Isaiah 28:14–22

Judah Is Warned

¹⁴Therefore, ^ahear the word of the Lord, O ^bscoffers,

Who rule this people who are in Jerusalem,

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

And with ¹Sheol we have made a ²pact.

^bThe overwhelming ³scourge will not reach us when it passes by,

For we have made ^cfalsehood our refuge and we have ^dconcealed ourselves with deception.”

¹⁶Therefore thus says the Lord ¹God,

“^aBehold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a tested ^bstone,

A costly cornerstone for the foundation, ²firmly placed.

He who believes in it will not be ³disturbed.

¹⁷“I will make ^ajustice the measuring line

And righteousness the level;

Then ^bhail will sweep away the refuge of lies

And the waters will overflow the secret place.

¹⁸“Your ^acovenant with death will be ^1bcanceled,

And your pact with Sheol will not stand;

When the overwhelming scourge passes through,

Then you become its ^ctrampling place.

¹⁹“As ^aoften as it passes through, it will ¹seize you;

For ^bmorning after morning it will pass through, anytime during the day or night,

And it will be ²sheer ^cterror to understand ³what it means.”

²⁰The bed is too short on which to stretch out,

And the ^ablanket is too ¹small to wrap oneself in.

²¹For the Lord will rise up as at Mount ^aPerazim,

He will be stirred up as in the valley of ^bGibeon,

To do His ^ctask, His ^1dunusual task,

And to work His work, His ²extraordinary work.

²²And now do not carry on as ^ascoffers,

Or your fetters will be made stronger;

For I have heard from the Lord ¹God of hosts

Of decisive ^bdestruction on all the earth.