1. The kingdom of Israel is doomed! Its glory is fading like the crowns of flowers on the heads of its drunken leaders. Their proud heads are well perfumed, but there they lie, dead drunk.
2. The Lord has someone strong and powerful ready to attack them, someone who will come like a hailstorm, like a torrent of rain, like a rushing, overpowering flood, and will overwhelm the land.
3. The pride of those drunken leaders will be trampled underfoot.
4. The fading glory of those proud leaders will disappear like the first figs of the season, picked and eaten as soon as they are ripe.
5. A day is coming when the Lord Almighty will be like a glorious crown of flowers for his people who survive.
6. He will give a sense of justice to those who serve as judges, and courage to those who defend the city gates from attack.
7. Even the prophets and the priests are so drunk that they stagger. They have drunk so much wine and liquor that they stumble in confusion. The prophets are too drunk to understand the visions that God sends, and the priests are too drunk to decide the cases that are brought to them.
8. The tables where they sit are all covered with vomit, and not a clean spot is left.
9. They complain about me. They say, “Who does that man think he's teaching? Who needs his message? It's only good for babies that have just been weaned!