⁴ Therefore I said, “Surely these are poor.
They are foolish;
For ^(A)they do not know the way of the Lord,
The judgment of their God.

⁷ “Even ^(A)the stork in the heavens
Knows her appointed times;
And the turtledove, the swift, and the swallow
Observe the time of their coming.
But ^(B)My people do not know the judgment of the Lord.

⁹ “Whom^(A) will he teach knowledge?
And whom will he make to understand the message?
Those just weaned from milk?
Those just drawn from the breasts?
^10 (B)For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept,
Line upon line, line upon line,
Here a little, there a little.”

¹¹ For with ^(C)stammering lips and another tongue
He will speak to this people,
¹² To whom He said, “This is the ^(D)rest with which
You may cause the weary to rest,”
And, “This is the refreshing”;
Yet they would not hear.
¹³ But the word of the Lord was to them,
“Precept upon precept, precept upon precept,
Line upon line, line upon line,
Here a little, there a little,”
That they might go and fall backward, and be broken
And snared and caught.

²² “For My people are foolish,
They have not known Me.
They are ^[a]silly children,
And they have no understanding.
^(A)They are wise to do evil,
But to do good they have no knowledge.”