And these also (A)reel with wine and stagger from intoxicating drink:
(B)The priest and (C)the prophet reel with intoxicating drink,
They are confused by wine, they stagger from (D)intoxicating drink;
They reel while [a]having (E)visions,
They stagger when rendering a verdict.
For all the tables are full of filthy (F)vomit, without a single clean place.

“To (G)whom would He teach knowledge,
And to whom would He interpret the message?
Those just (H)weaned from milk?
Those just taken from the breast?
10 For He says,
[b](I)Order on order, order on order,
Line on line, line on line,
A little here, a little there.’”
11 Indeed, He will speak to this people
Through (J)stammering lips and a foreign tongue,
12 He who said to them, “This is the (K)place of quiet, give rest to the weary,”
And, “This is the resting place,” but they would not listen.
13 So the word of the Lord to them will be,
[c]Order on order, order on order,
Line on line, line on line,
A little here, a little there,”
That they may go and (L)stumble backward, be broken, snared, and taken captive.

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Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 28:7 Lit seeing
  2. Isaiah 28:10 Heb Sav lasav, sav lasav, Kav lakav, kav lakav, Zeer sham, zeer sham. These Hebrew fragments, imitating the babbling of a child, mock the prophet’s preaching.
  3. Isaiah 28:13 See note v 10. The Lord responds to their scoffing by imitating their mockery, to represent the unintelligible language of a conqueror.

These also stagger because of wine
and stumble under the influence of beer:
priest and prophet stagger because of beer,
they are confused by wine.(A)
They stumble because of beer,
they are muddled in their visions,
they stumble in their judgments.
Indeed, all their tables are covered with vomit;
there is no place without a stench.
Who is he[a] trying to teach?
Who is he[b] trying to instruct?
Infants[c] just weaned from milk?
Babies[d] removed from the breast?
10 For he says: “Law after law, law after law,
line after line, line after line,
a little here, a little there.”[e][f]
11 So He will speak to this people
with stammering speech
and in a foreign language.(B)
12 He had said to them:
“This is the place of rest,
let the weary rest;(C)
this is the place of repose.”
But they would not listen.

13 Then the word of the Lord came to them:
“Law after law, law after law,
line after line, line after line,
a little here, a little there,”[g][h]
so they go stumbling backward,
to be broken, trapped, and captured.(D)

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Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 28:9 Or He
  2. Isaiah 28:9 Or He
  3. Isaiah 28:9 Lit Those
  4. Isaiah 28:9 Lit Those
  5. Isaiah 28:10 Hb obscure
  6. Isaiah 28:10 Perhaps the mockers of v. 9 are mimicking the prophet’s words as baby talk.
  7. Isaiah 28:13 Hb obscure
  8. Isaiah 28:13 The Lord quotes the mockers' words in v. 10 to represent the unintelligible language of the Assyrian invaders.