Isaiah 28:10 For precept must be on precept, precept on precept; line on line, line on line; here a little, and there a little: The passage is commonly used in a sense the very opposite to that in which it was originally employed. It is commonly taken as a grave description of the abundance and variety of the means of grace which God has vouchsafed to the Church; whereas it is, really, a drunken sneer at the poverty and simplicity of the means vouchsafed to the Church of Isaiah's time. No sooner do we turn to the original and study it than the case becomes clear; we see that, beyond a doubt, we not only have here a jibe at Isaiah from the lips of drunken men, but that the verse is so constructed as to imitate their thickened and difficult pronunciation. (S. Cox, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little: |
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