A Cornerstone in Zion

14  Therefore hear the word of the Lord, you oscoffers,

who rule this people in Jerusalem!

15  Because you have said, “We have made a covenant with death,

and with Sheol we have an agreement,

when the poverwhelming whip passes through

it will not come to us,

for we have made qlies our refuge,

and in falsehood we have taken shelter”;

16  therefore thus says the Lord God,

r“Behold, I am the one who has laid4 as a foundation sin Zion,

a stone, a tested stone,

a precious cornerstone, of a sure foundation:

‘Whoever believes will not be in haste.’

17  And I will make justice tthe line,

and righteousness tthe plumb line;

and hail will sweep away the refuge of lies,

and waters will overwhelm the shelter.”

18  Then uyour covenant with death will be annulled,

and your agreement with Sheol will not stand;

when the overwhelming scourge passes through,

you will be beaten down by it.

19  As often as it passes through it will take you;

vfor morning by morning it will pass through,

by day and by night;

and it will be wsheer terror to understand the message.

20  For the bed is too short to stretch oneself on,

and the covering too narrow to wrap oneself in.

21  For the Lord will rise up xas on Mount Perazim;

yas in the Valley of zGibeon he will be roused;

to do his deed—strange is his deed!

and to work his work—alien is his work!

22  Now therefore do not ascoff,

lest your bonds be made strong;

for I have heard ba decree of destruction

from the Lord God of hosts against the whole land.