A Cornerstone in Zion
14 Therefore, hear the word of Yahweh, O scoffers,
Who rule this people who are in Jerusalem,
15 Because you have said, “We have cut a covenant with death,
And with Sheol we have made a pact.
The overflowing scourge will not reach us when it passes by,
For we have made falsehood our refuge and we have hidden ourselves with lying.”
16 Therefore thus says Lord Yahweh,“Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a tested stone,
A costly cornerstone for the foundation, firmly placed.
He who believes in it will not be disturbed.
17 I will make justice the measuring line
And righteousness the level;
Then hail will sweep away the refuge of falsehood,
And the waters will overflow the secret place.
18 Your covenant with death will be canceled,
And your pact with Sheol will not stand;
When the overflowing scourge passes through,
Then you will become its trampling place.
19 As often as it passes through, it will take you;
For morning after morning it will pass through, anytime during the day or night,
And it will be sheer terror to understand the report.”
20 The bed is too short on which to stretch out,
And the blanket is too narrow to wrap oneself in.
21 For Yahweh will rise up as at Mount Perazim;
He will be stirred up as in the valley of Gibeon,
To work His work, His unusual work,
And to labor in His labor, His exceptional labor.
22 So now do not carry on as scoffers,
Lest your fetters be made stronger;
For I have heard from Lord Yahweh of hosts
Of complete destruction, one that is decreed, on all the earth.