9. Who is the Lord trying to teach?To whom is he explaining a message?Those just weaned from milk!Those just taken from their mother’s breast!
10. Indeed, they will hear meaningless gibberish,senseless babbling,a syllable here, a syllable there.
11. For with mocking lips and a foreign tonguehe will speak to these people.
12. In the past he said to them,“This is where security can be found.Provide security for the one who is exhausted!This is where rest can be found.”But they refused to listen.
13. So the Lord’s word to them will sound likemeaningless gibberish,senseless babbling,a syllable here, a syllable there.As a result, they will fall on their backsides when they try to walk,and be injured, ensnared, and captured.
14. Therefore, listen to the Lord’s word,you who mock,you rulers of these peoplewho reside in Jerusalem!
15. For you say,“We have made a treaty with death,with Sheol we have made an agreement.When the overwhelming judgment sweeps byit will not reach us.For we have made a lie our refuge,we have hidden ourselves in a deceitful word.”
16. Therefore, this is what the sovereign master, the Lord, says:“Look, I am laying a stone in Zion,an approved stone,set in place as a precious cornerstone for the foundation.The one who maintains his faith will not panic.
17. I will make justice the measuring line,fairness the plumb line;hail will sweep away the unreliable refuge,the floodwaters will overwhelm the hiding place.
18. Your treaty with death will be dissolved;your agreement with Sheol will not last.When the overwhelming judgment sweeps by,you will be overrun by it.