14 Therefore hear the word of the LORD, ye scornful men, that rule this people who are in Jerusalem.
15 Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we in agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not reach us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we 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 believeth 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 broken, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it. [1]
19 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. [2]
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 as on mount Perazim, he shall be angry 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 be ye not mockers, lest your bands be made strong: for I have heard from the Lord GOD of hosts a destruction, even determined upon the whole earth.
23 Give ye ear, and hear my voice; hearken, and hear my speech.
24 Doth the plowman plow all day to sow? doth he open and break the clods of his ground?
25 When he hath made even the face of it, doth he not cast abroad the black cummin, and scatter the cummin, and cast in the wheat in rows and the appointed barley and the rye in their place? [3] [4] [5]
26 For his God doth instruct him to discretion, and doth teach him. [6]
27 For the black cummin are not threshed with a threshing instrument, neither is a cart wheel turned about upon the cummin; but the black cummin are beaten out with a staff, and the cummin with a rod.
28 Bread grain is ground; because he will not always be threshing it, nor break it with the wheel of his cart, nor grind it with his horsemen.
29 This also cometh forth from the LORD of hosts, who is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in wisdom.
CHAP. 29.
Woe to Ariel, to Ariel, the city where David dwelt! add ye year to year; let them kill sacrifices. [7] [8] [9]
2 Yet I will distress Ariel, and there shall be heaviness and sorrow: and it shall be to me as Ariel.
3 And I will encamp against thee all around, and will lay siege against thee with a mound, 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, like a medium, out of the ground, and thy speech shall whisper out of the dust. [10]
5 Moreover the multitude of thy strangers shall be like small dust, and the multitude of the terrible ones shall be as chaff that passeth away: yea, it shall be at an instant suddenly.
6 Thou shalt be visited by the LORD of hosts with thunder, and with earthquake, and great noise, with storm and tempest, and the flame of devouring fire.
7 And the multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel, even all that fight against her and her strong hold, and that distress her, shall be as a dream of a night vision.
8 It shall even be as when an hungry man dreameth, and, behold, he eateth; but he awaketh, and his soul is empty: or as when a thirsty man dreameth, and, behold, he drinketh; but he awaketh, and, behold, he is faint, and his soul hath appetite: so shall the multitude of all the nations be, that fight against mount Zion.
9 Stay yourselves, and wonder; cry ye out, and cry: they are drunk, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with strong drink. [11]
10 For the LORD hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes: the prophets and your rulers, the seers hath he covered. [12]
11 And the vision of all is become to you as the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I cannot; for it is sealed: [13]
12 And the book is delivered to him that is not learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I am not learned.
13 Therefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men:
14 Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous work among this people, even a marvellous work and a wonder: for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid. [14]
15 Woe to them that seek deep to hide their counsel from the LORD, and their works are in the dark, and they say, Who seeth us? and who knoweth us?
16 Surely your turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as the
- ↑ trodden...: Heb. a treading down to it
- ↑ to...: or, when he shall make you to understand doctrine
- ↑ the principal...: or, the wheat in the principal place, and barley in the appointed place
- ↑ rie: or, spelt
- ↑ place: Heb. border?
- ↑ For...: or, And he bindeth it in such sort as his God doth teach him
- ↑ Woe...: or, O Ariel, that is, the lion of God
- ↑ the city: or, of the city
- ↑ kill: Heb. cut off the heads of
- ↑ whisper: Heb. peep, or, chirp
- ↑ cry ye...: or, take your pleasure, and riot
- ↑ rulers: Heb. heads
- ↑ book: or, letter
- ↑ proceed: Heb. add
