12 He who said to them, This is the. rest, give ye rest to the weary ; and this is the refreshing; and they would not hear.

13 And the word of the Lord shall be unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line ; here a little, there a little; that they may go, and stumble backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.

14 Therefore hear the word of the lord, ye men of scorn, rulers of this people which is in Jerusalem.

15 Because ye have said: We have made a covenant with death, and have made an agreement with hell; the overflowing scourge, when it passeth through, shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and in falsehood have we hid ourselves:

16 Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I am he that hath founded in Zion a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner-, stone of sure foundation; he that believeth shall not be in haste.

17 And I will set judgment for a line, and righteousness for a, plummet ; and hail sweepeth the refuge of lies, and waters shall overflow the hiding place.

9. ‘ ’: lit. hearing.12 init. Or, ‘Inasmuch as he ’ ‘refreshing’: or, ‘quiet.15. ‘an ’ lit. a vision (an interview ?). ‘overflowing’: or, ‘sweeping’: so ver. 18.16. Generally held to be the strict rendering of the pointed Hebrew: in which case A.V. ‘I ’ requires diff. pointing. ‘a tried ’ lit. a stone of proof. ‘of ’ Heb. ‘of founded ’

18 And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; the overﬂowing scourge, when it passeth through, ye shall be for it to tread down.

19 As oft as it passeth through, it shall take you away; for morning by morning shall it pass through, by day and by night; and it shall be sheer vexation to discern the message.

20 For the bed is too short for stretching oneself out, and the covering too narrow when wrapping oneself.