The burden of the valley of visions. What hast thou to do here, that thou climbest unto the house tops,

For this is the day of the LORD of Hosts, wherein he will plague, tread down, and weed out the valley of visions, and break down the walls, with such a crack, that it shall give a sound in the mountains.

Thy chief valley also was full of chariots, and the horsemen set their faces directly toward the gate.

In that day, sayeth the LORD of Hosts, shall the nail that is fastened in the sure place depart and be broken, and fall: and the burden that was upon it shall be plucked away. For the LORD himself hath said it.

The earth shall be heavy and decay: The face of the earth shall perish and fall away, the proud people of the world shall come to naught.

It will come to pass, that whoso escapeth the terrible cry, shall fall in to the pit. And if he come out of the pit, he shall be taken with the snare. For the windows above shall be opened, and the foundations of the earth shall move.

The earth shall give a great crack, it shall have a sore ruin, and take a horrible fall.

The earth shall stagger like a drunkard, to and fro; and be taken away like a tent. Her misdeeds shall lie so heavy upon her, that she must fall, and never rise up again.

Upon the hill shall he take away the side veil that hangeth before the face of all people, and the covering wherewith all Gentiles are covered.

It will come to this point, that Jacob shall be rooted again, and Israel shall be green, and bear flowers, and they shall fill the whole world with their fruit.

Woe be to the crown of pride, even to the drunken people of Ephraim, whose great pomp is as a flower that fadeth away upon the head of the valley of such as be in wealth, and are overladen with wine.

And as for the fading flower, the glory of his pomp, which is upon the top of the plenteous valley: it shall happen unto him, as to an untimely fruit before the harvest come. Which as soon as it is seen, is by and by devoured, before it come well in a man's hand.

But they go wrong by the reason of wine, they fall and stagger because of strong drink. Yea even the priests and prophets themselves go amiss, they are drunken with wine, and weak brained through strong drink. They fail in prophesying, and stumble in judgment.

For all tables are so full of vomit and filthiness, that no place is clean.

And therefore the LORD shall answer their stubbornness, lesson upon lesson, commandment upon commandment, rule upon rule, instruction upon instruction, here a little, there a little. That they may go forth, fall backward, be bruised, snared, and taken.

For the LORD shall step forth as he did upon the mount Perazim, and shall take on as he did upon the vale of Gibeon: that he may bring forth his device, his strange device: and fulfill his work, his wonderful work.

Your beasts have born burdens upon their backs toward the South, through the way that is full of peril and trouble, because of the lion and lioness; of the Cockatrice and shooting dragon. Yea the Mules bare your substance, and the Camels brought your treasure, upon their crooked backs, unto a people that cannot help you.

therefore shall ye have this mischief again for your destruction and fall, like as a high wall, that falleth because of some rift or blast, whose breaking cometh suddenly.

For ye have said, "No, but we will escape through horses!" Therefore shall ye flee. And, "We will get us up upon swift beasts!" Therefore shall your persecutors be swifter.

A thousand of you shall flee for one, or at the most for five, which do but only give you evil words: until ye be desolate, as a ship mast upon a high mountain, and as a beacon upon a hill.

Goodly rivers shall flow out of all his mountains and hills. In the day of the great slaughter when the towers shall fall,

Now the Egyptians are men, and not God, and their horses flesh, and not spirit. And as soon as the LORD stretcheth out his hand: then shall the helper fall, and he that should have been helped, and they shall all together be destroyed.

Assyria also shall be slain with the sword: not with a man's sword, neither shall the sword of any man devour him. And he shall flee from the slaughter, and his servants shall be taken prisoners.

He shall go for fear to his strongholds, and his princes shall flee from his badge. This hath the LORD spoken, whose light burneth in Zion, and his fire in Jerusalem.

And when the hail falleth, it shall fall in the wood and in the city.

Grant that the people may flee at the anger of thy voice, and that at thine upstanding the Gentiles may be scattered abroad;

All the stars of heaven shall be consumed, and the heaven shall fold together like a roll, and all the stars thereof shall fall, like as the leaves fall from the vines and fig trees.

