The best of them {is} as a brier: the most upright {is sharper} than a thorn hedge: the day of thy watchmen {and} thy visitation cometh; now shall be their perplexity.

Thou also shalt be drunken: thou shalt be hid, thou also shalt seek strength because of the enemy.

Therefore as the fire devoureth the stubble, and the flame consumeth the chaff, {so} their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust: because they have cast away the law of the LORD of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel. {fire: Heb. tongue of fire}

For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.

For wickedness burneth as the fire: it shall devour the briers and thorns, and shall kindle in the thickets of the forest, and they shall mount up {like} the lifting up of smoke.

But {the sons} of Belial {shall be} all of them as thorns thrust away, because they cannot be taken with hands:

And I will make drunk her princes, and her wise {men}, her captains, and her rulers, and her mighty men: and they shall sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, saith the King, whose name {is} the LORD of hosts.

And the light of Israel shall be for a fire, and his Holy One for a flame: and it shall burn and devour his thorns and his briers in one day;

In their heat I will make their feasts, and I will make them drunken, that they may rejoice, and sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, saith the LORD.

For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.

As smoke is driven away, {so} drive {them} away: as wax melteth before the fire, {so} let the wicked perish at the presence of God.

Fury {is} not in me: who would set the briers {and} thorns against me in battle? I would go through them, I would burn them together. {go...: or, march against}

Now Absalom had commanded his servants, saying, Mark ye now when Amnon's heart is merry with wine, and when I say unto you, Smite Amnon; then kill him, fear not: have not I commanded you? be courageous, and be valiant. {have...: or, will you not, since I have commanded you?} {valiant: Heb. sons of valour}

And Abigail came to Nabal; and, behold, he held a feast in his house, like the feast of a king; and Nabal's heart {was} merry within him, for he {was} very drunken: wherefore she told him nothing, less or more, until the morning light.

Behold, they shall be as stubble; the fire shall burn them; they shall not deliver themselves from the power of the flame: {there shall} not {be} a coal to warm at, {nor} fire to sit before it. {themselves: Heb. their souls}

For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.

For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.

But God said unto him, {Thou} fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? {thy...: Gr. do they require thy soul}

He hath said in his heart, I shall not be moved: for {I shall} never {be} in adversity. {never: Heb. unto generation and generation}

For wickedness burneth as the fire: it shall devour the briers and thorns, and shall kindle in the thickets of the forest, and they shall mount up {like} the lifting up of smoke.

And the light of Israel shall be for a fire, and his Holy One for a flame: and it shall burn and devour his thorns and his briers in one day;

Now Absalom had commanded his servants, saying, Mark ye now when Amnon's heart is merry with wine, and when I say unto you, Smite Amnon; then kill him, fear not: have not I commanded you? be courageous, and be valiant. {have...: or, will you not, since I have commanded you?} {valiant: Heb. sons of valour}

They compassed me about like bees; they are quenched as the fire of thorns: for in the name of the LORD I will destroy them. {destroy: Heb. cut down}

In their heat I will make their feasts, and I will make them drunken, that they may rejoice, and sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, saith the LORD.

Thou also shalt be drunken: thou shalt be hid, thou also shalt seek strength because of the enemy.

Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who hath babbling? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes?

Therefore now shall they go captive with the first that go captive, and the banquet of them that stretched themselves shall be removed.

And I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation; and I will bring up sackcloth upon all loins, and baldness upon every head; and I will make it as the mourning of an only {son}, and the end thereof as a bitter day.

And the house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau for stubble, and they shall kindle in them, and devour them; and there shall not be {any} remaining of the house of Esau; for the LORD hath spoken {it}.

The best of them {is} as a brier: the most upright {is sharper} than a thorn hedge: the day of thy watchmen {and} thy visitation cometh; now shall be their perplexity.

Therefore hear now this, {thou that art} given to pleasures, that dwellest carelessly, that sayest in thine heart, I {am}, and none else beside me; I shall not sit {as} a widow, neither shall I know the loss of children:

And Abigail came to Nabal; and, behold, he held a feast in his house, like the feast of a king; and Nabal's heart {was} merry within him, for he {was} very drunken: wherefore she told him nothing, less or more, until the morning light.

And his servant Zimri, captain of half {his} chariots, conspired against him, as he was in Tirzah, drinking himself drunk in the house of Arza steward of {his} house in Tirzah. {steward...: Heb. which was over}

They are as stubble before the wind, and as chaff that the storm carrieth away. {carrieth: Heb. stealeth}

As the fire burneth a wood, and as the flame setteth the mountains on fire;

Therefore as the fire devoureth the stubble, and the flame consumeth the chaff, {so} their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust: because they have cast away the law of the LORD of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel. {fire: Heb. tongue of fire}

My heart panted, fearfulness affrighted me: the night of my pleasure hath he turned into fear unto me. {heart...: or, mind wandered} {turned: Heb. put}

So the people were scattered abroad throughout all the land of Egypt to gather stubble instead of straw.

And I will make drunk her princes, and her wise {men}, her captains, and her rulers, and her mighty men: and they shall sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, saith the King, whose name {is} the LORD of hosts.

It is sharpened to make a sore slaughter; it is furbished that it may glitter: should we then make mirth? it contemneth the rod of my son, {as} every tree. {it contemneth...: or, it is the rod of my son, it despiseth every tree}

Belshazzar the king made a great feast to a thousand of his lords, and drank wine before the thousand.

I will also cause all her mirth to cease, her feast days, her new moons, and her sabbaths, and all her solemn feasts.

Woe unto you that are full! for ye shall hunger. Woe unto you that laugh now! for ye shall mourn and weep.

Therefore hell hath enlarged herself, and opened her mouth without measure: and their glory, and their multitude, and their pomp, and he that rejoiceth, shall descend into it.

The heart of the wise {is} in the house of mourning; but the heart of fools {is} in the house of mirth.