But don’t measure the yard outside the temple. Leave it alone. It has been given to those who are not God’s people. They will show their power over the holy city for 42 months.
So think how much more punishment people deserve who show their hate for the Son of God—people who show they have no respect for the blood sacrifice that began the new agreement and once made them holy or who insult the Spirit of God’s grace.
Then I heard two holy ones talking with each other. One of them asked the other one, who had been speaking, “How long will the things in this vision last—the stopping of the daily sacrifices, the sin that destroys, and the trampling down of the holy place and heaven’s army?”
Look at Samaria! The drunks of Ephraim are proud of that city. It sits on a hill with a rich valley around it. The Samarians think their city is a beautiful crown of flowers. But they are drunk with wine, and this “beautiful crown” is just a dying plant.
“The Lord rejected all my powerful men who were inside the city. Then he brought a group of people against me. He brought them to kill my young soldiers. The Lord has trampled his dearest city like grapes in a winepress.
How terrible it will be for you people who rise early in the morning and go looking for beer to drink. You stay awake late at night, getting drunk on wine.
Your agreement with death will be erased. Your contract with Sheol will not help you. “Someone will come and punish you. He will make you like the dirt he walks on.
He answers, “I walked in the winepress by myself. No one helped me. I was angry, and I trampled the grapes. The juice splashed on my clothes, so now they are stained.