And the LORD's sword shall be full of blood, and be rusty with the fatness and blood of lambs and goats, with the fatness of the kidneys of wethers. For the LORD shall kill a great offering in Bozrah. and a great slaughter in the land of Idumaea.

There shall the Unicorns fall with them, and the bulls with the giants; and their land shall be washed with blood, and their ground corrupt with fatness.

Seek through the scripture of the LORD and read it: There shall none of these things be left out, there shall not one, nor such like, fail. For what his mouth commandeth, that same doth his spirit gather together or fulfill.

Thus the angel went forth, and slew of the Assyrians host, a hundred and eighty five thousand. And when men arose up early, at Jerusalem: Behold, all lay full of dead bodies.

Children are weary and faint, and the strongest men fall:

But unto them that have the LORD before their eyes, shall strength be increased, Eagles wings shall grow upon them; When they run, they shall not fall; and when they go, they shall not be weary."

Which bringeth forth the chariots and horses, the host and the power, that they may fall asleep and never rise, and be extinct, like as towe is quenched:

One piece he burneth in the fire; with another he roasteth flesh, that he may eat roast his belly full; with the third he warmeth himself, and sayeth, "Aha, I am well warmed, I have been at the fire."

They ponder not in their minds, for they have neither knowledge nor understanding, to think thus, "I have burnt one piece in the fire; I have baked bread with the coals thereof; I have roasted flesh withal, and eaten it: shall I now of the residue make an abomination, and fall down before a rotten piece of wood?"

The LORD hath said moreover: The occupiers of Egypt, the merchants of the Ethiopians and Sabees, shall come unto thee with tribute; they shall be thine, they shall follow thee, and go with chains upon their feet. They shall fall down before thee, and make supplication unto thee. For God, without whom there is none other God, shall be with thee.

And yet both these things shall come to thee upon one day, in the twinkling of an eye: Namely widowhood, and desolation. They shall mightily fall upon thee, for the multitude of thy witches, and for the great heap of thy conjurers.

Therefore shall trouble come upon thee, and thou shalt not know, from whence it shall arise. Mischief shalt fall upon thee, which thou shalt not be able to put off. A sudden misery shall come upon thee, before thou be aware.

For kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and Queens shall be thy nursing mothers. They shall fall before thee with their faces flat upon the earth, and lick up the dust of thy feet: that thou mayest know, how that I am the LORD. And who so putteth his trust in me, shall not be confounded.

Hearken unto me, ye that follow righteousness and seek the LORD. Look unto the rock ye were cut out, and to the cave and pit ye were digged out.

That the redeemed of the LORD, which turned again, might come with joy unto Zion, there to endure forever? That mirth and gladness might be with them? That sorrow and woe might flee from them?

It cometh on fast, it maketh haste to appear: It shall not perish, that it should not be able to destroy, neither shall it fail for fault of nourishing.

Thy sons lie comfortless at the head of every street like a taken venison, and are full of the terrible wrath of the LORD, and punishment of thy God.

But ye shall not go out with sedition nor make haste as they that flee away: for the LORD shall go before you, and the God of Israel shall keep the watch.

The mountains shall remove, and the hills shall fall down: but my loving-kindness shall not move, and the bond of my peace shall not fall down from thee, sayeth the LORD thy merciful lover.

"Come," say they, "I will fetch wine, so shall we fill ourselves, that we may be drunken. And do tomorrow, like as today; yea, and much more."

The LORD shall ever be thy guide, and satisfy the desire of thine heart, and fill thy bones with marrow. Thou shalt be like a fresh watered garden, and like the fountain of water, that never leaveth running.

Namely transgress and dissemble against the LORD, and fall away from our God: using presumptuous and traitorous imaginations, and casting false matters in our hearts.

But what are these that flee here like clouds, and as the doves flying to their windows?

Moreover, those shall come kneeling unto thee that have vexed thee: and all they that despised thee, shall fall down at thy foot. Thou shalt be called the city of the LORD, the holy Zion of Israel.

