9“To whom would He teach knowledge,
         And to whom would He interpret the message?
         Those just weaned from milk?
         Those just taken from the breast?

10“For He says,
         ‘Order on order, order on order,
         Line on line, line on line,
         A little here, a little there.’”

11Indeed, He will speak to this people
         Through stammering lips and a foreign tongue,

12He who said to them, “Here is rest, give rest to the weary,”
         And, “Here is repose,” but they would not listen.

13So the word of the LORD to them will be,
         “Order on order, order on order,
         Line on line, line on line,
         A little here, a little there,”
         That they may go and stumble backward, be broken, snared and taken captive.

Judah Is Warned

14Therefore, hear the word of the LORD, O scoffers,
         Who rule this people who are in Jerusalem,

15Because you have said, “We have made a covenant with death,
         And with Sheol we have made a pact.
         The overwhelming scourge will not reach us when it passes by,
         For we have made falsehood our refuge and we have concealed ourselves with deception.”

16Therefore thus says the Lord GOD,
         “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a tested stone,
         A costly cornerstone for the foundation, firmly placed.
         He who believes in it will not be disturbed.

17“I will make justice the measuring line
         And righteousness the level;
         Then hail will sweep away the refuge of lies
         And the waters will overflow the secret place.

18“Your covenant with death will be canceled,
         And your pact with Sheol will not stand;
         When the overwhelming scourge passes through,
         Then you become its trampling place.

19“As often as it passes through, it will seize you;
         For morning after morning it will pass through, anytime during the day or night,
         And it will be sheer terror to understand what it means.”

20The bed is too short on which to stretch out,
         And the blanket is too small to wrap oneself in.

21For the LORD will rise up as at Mount Perazim,
         He will be stirred up as in the valley of Gibeon,
         To do His task, His unusual task,
         And to work His work, His extraordinary work.

22And now do not carry on as scoffers,
         Or your fetters will be made stronger;
         For I have heard from the Lord GOD of hosts
         Of decisive destruction on all the earth.

23Give ear and hear my voice,
         Listen and hear my words.

24Does the farmer plow continually to plant seed?
         Does he continually turn and harrow the ground?

25Does he not level its surface
         And sow dill and scatter cummin
         And plant wheat in rows,
         Barley in its place and rye within its area?

26For his God instructs and teaches him properly.

27For dill is not threshed with a threshing sledge,
         Nor is the cartwheel driven over cummin;
         But dill is beaten out with a rod, and cummin with a club.

28Grain for bread is crushed,
         Indeed, he does not continue to thresh it forever.
         Because the wheel of his cart and his horses eventually damage it,
         He does not thresh it longer.

29This also comes from the LORD of hosts,
         Who has made His counsel wonderful and His wisdom great.

NASB ©1995