9. Whom would He teach knowledge? And whom would He make to understand the message? Those weaned from milk, those taken from the breasts!
10. For it is: command upon command, command upon command, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little.
11. For with a jabbering lip and a foreign tongue He speaks to this people,
12. to whom He said, “This is the rest, give rest to the weary,” and, “This is the refreshing.” But they would not hear.
13. But the Word of יהוה was to them, “Command upon command, command upon command, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little,” so that they go and shall stumble backward, and be broken and snared and taken captive.
14. Therefore hear the Word of יהוה, you men of scorn, who rule this people who are in Yerushalayim,
15. because you have said, “We have made a covenant with death, and with the grave we have effected a vision. When the overflowing scourge passes through, it does not come to us, for we have made lying our refuge, and under falsehood we have hidden ourselves.”
16. Therefore thus said the Master יהוה, “See, I am laying in Tsiyon a stone for a foundation, a tried stone, a precious corner-stone, a settled foundation. He who trusts shall not hasten away.
17. And I shall make right-ruling the measuring line, and righteousness the plummet. And the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lying, and the waters overflow the hiding place.
18. And your covenant with death shall be annulled, and your vision with the grave not stand. When an overflowing scourge passes through, then you shall be trampled down by it.
19. As often as it passes through it shall take you, for it shall pass through every morning, and by day and by night. And it shall be only trembling to understand the message.”
20. For the bed shall be too short for a man to stretch out on, and the covering shall be too narrow to wrap himself in it.
21. For יהוה rises up as at Mount Peratsim, and He is wroth as at the Valley of Giḇ‛on, to do His work, His strange work, and to do His deed, His strange deed.
22. And now, do not be scoffers, lest your bonds be made strong. For I have heard from the Master יהוה of hosts, a destruction decreed upon all the earth.
23. Give ear and hear my voice, listen and hear my Word.