And these also stagger(A) from wine(B)
    and reel(C) from beer:
Priests(D) and prophets(E) stagger from beer
    and are befuddled with wine;
they reel from beer,
    they stagger when seeing visions,(F)
    they stumble when rendering decisions.
All the tables are covered with vomit(G)
    and there is not a spot without filth.

“Who is it he is trying to teach?(H)
    To whom is he explaining his message?(I)
To children weaned(J) from their milk,(K)
    to those just taken from the breast?
10 For it is:
    Do this, do that,
    a rule for this, a rule for that[a];
    a little here, a little there.(L)

11 Very well then, with foreign lips and strange tongues(M)
    God will speak to this people,(N)
12 to whom he said,
    “This is the resting place, let the weary rest”;(O)
and, “This is the place of repose”—
    but they would not listen.
13 So then, the word of the Lord to them will become:
    Do this, do that,
    a rule for this, a rule for that;
    a little here, a little there(P)
so that as they go they will fall backward;
    they will be injured(Q) and snared and captured.(R)

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 28:10 Hebrew / sav lasav sav lasav / kav lakav kav lakav (probably meaningless sounds mimicking the prophet’s words); also in verse 13

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)

Read full chapter

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.