For I the LORD, which love right and hate robbery, though it were offered me, shall make their works full of faithfulness, and make an everlasting covenant with them.

I looked about me, and there was no man to show me any help. I fell down, and no man held me up. Then I held me by mine own arm, and my ferventness sustained me:

We are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags, stained with the flux of a woman: we fall every and each one as the leaf, for our sins carry us away like the wind.

Sharon shall be a sheepfold, and the valley of Achor shall give the stalling for the cattle of my people, that fear me.

There shall never be child nor old man, that have not their full days. But when the child cometh to a hundred years old, it shall die. And if he that is a hundred years of age do wrong, he shall be cursed.

Thou Israel wast hallowed unto the LORD, and so was his firstfruits. All they that devoured Israel, offended: misfortune fell upon them, sayeth the LORD."

The priests themselves said not once, 'Where is the LORD?' They that have the law in their hands, know me not: The shepherds offend against me. The Prophets do service unto Baal, and follow such things as shall bring them no profit.

For my people hath done two evils: They have forsaken me, the well of the water of life; and digged them pits, yea, vile and broken pits, that hold no water.

And what hast thou now to do in the street of Egypt? To drink foul water? Either, what makest thou in the way to Assyria? To drink water of the flood?

and thy wantonness is like a wild Ass, that useth the wilderness, and that snuffeth and bloweth at his will. Who can tame thee? All they that seek thee, shall not fail, but find thee in thy own uncleanness.

Then shall Jerusalem be called the LORD's seat, and all Heathen shall be gathered unto it, for the name of the LORD's sake, which shall be set up at Jerusalem. And from that time forth, they shall follow no more the imagination of their own froward heart.

The hills fall, and all the high pride of the mountains; but the health of Israel standeth only upon God our LORD.

The whole land shall flee, for the noise of the horsemen and bowmen: they shall run into dens, into woods, and climb up the stony rocks. All the cities shall be void, and no man dwelling therein.

"Should I then, for all this, have mercy upon thee? Thy children have forsaken me, and sworn by them that are no gods. And albeit they were bound to me in marriage, yet they fell to adultery, and hunted harlots' houses.

And like as a net is full of birds, so are their houses full of that which they have gotten with falsity and deceit. Hereof cometh their great substance and riches,

The Prophets teach falsely, and the priests follow them, and my people hath pleasure therein. What will come thereof at the last?

"Make battle against her!" shall they say. "Arise, let us go up, while it is yet day!" "Alas, the day goeth away, and the night shadows fall down!"

And therefore I am so full of thine indignation, O LORD, that I may suffer no longer. "Shed out thy wrath upon the children that are without, and upon all young men. Yea the man must be taken prisoner with the wife, and the aged with the cripple.

Therefore they must be ashamed, for they have committed abomination. But how should they be ashamed, when they know nothing, neither of shame nor good nurture? And therefore they shall fall among the slain; and in the hour when I shall visit them, they shall be brought down," sayeth the LORD.

And therefore thus sayeth the LORD, 'Behold, I will make this people fall, and there shall fall from among them the father with the children; one neighbour shall perish with another.'"

Wherefore, gird a sackcloth about thee, O daughter of my people; sprinkle thyself with ashes, mourn and weep bitterly, as upon the only beloved son: for the destroyer shall suddenly fall upon us.

They have also builded an altar at Tophet, which is in the valley of the children of Hinnom: that they might burn their sons and daughters - which I never commanded them, neither came it ever in my thought.

And therefore behold, the days shall come, sayeth the LORD, that it shall no more be called Tophet, or the valley of the children of Hinnom, but the valley of the slain - for in Tophet they shall be buried, because they shall else have no room.

"This shalt thou say unto them also: Thus sayeth the LORD, Do men fall also, that they arise not up again? And turn they so far away, that they never convert?

Wherefore, I will give their wives unto aliens, and their fields to destroyers. For from the lowest to the highest, they follow all filthy lucre: and from the Prophet unto the priest, they deal all with lies.

