What Does Isaiah 28:10 Mean in the King James?
For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little:
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The refrain is not simply a ladder of learning: its clipped sound can turn repeated instruction into the baby-talk a contemptuous ear thinks it hears.
THE MEANING
The phrase holds command after command and measure after measure, arriving only a little at a time. Read with its surrounding lines, the clipped refrain sounds like instruction being mimicked as baby talk; the words can be repeated without being received. Its warning speaks now: repetition by itself does not mean understanding, and contempt can make even true words sound empty.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
I can dismiss a truth as childish noise simply because it arrives in repeated, small pieces.
THE ROOT
צַו
tsav
GROWS FROM
צוה
tsavah
To command or appoint; a charge given with authority.
“Precept” can sound like an abstract principle, while tsav is a compact command. Its clipped near-rhyme with qav helps make the refrain sound sing-song, fitting the scornful imitation suggested by the surrounding lines.
ALSO GROWS
mitzvah: Commandment
מִצְוָה
The same root makes the link between this repeated precept and a concrete command unmistakable.
tsivvah: Commanded
צִוָּה
This verb keeps the root active: the refrain repeats what is commanded, not merely a line of thought.
קָו
qav
GROWS FROM
קוה
qavah
To bind or extend like a cord; the noun qav is a measuring line, while the related verb carries the sense of waiting or expecting.
The English “line” can suggest text on a page, but qav is a cord stretched out to mark a measure. The repeated measuring line sounds precise and incremental, yet the surrounding refrain leaves open whether that measure is being received or mocked.
ALSO GROWS
qav: Cord, measuring line
קָו
This is the verse’s own image: one measured mark laid beside another.
tiqvah: Hope, expectation
תִּקְוָה
The related root carries the sense of waiting toward what is expected, adding an image of extension toward a point beyond the present measure.
THE PATTERN
Repeated words disclose the hearer’s posture: received as instruction they can form understanding, but met with contempt they become a refrain of noise and stumbling.
And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.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.In the law it is written, With men of other tongues and other lips will I speak unto this people; and yet for all that will they not hear me, saith the Lord.THE THREAD
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.The refrain returns almost word for word, then names its result: stumbling, breaking, and entrapment. That continuation makes the repeated commands and measures sound like instruction left unreceived, not a promise that more of the same automatically produces wisdom.
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