Isaiah 28:10

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:

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
“Law after law, law after law,line after line, line after line,a little here, a little there.”

Hebrew Names Version
For it is precept on precept, precept on precept; line on line, line on line; here a little, there a little.

English Standard Version
For it is precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little."

New American Standard Bible
"For He says, 'Order on order, order on order, Line on line, line on line, A little here, a little there.'"

New Century Version
So they make fun of the Lord 's prophet and say: "A command here, a command there. A rule here, a rule there. A little lesson here, a little lesson there."

Amplified Bible
"For He says, 'Precept upon precept, precept upon precept, Rule upon rule, rule upon rule, Here a little, there a little.'"

World English Bible
For it is precept on precept, precept on precept; line on line, line on line; here a little, there a little.

Geneva Bible (1587)
For precept must be vpon precept, precept vpon precept, line vnto line, line vnto line, there a litle, and there a litle.

Legacy Standard Bible
For He says,‘Order on order, order on order,Line on line, line on line,A little here, a little there.'"

Berean Standard Bible
For He says, "Order on order, order on order, line on line, line on line, a little here, a little there."

Contemporary English Version
You don't even listen— all you hear is senseless sound after senseless sound.

Complete Jewish Bible
so that [one has to use nursery rhymes]? — Tzav la-tzav, tzav la-tzav, kav la-kav, kav la-kav z‘eir sham, z‘eir sham [Precept by precept, precept by precept, line by line, line by line, a little here, a little there].

Darby Translation
For [it is] precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, there a little. …

Easy-to-Read Version
He speaks to us as though we were babies: "Saw lasaw saw lasaw Qaw laqaw qaw laqaw Ze'er sham ze'er sham."

George Lamsa Translation
For filth is upon filth, filth upon filth; vomit upon vomit, vomit upon vomit; a little here, a little there;

Good News Translation
He is trying to teach us letter by letter, line by line, lesson by lesson."

Lexham English Bible
For it is blah-blah upon blah-blah, blah-blah upon blah-blah, gah-gah upon gah-gah, gah-gah upon gah-gah, a little here, a little there.

Literal Translation
For precept must be on precept, precept on precept; line on line, line on line; here a little, there a little.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Commaunde yt maye be commaunded, byd yt maye be bydde, forbyd that maye be forbydde, kepe backe yt maye be kepte backe, here a litle, there a litle.

American Standard Version
For it is precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, there a little.

Bible in Basic English
For it is one rule after another; one line after another; here a little, there a little.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
For it is precept by precept, precept by precept, line by line, line by line; here a little, there a little.

King James Version (1611)
For precept must be vpon precept, precept vpon precept, line vpon line, line vpon line, here a litle, and there a litle.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
For they that be suche, must take after one lesson, another lesson, after one commaundement, another commaundement, for one rule, another rule, after one instruction, another instruction, there a litle, and there a litle.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
Except thou affliction on affliction, hope upon hope: yet a little, and yet a little,

English Revised Version
For it is precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, there a little.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
For whi comaunde thou, comaunde thou ayen; comaunde thou, comaunde thou ayen; abide thou, abide thou ayen; abide thou, abide thou ayen; a litil there, a litil there.

Update Bible Version
For it is precept on precept, precept on precept; line on line, line on line; here a little, there a little.

Webster's Bible Translation
For precept [must be] upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, [and] there a little:

New English Translation
Indeed, they will hear meaningless gibberish, senseless babbling, a syllable here, a syllable there.

New King James Version
For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept, Line upon line, line upon line, Here a little, there a little."

New Living Translation
He tells us everything over and over— one line at a time, one line at a time, a little here, and a little there!"

New Life Bible
For He says, ‘Law on law, law on law, rule on rule, rule on rule, a little here, a little there.'"

New Revised Standard
For it is precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little."

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
For it is - Precept upon precept, precept upon precept, Line upon line, line upon line, - A little here a little there.

Douay-Rheims Bible
For command, command again; command, command again; expect, expect again; a little there, a little there.

Revised Standard Version
For it is precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little."

Young's Literal Translation
For rule [is] on rule, rule on rule, line on line, line on line, A little here, a little there,

New American Standard Bible (1995)
"For He says, 'Order on order, order on order, Line on line, line on line, A little here, a little there.'"

