Isaiah 28:9-22

English Standard Version

⁹^(A)“To whom will he teach knowledge,
    and to whom will he explain the message?
Those who are weaned from the milk,
    those taken from the breast?
¹⁰For it is precept upon precept, precept upon precept,
    line upon line, line upon line,
    here a little, there a little.”

¹¹^(B)For by people of strange lips
    and with a foreign tongue
the Lord will speak to this people,
¹²    to whom he has said,
^(C)“This is rest;
    give rest to the weary;
and this is repose”;
    yet they would not hear.
¹³And the word of the Lord will be to them
precept upon precept, precept upon precept,
    line upon line, line upon line,
    here a little, there a little,
^(D)that they may go, and fall backward,
    and be broken, and snared, and taken.

A Cornerstone in Zion

¹⁴Therefore hear the word of the Lord, you ^(E)scoffers,
    who rule this people in Jerusalem!
¹⁵Because you have said, “We have made a covenant with death,
    and with Sheol we have an agreement,
when the ^(F)overwhelming whip passes through
    it will not come to us,
for we have made ^(G)lies our refuge,
    and in falsehood we have taken shelter”;
¹⁶therefore thus says the Lord God,
^(H)“Behold, I am the one who has laid^[a] as a foundation ^(I)in Zion,
    a stone, a tested stone,
a precious cornerstone, of a sure foundation:
    ‘Whoever believes will not be in haste.’
¹⁷And I will make justice ^(J)the line,
    and righteousness ^(K)the plumb line;
and hail will sweep away the refuge of lies,
    and waters will overwhelm the shelter.”
¹⁸Then ^(L)your covenant with death will be annulled,
    and your agreement with Sheol will not stand;
when the overwhelming scourge passes through,
    you will be beaten down by it.
¹⁹As often as it passes through it will take you;
    ^(M)for morning by morning it will pass through,
    by day and by night;
and it will be ^(N)sheer terror to understand the message.
²⁰For the bed is too short to stretch oneself on,
    and the covering too narrow to wrap oneself in.
²¹For the Lord will rise up ^(O)as on Mount Perazim;
    ^(P)as in the Valley of ^(Q)Gibeon he will be roused;
to do his deed—strange is his deed!
    and to work his work—alien is his work!
²²Now therefore do not ^(R)scoff,
    lest your bonds be made strong;
for I have heard ^(S)a decree of destruction
    from the Lord God of hosts against the whole land.