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.

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — God speaks through Isaiah to the scoffing rulers of Jerusalem who refused His offered rest in the preceding verse.

The words — The Hebrew צַו (tzav) translates literally to "command" or "order," repeated in the phrase "command upon command, line upon line" to describe the fragmented nature of the prophetic message they received.

The thread — This pattern of fractured communication and resulting judgment appears in Isaiah 6:9, is cited in Matthew 13:14, and aligns with the snare imagery of Psalms 69:22.

Why it lands — The text states that rejecting divine rest produces spiritual stumbling and entrapment, requiring the reader to acknowledge that dismissing God’s direct instruction yields concrete consequences.

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

But the word of the Lord was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little; that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.

Cross-references

Matthew 13:14 In them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled: ‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.
Isaiah 6:9 And He replied: “Go and tell this people, ‘Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving.’
Psalms 69:22 May their table become a snare; may it be a retribution and a trap.
Isaiah 8:14 And He will be a sanctuary—but to both houses of Israel a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense, to the dwellers of Jerusalem a trap and a snare.
Isaiah 28:10 For they hear: “Order on order, order on order, line on line, line on line; a little here, a little there.”
Jeremiah 23:36 But refer no more to the burden of the LORD, for each man’s word becomes the burden, so that you pervert the words of the living God, the LORD of Hosts, our God.
Matthew 21:44 He who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, but he on whom it falls will be crushed.”
2 Peter 3:16 He writes this way in all his letters, speaking in them about such matters. Some parts of his letters are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction.
1 Peter 2:7 To you who believe, then, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe, “The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,”
Hosea 6:5 Therefore I have hewn them by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of My mouth, and My judgments go forth like lightning.