Contextual Overview

⁹ Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts. ¹⁰ For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little: ¹¹ For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people. ¹² To whom he said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear. ¹³ 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.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

For precept: Isaiah 28:13, Isaiah 5:4, Deuteronomy 6:1-6, 2 Chronicles 36:15, 2 Chronicles 36:16, Nehemiah 9:29, Nehemiah 9:30, Jeremiah 11:7, Jeremiah 25:3-7, Matthew 21:34-41, Philippians 3:1, 2 Timothy 3:7, Hebrews 5:12

must be: or, hath been

Reciprocal: Exodus 4:8 - if they Jeremiah 27:14 - hearken Haggai 1:7 - General Matthew 13:24 - put Matthew 15:16 - General Mark 7:18 - General Luke 13:5 - except

Cross-References

Genesis 11:31
And Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran his son's son, and Sarai his daughter in law, his son Abram's wife; and they went forth with them from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan; and they came unto Haran, and dwelt there.

Genesis 32:10
I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and of all the truth, which thou hast shewed unto thy servant; for with my staff I passed over this Jordan; and now I am become two bands.

Hosea 12:12
And Jacob fled into the country of Syria, and Israel served for a wife, and for a wife he kept sheep.

Acts 7:2
And he said, Men, brethren, and fathers, hearken; The God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Charran,

Acts 25:13
And after certain days king Agrippa and Bernice came unto Caesarea to salute Festus.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

For precept [must be] upon precept, precept upon precept,.... Signifying, that they must be dealt with as children were, when first instructed in the rudiments of a language, first had one rule given them, and then another, and so one after another till they had gone through the whole:

line upon line, line upon line; who are taught first to write one line, and then another; or to draw one line, and write after that, and then another; or where to begin one line, and, when finished, where to begin another; for the allusion is to writing by line, and not to a line used in building, as Kimchi and Ben Melech think:

here a little, [and] there a little; a small lesson out of one book, and a small lesson out of another; a little one day, and a little on the next, and so on, that their memories may not be overburdened.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

For precept must be upon precept - This is probably designed to ridicule the concise and sententious manner of the prophets, and especially the fact that they dwelt much upon the same elementary truths of religion. In teaching children we are obliged to do it by often repeating the same simple lesson. So the profane and scoffing teachers of the people said it had been with the prophets of God. It had been precept upon precept, and line upon line, in the same way as children had been instructed. The meaning is, ‘there is a constant repetition of the command, without ornament, imagery, or illustration; without an appeal to our understanding, or respect for our reason; it is simply one mandate after another, just as lessons are inculcated upon children.’

Line upon line - This word (קו qav), properly means “a cord, a line;” particularly a measuring cord or line (2 Kings 21:13; Ezekiel 47:13; see the note at Isaiah 18:2). Here it seems to be used in the sense of “a rule,” “law,” or “precept.” Grotius thinks that the idea is taken from schoolmasters who instruct their pupils by making lines or marks for them which they are to trace or imitate. There is a repetition of similar sounds in the Hebrew in this verse which cannot be conveyed in a translation, and which shows their contempt in a much more striking manner than any version could do - לקו קו לקו קו לצו צו לצו צו כי kı̂y tsav lâtsâv tsav lâtsâv qav lâqâv qēv lâqâv.

Here a little and there a little - In the manner of instructing children, inculcating elementary lessons constantly. It may be observed here that God’s method of imparting religious truth has often appeared to a scoffing world to be undignified and foolish. Sinners suppose that he does not sufficiently respect their understanding, and pay a tribute to the dignity of their nature. The truths of God, and his modes of inculcating them, are said to be adapted to the understandings of childhood and of age; to imbecility of years, or to times when the mind is enfeebled by disease.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Isaiah 28:10. For precept must be upon precept — The original is remarkably abrupt and sententious. The hemistichs are these: -

לצו צו לצו צו כי

latsav tsav latsav tsav ki

לקו קו לקו קו

lakav kav lakav kav

שם זעיר שם זעיר

sham zeeir sham zeeir

For, - Command to command, command to command.

Line to line, line to line.

A little there, a little there.

Kimchi says צו tsav, precept, is used here for מצוה mitsvah, command, and is used in no other place for it but here. צו tsav signifies a little precept, such as is suited to the capacity of a child; see Isaiah 28:9. קו kav signifies the line that a mason stretches out to build a layer of stones by. After one layer or course is placed, he raises the line and builds another; thus the building is by degrees regularly completed. This is the method of teaching children, giving them such information as their narrow capacities can receive; and thus the prophet dealt with the Israelites. See Kimchi in loc., and see a fine parallel passage, Hebrews 5:12-14, by which this may be well illustrated.

My old MS. Bible translates oddly: -

For sende efter sende, sende efter sende:

Abide efter abiide, abiide efter abiide:

Lytyl ther, lytyl ther.

Coverdale is also singular: -

Commande that may be commanded;

Byd that maye be bydden:

Foorbyd that maye be forbydden;

Kepe backe that maye be kepte backe:

Here a litle, there a litle.