Isaiah 28:14–22

¹⁴Therefore hear the word of the Lord, you scoffers

who rule this people in Jerusalem.^*

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

and with Sheol we have an agreement;

when the overwhelming scourge passes through

it will not come to us,

for we have made lies our refuge,

and in falsehood we have taken shelter”;^*

¹⁶therefore thus says the Lord God,

“See, I am laying^s in Zion a foundation stone,

a tested stone,

a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation:

‘One who trusts will not panic.’^*

¹⁷And I will make justice the line

and righteousness the plummet;

hail will sweep away the refuge of lies,

and waters will overwhelm the shelter.^*

¹⁸Then your 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.^*

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

for morning by morning it will pass through,

by day and by night,

and it will be sheer terror to understand the message.”^*

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

and the covering is too narrow to wrap oneself in it.

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

he will rage as in the valley of Gibeon

to do his deed—strange is his deed!—

and to work his work—alien is his work!^*

²²Now therefore do not scoff,

or your bonds will be made stronger,

for I have heard a decree of destruction

from the Lord God of hosts upon the whole land.^*