Isaiah 28:10

10 For [he says]: "Law after law, law after law, line after line, line after line, a little here, a little there."^[a]

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 Indeed, all their tables are covered with vomit; there is no place without a stench.

9 Who is he trying to teach? Who is he trying to instruct? Infants [just] weaned from milk? Babies removed from the breast?

10 For [he says]: "Law after law, law after law, line after line, line after line, a little here, a little there."

11 So He will speak to this people with stammering speech and in a foreign language.

12 He had said to them: "This is the place of rest, let the weary rest; this is the place of repose." But they would not listen.

Footnotes

• [a] Hb obscure; perhaps the mockers of v. 9 are mimicking the prophet's words as baby talk.