15. You have declared, “We have made a covenant with death,with Sheol we have made a pact;When the raging flood passes through,it will not reach us;For we have made lies our refuge,and in falsehood we have found a hiding place,”—
16. Therefore, thus says the Lord God:See, I am laying a stone in Zion,a stone that has been tested,A precious cornerstone as a sure foundation;whoever puts faith in it will not waver.
17. I will make judgment a measuring line,and justice a level.—Hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies,and waters shall flood the hiding place.
18. Your covenant with death shall be canceledand your pact with Sheol shall not stand.When the raging flood passes through,you shall be beaten down by it.
19. Whenever it passes, it shall seize you;morning after morning it shall pass,by day and by night.Sheer terrorto impart the message!
20. For the bed shall be too short to stretch out in,and the cover too narrow to wrap in.
21. For the Lord shall rise up as on Mount Perazim,bestir himself as in the Valley of Gibeon,To carry out his work—strange his work!to perform his deed—alien his deed!
22. Now, cease scoffing,lest your bonds be tightened,For I have heard a decree of destructionfrom the Lord, the God of hosts,for the whole land.
23. Give ear and hear my voice,pay attention and hear my word:
24. Is the plowman forever plowing in order to sow,always loosening and harrowing the field?
25. When he has leveled the surface,does he not scatter caraway and sow cumin,Put in wheat and barley,with spelt as its border?
26. His God has taught him this rule,he has instructed him.
27. For caraway is not threshed with a sledge,nor does a cartwheel roll over cumin.But caraway is beaten out with a staff,and cumin with a rod.
28. Grain is crushed for bread, but not forever;though he thresh it thoroughly,and drive his cartwheel and horses over it,he does not pulverize it.