(A)These also reel with wine
    and (B)stagger with strong drink;
the priest and (C)the prophet reel with strong drink,
    they are swallowed by[a] wine,
    they stagger with strong drink,
they reel in vision,
    they stumble in giving judgment.
For all tables are full of filthy vomit,
    with no space left.

(D)“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?
10 For it is precept upon precept, precept upon precept,
    line upon line, line upon line,
    here a little, there a little.”

11 (E)For by people of strange lips
    and with a foreign tongue
the Lord will speak to this people,
12     to whom he has said,
(F)“This is rest;
    give rest to the weary;
and this is repose”;
    yet they would not hear.
13 And 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,
(G)that they may go, and fall backward,
    and be broken, and snared, and taken.

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Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 28:7 Or confused by

Now, however, Israel is led by drunks
    who reel with wine and stagger with alcohol.
The priests and prophets stagger with alcohol
    and lose themselves in wine.
They reel when they see visions
    and stagger as they render decisions.
Their tables are covered with vomit;
    filth is everywhere.
“Who does the Lord think we are?” they ask.
    “Why does he speak to us like this?
Are we little children,
    just recently weaned?
10 He tells us everything over and over—
one line at a time,
    one line at a time,
a little here,
    and a little there!”

11 So now God will have to speak to his people
    through foreign oppressors who speak a strange language!
12 God has told his people,
“Here is a place of rest;
    let the weary rest here.
This is a place of quiet rest.”
    But they would not listen.
13 So the Lord will spell out his message for them again,
one line at a time,
    one line at a time,
a little here,
    and a little there,
so that they will stumble and fall.
    They will be injured, trapped, and captured.

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