Ah, 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!
    Behold, 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.
    The proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim
        will be trodden underfoot;
    and 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.
    
    
    In that day the LORD of hosts will be a crown of glory,
        and a diadem of beauty, to the remnant of his people,
    and a spirit of justice to him who sits in judgment,
        and strength to those who turn back the battle at the gate.
    
    
    These 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.
    For all tables are full of filthy vomit,
        with no space left.
    
    
    “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?
    For it is precept upon precept, precept upon precept,
        line upon line, line upon line,
        here a little, there a little.”
    
    
    For by people of strange lips
        and with a foreign tongue
    the LORD will speak to this people,
        to whom he has said,
    “This is rest;
        give rest to the weary;
    and this is repose”;
        yet they would not hear.
    And 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.
    
    
        Therefore hear the word of the LORD, you scoffers,
        who rule this people in Jerusalem!
    Because 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”;
    therefore 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.’
    And 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.”
    Then 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.
    As 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.
    For the bed is too short to stretch oneself on,
        and the covering too narrow to wrap oneself in.
    For 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!
    Now 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.
    
    
    Give ear, and hear my voice;
        give attention, and hear my speech.
    Does he who plows for sowing plow continually?
        Does he continually open and harrow his ground?
    When 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?
    For he is rightly instructed;
        his God teaches him.
    
    
    Dill 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.
    Does 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.
    This also comes from the LORD of hosts;
        he is wonderful in counsel
        and excellent in wisdom.
    
    
        Ah, Ariel, Ariel,
        the city where David encamped!
    Add year to year;
        let the feasts run their round.
    Yet I will distress Ariel,
        and there shall be moaning and lamentation,
        and she shall be to me like an Ariel.
    And I will encamp against you all around,
        and will besiege you with towers
        and I will raise siegeworks against you.
    And you will be brought low; from the earth you shall speak,
        and from the dust your speech will be bowed down;
    your voice shall come from the ground like the voice of a ghost,
        and from the dust your speech shall whisper.
    
    
    But the multitude of your foreign foes shall be like small dust,
        and the multitude of the ruthless like passing chaff.
    And in an instant, suddenly,
        you will be visited by the LORD of hosts
    with thunder and with earthquake and great noise,
        with whirlwind and tempest, and the flame of a devouring fire.
    And the multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel,
        all that fight against her and her stronghold and distress her,
        shall be like a dream, a vision of the night.
    As when a hungry man dreams, and behold, he is eating,
        and awakes with his hunger not satisfied,
    or as when a thirsty man dreams, and behold, he is drinking,
        and awakes faint, with his thirst not quenched,
    so shall the multitude of all the nations be
        that fight against Mount Zion.
    
    
    Astonish yourselves and be astonished;
        blind yourselves and be blind!
    Be drunk, but not with wine;
        stagger, but not with strong drink!
    For the LORD has poured out upon you
        a spirit of deep sleep,
    and has closed your eyes (the prophets),
        and covered your heads (the seers).
    
    
      And the vision of all this has become to you like the words of a book that is sealed. When men give it to one who can read, saying, “Read this,” he says, “I cannot, for it is sealed.” And when they give the book to one who cannot read, saying, “Read this,” he says, “I cannot read.”

    And the Lord said:
    “Because this people draw near with their mouth
        and honor me with their lips,
        while their hearts are far from me,
    and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men,
    therefore, behold, I will again
        do wonderful things with this people,
        with wonder upon wonder;
    and the wisdom of their wise men shall perish,
        and the discernment of their discerning men shall be hidden.”
    
    
    Ah, you who hide deep from the LORD your counsel,
        whose deeds are in the dark,
        and who say, “Who sees us? Who knows us?”
    You turn things upside down!
    Shall the potter be regarded as the clay,
    that the thing made should say of its maker,
        “He did not make me”;
    or the thing formed say of him who formed it,
        “He has no understanding”?
    
    
    Is it not yet a very little while
        until Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field,
        and the fruitful field shall be regarded as a forest?
    In that day the deaf shall hear
        the words of a book,
    and out of their gloom and darkness
        the eyes of the blind shall see.
    The meek shall obtain fresh joy in the LORD,
        and the poor among mankind shall exult in the Holy One of Israel.
    For the ruthless shall come to nothing
        and the scoffer cease,
        and all who watch to do evil shall be cut off,
    who by a word make a man out to be an offender,
        and lay a snare for him who reproves in the gate,
        and with an empty plea turn aside him who is in the right.
    
    
      Therefore thus says the LORD, who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob:

    “Jacob shall no more be ashamed,
        no more shall his face grow pale.
    For when he sees his children,
        the work of my hands, in his midst,
        they will sanctify my name;
    they will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob
        and will stand in awe of the God of Israel.
    And those who go astray in spirit will come to understanding,
        and those who murmur will accept instruction.” (ESV)

When it was day, the Jews made a plot and bound themselves by an oath neither to eat nor drink till they had killed Paul. There were more than forty who made this conspiracy. They went to the chief priests and elders and said, “We have strictly bound ourselves by an oath to taste no food till we have killed Paul. Now therefore you, along with the council, give notice to the tribune to bring him down to you, as though you were going to determine his case more exactly. And we are ready to kill him before he comes near.”

  Now the son of Paul’s sister heard of their ambush, so he went and entered the barracks and told Paul. Paul called one of the centurions and said, “Take this young man to the tribune, for he has something to tell him.” So he took him and brought him to the tribune and said, “Paul the prisoner called me and asked me to bring this young man to you, as he has something to say to you.” The tribune took him by the hand, and going aside asked him privately, “What is it that you have to tell me?” And he said, “The Jews have agreed to ask you to bring Paul down to the council tomorrow, as though they were going to inquire somewhat more closely about him. But do not be persuaded by them, for more than forty of their men are lying in ambush for him, who have bound themselves by an oath neither to eat nor drink till they have killed him. And now they are ready, waiting for your consent.” So the tribune dismissed the young man, charging him, “Tell no one that you have informed me of these things.”

  Then he called two of the centurions and said, “Get ready two hundred soldiers, with seventy horsemen and two hundred spearmen to go as far as Caesarea at the third hour of the night. Also provide mounts for Paul to ride and bring him safely to Felix the governor.” And he wrote a letter to this effect:

  “Claudius Lysias, to his Excellency the governor Felix, greetings. This man was seized by the Jews and was about to be killed by them when I came upon them with the soldiers and rescued him, having learned that he was a Roman citizen. And desiring to know the charge for which they were accusing him, I brought him down to their council. I found that he was being accused about questions of their law, but charged with nothing deserving death or imprisonment. And when it was disclosed to me that there would be a plot against the man, I sent him to you at once, ordering his accusers also to state before you what they have against him.”

  So the soldiers, according to their instructions, took Paul and brought him by night to Antipatris. And on the next day they returned to the barracks, letting the horsemen go on with him. When they had come to Caesarea and delivered the letter to the governor, they presented Paul also before him. On reading the letter, he asked what province he was from. And when he learned that he was from Cilicia, he said, “I will give you a hearing when your accusers arrive.” And he commanded him to be guarded in Herod’s praetorium. (ESV)