Fie! For shame! How abominable things do they? And yet they be not ashamed; yea, they know of no shame. Wherefore in the time of their visitation, they shall fall among the dead bodies, sayeth the LORD.

and sing a mourning song of you: that the tears may fall out of our eyes, and that our eyelids may gush out of water.

This people is a wicked people; they will not hear my word, they follow the wicked imaginations of their own heart, and hang upon strange gods, them have they served and worshiped: and therefore they shall be as this breech, that serveth for nothing.

Then shalt thou say unto them, 'Thus sayeth the LORD: Behold, I shall fill all the inhabiters of this land with drunkenness, the kings that sit upon David's stool, the Priests and Prophets, with all that dwell at Jerusalem.

Tell the king and the rulers, "Humble yourselves, set you down low, for the crown of your glory shall fall from your head."

"Lift up your eyes, and behold them, that come from the North: Like a fat flock shall they fall upon thee.

The wild Asses shall stand in the Moss, and draw in their wind like the Dragons, their eyes shall fail for want of grass."

For if I go into the field, lo, it lieth all full of slain men: If I come into the city, lo, they be all famished of hunger. Yea, their prophets also and priests shall be led into an unknown land.'"

She that hath born seven children, shall have none; her heart shall be full of sorrow. The Sun shall fail her in the clear day, when she shall be confounded and faint for very heaviness. As for those that remain, I will deliver them unto the sword of their enemies, sayeth the LORD."

Upon these words, thus said the LORD unto me, "If thou wilt turn again, I shall set thee in my service: and if thou wilt take out the thing that is precious from the vile, thou shalt be even as mine own mouth. They shall convert unto thee, but turn not thou unto them:

The deceitful maketh a nest, but bringeth forth no young: He cometh by riches, but not righteously. In the midst of his life must he leave them behind him, and at the last be found a very fool.

And I enforced not to be a shepherd that should not follow thee: and the day of destruction have I not desired, thou knowest. And that proceeded out of my mouth was right in thy sight.

Let them that persecute me be confounded, and let not me be confounded. Let their hearts fail them, and not mine heart fail. Bring upon them an evil day, and bruise them again and again.

But they say, 'No more of this, we will follow our own imaginations, and do every man according to the wilfulness of his own mind.'

into the valley of the children of Hinnom, which lieth before the port that is made of brick, and show them there the words, that I shall tell thee,

Behold therefore, the time cometh, sayeth the LORD, that this place shall no more be called Tophet, nor the valley of the children of Hinnom, but the valley of slaughter.

But the LORD stood by me, like a mighty giant: therefore my persecutors fell, and could do nothing. They shall be sore confounded, for they have done unwisely, they shall have an everlasting shame.

And after this, sayeth the LORD, I shall deliver Zedekiah the king of Judah, and his servants, his people - and such as are escaped in the city, from the pestilence, sword, and hunger - into the power of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon: yea into the hands of their enemies; into the hands of those that follow upon their lives, which shall smite them with the sword. They shall not pity them, they shall not spare them, they shall have no mercy upon them.'

Because the land is full of adulterers, wherethrough it is destroyed and mourneth, and the pleasant pastures of the desert are dried up. Yea the way that men take is wicked, and their governance is nothing like the holy word of the LORD.

Wherefore, their way shall be slippery in the darkness, wherein they may stagger and fall. For I will bring a plague upon them, even the year of their visitation, sayeth the LORD.

I have seen also among the Prophets of Jerusalem foul adultery, and presumptuous lies. They take the most shameful men by the hand, flattering them, so that they cannot return from their wickedness. All these with their citizens are, unto me, as Sodom and as the inhabiters of Gomorrah."

Behold, the stormy weather of the LORD - that is, his indignation - shall go forth, and shall fall down upon the head of the ungodly.

'And say thou unto them: This is the commandment of the LORD of Hosts the God of Israel: Drink and be drunken, spew and fall, that ye never rise: and that through the sword which I will send among you.

Mourn, O ye shepherds, and cry: sprinkle yourselves with ashes, O ye rams of the flock! For the time of your slaughter is fulfilled, and ye shall fall like vessels cunningly made for pleasure.