Isaiah 28:10

10 For they hear: ^[a] “Order on order, order on order, line on line, line on line; ^[b] a little here, a little there.”

Isaiah 28:10 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 28:10

For precept [must be] upon precept, precept upon precept,
&c.] 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.

Isaiah 28:10 In-Context

8 For all their tables are covered with vomit; there is not a place without filth.

9 Whom is He trying to teach? To whom is He explaining His message? To infants just weaned from milk? To babies removed from the breast?

10 For they hear: “Order on order, order on order, line on line, line on line; a little here, a little there.”

11 Indeed, with mocking lips and foreign tongues, He will speak to this people

12 to whom He has said: “This is the place of rest, let the weary rest; this is the place of repose.” But they would not listen.

Footnotes

• [a] Or For He says or For it is; literally For
• [b] Or Do this, do that, a rule for this, a rule for that; Hebrew sav lasav sav lasav kav lakav kav lakav (possibly meaningless sounds to demonstrate an inability to understand); also in verse 13