Bible Strands
Isaiah 28:10
For they hear: “Order on order, order on order, line on line, line on line; a little here, a little there.”
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — God addresses the people of Israel, who have reduced His message to infantile babbling, as He prepares to respond with foreign tongues and mocking lips.
The words — The Hebrew צַו (tzav) literally means “command” or “precept,” while קַו (kav) denotes a “measuring line” or “plumb line.”
The thread — Isaiah 28:13 repeats the phrase to show how God’s word will become fragmented rules for the same audience, while 2 Timothy 3:7 and Jeremiah 11:7 track the pattern of endless instruction that never yields maturity or obedience.
Why it lands — The text demands that readers abandon the pursuit of piecemeal religious formulas and recognize that spiritual maturity requires direct, coherent divine instruction rather than incremental human tradition.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little:
Cross-references
- Isaiah 28:13 Then the word of the LORD to them will become: “Order on order, order on order, line on line, line on line; a little here, a little there,” so that they will go stumbling backward and will be injured, ensnared, and captured.
- 2 Timothy 3:7 who are always learning but never able to come to a knowledge of the truth.
- Jeremiah 11:7 For from the time I brought your fathers out of the land of Egypt until today, I strongly warned them again and again, saying, ‘Obey My voice.’
- Jeremiah 25:3 “From the thirteenth year of Josiah son of Amon king of Judah until this very day—twenty-three years—the word of the LORD has come to me, and I have spoken to you again and again, but you have not listened.
- Nehemiah 9:29 You admonished them to turn back to Your law, but they were arrogant and disobeyed Your commandments. They sinned against Your ordinances, by which a man will live if he practices them. They turned a stubborn shoulder; they stiffened their necks and would not obey.
- Hebrews 5:12 Although by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to reteach you the basic principles of God’s word. You need milk, not solid food!
- Deuteronomy 6:1 These are the commandments and statutes and ordinances that the LORD your God has instructed me to teach you to follow in the land that you are about to enter and possess,
- 2 Chronicles 36:15 Again and again the LORD, the God of their fathers, sent word to His people through His messengers because He had compassion on them and on His dwelling place.
- Isaiah 5:4 What more could have been done for My vineyard than I have done for it? Why, when I expected sweet grapes, did it bring forth sour fruit?
- Matthew 21:34 When the harvest time drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his share of the fruit.