Text: Isaiah 28:13
OT Text Referred to: Isaiah 28:10
Subject: strange speech and judgment
Source: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Reference Type: Direct Quotation
Connection Method(s): None
Significance: Isaiah 28:13 deliberately repeats the exact mocking formula from 28:10 — "Order on order, order on order, line on line, line on line; a little here, a little there" (צַו לָצָו צַו לָצָו קַו לָקָו קַו לָקָו, tsav latsav tsav latsav qav laqav qav laqav). In v. 10, the drunkards of Ephraim ridicule Isaiah's prophetic instruction as childish babbling. In v. 13, God turns their mockery into judgment: the same stuttering sounds become the incomprehensible speech of foreign invaders (the Assyrians), so that they stumble backward and are "ensnared and captured." The identical words function first as contemptuous parody, then as prophetic sentence — their own derision becomes the form of their punishment.