1 ARST Terrible things will happen to the city of Samaria, the capital of Israel! It is on a hill above a fertile valley; the people who live there, who get drunk by drinking too much wine, are very proud; it is a beautiful and glorious city, but some day that beauty will disappear like a flower that wilts and dries up. BSB BSB: Woe to the majestic crown of Ephraim’s drunkards, to the fading flower of his glorious splendor, set on the summit above the fertile valley, the pride of those overcome by wine.
2 ARST Listen to this: Yahweh will cause a great army to attack it. Their soldiers will be like a huge hailstorm or a very strong wind; they will be everywhere, like the water of a huge flood, and they will smash to the ground the buildings in Samaria. BSB BSB: Behold, the Lord has one who is strong and mighty. Like a hailstorm or destructive tempest, like a driving rain or flooding downpour, he will smash that crown to the ground.
3 ARST The people of Samaria are proud, but everything that the drunks who live there think is wonderful will be trampled on by their enemies. BSB BSB: The majestic crown of Ephraim’s drunkards will be trampled underfoot.
4 ARST Yes, Samaria is beautiful, set on a hill above a fertile valley, but that beauty will disappear like a flower that wilts and dries up. Whenever someone sees a good fig at the beginning of the season when figs become ripe, he quickly picks and eats it; similarly, when the enemies of Israel see all the beautiful things in Samaria, they will quickly conquer the city and take away all those things. BSB BSB: The fading flower of his beautiful splendor, set on the summit above the fertile valley, will be like a ripe fig before the summer harvest: Whoever sees it will take it in his hand and swallow it.
5 ARST At that time, Yahweh, commander of the angel armies, will be like a glorious wreath of flowers for us Israelite people who are still alive after being exiled. BSB BSB: On that day the LORD of Hosts will be a crown of glory, a diadem of splendor to the remnant of His people,
6 ARST He will cause our judges to want to do what is fair when they decide people’ s cases. He will enable the soldiers who stand at the city gates to strongly defend the city when our enemies attack it. BSB BSB: a spirit of justice to him who sits in judgment, and a strength to those who repel the onslaught at the gate.
7 ARST But now, our leaders stagger, and the priests and prophets also stagger because of drinking a lot of wine and other alcoholic drinks. They are not able to think right; they see visions, but they cannot understand what they mean; they are unable to decide things correctly. BSB BSB: These also stagger from wine and stumble from strong drink: Priests and prophets reel from strong drink and are befuddled by wine. They stumble because of strong drink, muddled in their visions and stumbling in their judgments.
8 ARST All their tables are covered with their vomit; filth is everywhere. BSB BSB: For all their tables are covered with vomit; there is not a place without filth.
9 ARST Who will he teach so that they can learn about knowledge? Who will listen to him so that he can teach lessons to them so they can learn? Does he think that we are like little children who no longer drink milk, and that we are like babies who, not long ago, were weaned? BSB BSB: Whom is He trying to teach? To whom is He explaining His message? To infants just weaned from milk? To babies removed from the breast?
10 ARST He continually tells us,‘Do this, do that;’ first he tells us one rule, then another rule, he tells us only one line at a time.” BSB BSB: For they hear: “Order on order, order on order, line on line, line on line; a little here, a little there.”
11 ARST So now, Yahweh will need to force them to listen to Assyrians speaking to them in a language that they do not understand. BSB BSB: Indeed, with mocking lips and foreign tongues, He will speak to this people
12 ARST Yahweh told his people long ago,“This is a place where you can rest; you are exhausted from all your travels through the desert, but you will be able to rest in this land.” But they refused to pay attention to what he said. BSB BSB: to whom He has said: “This is the place of rest, let the weary rest; this is the place of repose.” But they would not listen.
13 ARST So Yahweh continues to tell the people of Samaria, one line at a time,“Do this, do that,” first one rule and then another rule. But because of their ignoring what God said, they will be attacked and defeated; they will be wounded and snared and captured. BSB BSB: Then the word of the LORD to them will become: “Order on order, order on order, line on line, line on line; a little here, a little there,” so that they will go stumbling backward and will be injured, ensnared, and captured.
14 ARST Listen to the word that Yahweh says, you who rule over the people of Jerusalem, you who mock and make fun of me! BSB BSB: Therefore hear the word of the LORD, O scoffers who rule this people in Jerusalem.
