1 Peter 2:6. The cornerstone our Father laid in Zion is his Son, the foundation on whom every believer rests. 17 And I will make justice the measuring line and righteousness the plumb line; hail will sweep away the refuge of lies, and waters will flood the hiding place. 18 Then your covenant with death will be wiped out, and your agreement with the grave will not stand; when the overwhelming flood passes through, you will be trampled down by it. 19 As often as it passes through, it will seize you; for morning by morning it will pass through, by day and by night, and it will be sheer terror just to take in the news.
20 For the bed is too short to stretch out on, and the blanket too narrow to wrap up in. 21 For our Father will rise up as he did at Mount Perazim, he will be stirred as in the Valley of Gibeon, to do his work—strange is his work!—and to perform his task—foreign is his task! 22 Now therefore do not scoff, or your chains will grow tighter; for I have heard a decree of destruction from the Father of heaven's armies, against the whole land.
23 Listen and hear my voice; pay attention and hear my words. 24 Does the farmer plow all day to plant? Does he keep breaking up and tilling his ground? 25 When he has leveled its surface, does he not scatter dill and sow cumin, and plant wheat in rows and barley in its plot, and spelt along the border? 26 His Father instructs him rightly; his Father teaches him. d d v26 Even a farmer's everyday wisdom comes from our Father—he is the teacher behind all skill and good judgment. 27 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. 28 Grain for bread must be crushed, but he does not thresh it forever; he drives his cart wheel and horses over it, yet does not crush it to powder. 29 This too comes from the Father of heaven's armies; he is wonderful in counsel and magnificent in wisdom.