His watchmen {are} blind: they are all ignorant, they {are} all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber. {sleeping: or, dreaming, or, talking in their sleep}

And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and {so} that day come upon you unawares.

Wine {is} a mocker, strong drink {is} raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.

Blessed {art} thou, O land, when thy king {is} the son of nobles, and thy princes eat in due season, for strength, and not for drunkenness!

Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:

The LORD hath mingled a perverse spirit in the midst thereof: and they have caused Egypt to err in every work thereof, as a drunken {man} staggereth in his vomit. {a perverse...: Heb. a spirit of perversities}

If a man walking in the spirit and falsehood do lie, {saying}, I will prophesy unto thee of wine and of strong drink; he shall even be the prophet of this people. {walking...: or, walk with the wind, and lie falsely}

And I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria; they prophesied in Baal, and caused my people Israel to err. {folly: or, an absurd thing: Heb. unsavoury}

Then the LORD said unto me, The prophets prophesy lies in my name: I sent them not, neither have I commanded them, neither spake unto them: they prophesy unto you a false vision and divination, and a thing of nought, and the deceit of their heart.

They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits' end. {are...: Heb. all their wisdom is swallowed up}

Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Hearken not unto the words of the prophets that prophesy unto you: they make you vain: they speak a vision of their own heart, {and} not out of the mouth of the LORD.

{As for} my people, children {are} their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, they which lead thee cause {thee} to err, and destroy the way of thy paths. {lead...: or, call thee blessed} {destroy: Heb. swallow up}

Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning, {that} they may follow strong drink; that continue until night, {till} wine inflame them! {inflame: of, pursue}

And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which {men} deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I cannot; for it {is} sealed: {book: or, letter}

And it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest; as with the servant, so with his master; as with the maid, so with her mistress; as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the lender, so with the borrower; as with the taker of usury, so with the giver of usury to him. {priest: or, prince}

Whoredom and wine and new wine take away the heart.

He hath bent his bow like an enemy: he stood with his right hand as an adversary, and slew all {that were} pleasant to the eye in the tabernacle of the daughter of Zion: he poured out his fury like fire. {all...: Heb. all the desirable of the eye}

Do not drink wine nor strong drink, thou, nor thy sons with thee, when ye go into the tabernacle of the congregation, lest ye die: {it shall be} a statute for ever throughout your generations:

So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself.

Woe unto {them that are} mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink:

And behold joy and gladness, slaying oxen, and killing sheep, eating flesh, and drinking wine: let us eat and drink; for to morrow we shall die.

{It is} not for kings, O Lemuel, {it is} not for kings to drink wine; nor for princes strong drink:

Have ye not seen a vain vision, and have ye not spoken a lying divination, whereas ye say, The LORD saith {it}; albeit I have not spoken?

The ancient and honourable, he {is} the head; and the prophet that teacheth lies, he {is} the tail.

Neither shall any priest drink wine, when they enter into the inner court.

Wine {is} a mocker, strong drink {is} raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.

And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and {so} that day come upon you unawares.

Woe unto {them that are} mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink:

Do not drink wine nor strong drink, thou, nor thy sons with thee, when ye go into the tabernacle of the congregation, lest ye die: {it shall be} a statute for ever throughout your generations:

Thy first father hath sinned, and thy teachers have transgressed against me. {teachers: Heb. interpreters}

Whoredom and wine and new wine take away the heart.

For the time past of {our} life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles, when we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revellings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries:

{It is} not for kings, O Lemuel, {it is} not for kings to drink wine; nor for princes strong drink:

Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning, {that} they may follow strong drink; that continue until night, {till} wine inflame them! {inflame: of, pursue}

Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, whose glorious beauty {is} a fading flower, which {are} on the head of the fat valleys of them that are overcome with wine! {overcome: Heb. broken}

They also that erred in spirit shall come to understanding, and they that murmured shall learn doctrine. {come...: Heb. know understanding}

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children. {destroyed: Heb. cut off}

Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.

So that contrariwise ye {ought} rather to forgive {him}, and comfort {him}, lest perhaps such a one should be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow.

For a bishop must be blameless, as the steward of God; not selfwilled, not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre;

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

Therefore will I give their wives unto others, {and} their fields to them that shall inherit {them}: for every one from the least even unto the greatest is given to covetousness, from the prophet even unto the priest every one dealeth falsely.

Thou art filled with shame for glory: drink thou also, and let thy foreskin be uncovered: the cup of the LORD'S right hand shall be turned unto thee, and shameful spewing {shall be} on thy glory. {with...: or, more with shame than with glory}

Woe to thee, O land, when thy king {is} a child, and thy princes eat in the morning!

But into the second {went} the high priest alone once every year, not without blood, which he offered for himself, and {for} the errors of the people:

Stay yourselves, and wonder; cry ye out, and cry: they are drunken, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with strong drink. {cry ye...: or, take your pleasure, and riot}

Not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but patient, not a brawler, not covetous; {given...: or, ready to quarrel, and offer wrong, as one in wine}

Come ye, {say they}, I will fetch wine, and we will fill ourselves with strong drink; and to morrow shall be as this day, {and} much more abundant.

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

Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. {honestly: or, decently}

The LORD hath mingled a perverse spirit in the midst thereof: and they have caused Egypt to err in every work thereof, as a drunken {man} staggereth in his vomit. {a perverse...: Heb. a spirit of perversities}

Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in {their} heart; and they have not known my ways.

The priests said not, Where {is} the LORD? and they that handle the law knew me not: the pastors also transgressed against me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal, and walked after {things that} do not profit.

For from the least of them even unto the greatest of them every one {is} given to covetousness; and from the prophet even unto the priest every one dealeth falsely.

If I go forth into the field, then behold the slain with the sword! and if I enter into the city, then behold them that are sick with famine! yea, both the prophet and the priest go about into a land that they know not. {go about...: or, make merchandise against a land, and men acknowledge it not}

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.

At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder. {an...: or, a cockatrice}

In the day of our king the princes have made {him} sick with bottles of wine; he stretched out his hand with scorners. {bottles...: or, heat through wine}

And behold joy and gladness, slaying oxen, and killing sheep, eating flesh, and drinking wine: let us eat and drink; for to morrow we shall die.