7 And these also stagger from wine
and reel from beer:
Priests and prophets stagger from beer
and are befuddled with wine;
they reel from beer,
they stagger when seeing visions,
they stumble when rendering decisions. |
8 All the tables are covered with vomit
and there is not a spot without filth. |
9 "Who is it he is trying to teach?
To whom is he explaining his message?
To children weaned from their milk,
to those just taken from the breast? |
10 For it is:
Do and do, do and do,
rule on rule, rule on rule1 28:10 Hebrew / sav lasav sav lasav / kav lakav kav lakav (possibly meaningless sounds; perhaps a mimicking of the prophet's words); also in verse 13 ;
a little here, a little there." |
11 Very well then, with foreign lips and strange tongues
God will speak to this people, |
12 to whom he said,
"This is the resting place, let the weary rest";
and, "This is the place of repose"-
but they would not listen. |
13 So then, the word of the LORD to them will become:
Do and do, do and do,
rule on rule, rule on rule;
a little here, a little there-
so that they will go and fall backward,
be injured and snared and captured. |
14 Therefore hear the word of the LORD , you scoffers
who rule this people in Jerusalem. |
15 You boast, "We have entered into a covenant with death,
with the grave2 28:15 Hebrew Sheol ; also in verse 18 we have made an agreement.
When an overwhelming scourge sweeps by,
it cannot touch us,
for we have made a lie our refuge
and falsehood3 28:15 Or false gods our hiding place." |
16 So this is what the Sovereign LORD says: |
17 I will make justice the measuring line
and righteousness the plumb line;
hail will sweep away your refuge, the lie,
and water will overflow your hiding place. |
18 Your covenant with death will be annulled;
your agreement with the grave will not stand.
When the overwhelming scourge sweeps by,
you will be beaten down by it. |
19 As often as it comes it will carry you away;
morning after morning, by day and by night,
it will sweep through." |
20 The bed is too short to stretch out on,
the blanket too narrow to wrap around you. |
21 The LORD will rise up as he did at Mount Perazim,
he will rouse himself as in the Valley of Gibeon-
to do his work, his strange work,
and perform his task, his alien task. |
22 Now stop your mocking,
or your chains will become heavier;
the Lord, the LORD Almighty, has told me
of the destruction decreed against the whole land. |
