A Rebellious People

8  And now, go, cwrite it before them on a tablet

and inscribe it in a book,

that it may be for the time to come

as a witness forever.2

9  dFor they are a rebellious people,

lying children,

children unwilling to hear

the instruction of the Lord;

10  ewho say to fthe seers, “Do not see,”

and to the prophets, “Do not prophesy to us what is right;

speak to us gsmooth things,

prophesy illusions,

11  leave the way, turn aside from the path,

let us hear no more about the Holy One of Israel.”

12  Therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel,

“Because you despise this word

and trust in hoppression and perverseness

and rely on them,

13  therefore this iniquity shall be to you

ilike a breach in a high wall, bulging out and about to collapse,

whose breaking comes suddenly, in an instant;

14  and its breaking is jlike that of a potter’s vessel

that is smashed so ruthlessly

that among its fragments not a shard is found

with which to take fire from the hearth,

or to dip up water out of the cistern.”

15  For thus said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel,

“In kreturning3 and lrest you shall be saved;

in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.”

But you were unwilling, 16 and you said,

“No! We will flee upon mhorses”;

therefore you shall flee away;

and, “We will ride upon swift steeds”;

therefore your pursuers shall be swift.

17  nA thousand shall flee at the threat of one;

at the threat of five you shall flee,

till you are left

like a flagstaff on the top of a mountain,

like a signal on a hill.