15 ARST You boast and say,“We made a promise with death to ensure that the power of death, when it passes over us, it cannot get to us. We tried to turn our lying words into a shelter in which we could hide. BSB BSB: For you said, “We have made a covenant with death; we have fashioned an agreement with Sheol. When the overwhelming scourge passes through it will not touch us, because we have made lies our refuge and falsehood our hiding place.”
16 ARST Therefore, Yahweh our Lord says this:“Listen to this! I am going to place in Jerusalem someone who is like a foundation stone, he is like a stone that has been tested to determine if it is solid. He will be like a valuable stone on which it will be safe to build a house; and whoever trusts in him will never be disappointed. BSB BSB: So this is what the Lord GOD says: “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; the one who believes will never be shaken.
17 ARST I will test you people of Jerusalem to find out if you will act justly and righteously, I will measure your character like a carpenter uses a plumb line to determine if a wall is straight and level. And then the hail will fall! And it will destroy everything you have. Your shelter will be destroyed because it is built on a foundation of lies, and the water from the storm will wash your shelter away. BSB BSB: I will make justice the measuring line and righteousness the level. Hail will sweep away your refuge of lies, and water will flood your hiding place.
18 ARST I will cancel the covenant that you made with death, and I will bring to an end the covenant you made with the place where the dead dwell. But when the vast flood comes, it will pour over you; and day after day it will pass over you. BSB BSB: Your covenant with death will be dissolved, and your agreement with Sheol will not stand. When the overwhelming scourge passes through, you will be trampled by it.
19 ARST When the flood comes, it will pass through and over you like the river when it overflows its banks and causes flooding everywhere. When you finally understand the message of Yahweh, it will cause you to be terrified, not comforted. For the bed is too short to stretch oneself on, and the covering too narrow to wrap oneself in. BSB BSB: As often as it passes through, it will carry you away; it will sweep through morning after morning, by day and by night.” The understanding of this message will bring sheer terror.
20 ARST You have heard people say,“Your bed is very short; you will not be able to sleep in it; your blankets are very narrow; they will not cover you!” BSB BSB: Indeed, the bed is too short to stretch out on, and the blanket too small to wrap around you.
21 ARST Yahweh will come and cause you to be defeated; he will do to you like he did to the army of Philistia at Mount Perizim, and like he did to the Amorites at Gibeon Valley. What he will do will be very strange and unusual. BSB BSB: For the LORD will rise up as at Mount Perazim. He will rouse Himself as in the Valley of Gibeon, to do His work, His strange work, and to perform His task, His disturbing task.
22 ARST Yahweh, commander of the angel armies, has told me that he is going to destroy the entire land. So do not ridicule what I say anymore, because if you do that, he will punish you even more severely. BSB BSB: So now, do not mock, or your shackles will become heavier. Indeed, I have heard from the Lord GOD of Hosts a decree of destruction against the whole land.
23 ARST Listen to what I say; pay attention carefully. BSB BSB: Listen and hear my voice. Pay attention and hear what I say.
24 ARST When a farmer plows some ground, does he never plant seeds? Does he continue to plow it and never plant anything? BSB BSB: Does the plowman plow for planting every day? Does he continuously loosen and harrow the soil?
25 ARST No, he makes the ground very level, and then he plants seeds— caraway seed and cumin and wheat and barley. He plants each kind of seed in the correct manner. He does not plant one kind of seed in the way that is not right for it. BSB BSB: When he has leveled its surface, does he not sow caraway and scatter cumin? He plants wheat in rows and barley in plots, and rye within its border.
26 ARST He does that because God has taught him the correct way to do it. BSB BSB: For his God instructs and teaches him properly.
27 ARST Moreover, the caraway seed is not threshed with a sledge, nor is a cartwheel rolled over the cumin; but caraway is beaten with a stick, and the cumin with a rod. BSB BSB: Surely caraway is not threshed with a sledge, and the wheel of a cart is not rolled over the cumin. But caraway is beaten out with a stick, and cumin with a rod.
28 ARST And grain for baking bread is crushed easily, so the farmers do not continue to pound it for a long time. They sometimes cause their horses to pull a cart over it to thresh it, but doing that does not grind the grain. BSB BSB: Grain for bread must be ground, but it is not endlessly threshed. Though the wheels of the cart roll over it, the horses do not crush it.
29 ARST Yahweh, commander of the angel armies, gives us wonderful advice about how to do things; he gives us great wisdom. So what the farmers do is very smart, but what your leaders are doing is very stupid. BSB BSB: This also comes from the LORD of Hosts, who is wonderful in counsel and excellent in wisdom.
Select verses for actions: Enter goes to them and Escape comes back.