14. Therefore, listen to the Lord’s word,you who mock,you rulers of these peoplewho reside in Jerusalem!
15. For you say,“We have made a treaty with death,with Sheol we have made an agreement.When the overwhelming judgment sweeps byit will not reach us.For we have made a lie our refuge,we have hidden ourselves in a deceitful word.”
16. Therefore, this is what the sovereign master, the Lord, says:“Look, I am laying a stone in Zion,an approved stone,set in place as a precious cornerstone for the foundation.The one who maintains his faith will not panic.
17. I will make justice the measuring line,fairness the plumb line;hail will sweep away the unreliable refuge,the floodwaters will overwhelm the hiding place.
18. Your treaty with death will be dissolved;your agreement with Sheol will not last.When the overwhelming judgment sweeps by,you will be overrun by it.
19. Whenever it sweeps by, it will overtake you;indeed, every morning it will sweep by,it will come through during the day and the night.”When this announcement is understood,it will cause nothing but terror.
20. For the bed is too short to stretch out on,and the blanket is too narrow to wrap around oneself.
21. For the Lord will rise up, as he did at Mount Perazim,he will rouse himself, as he did in the Valley of Gibeon,to accomplish his work,his peculiar work,to perform his task,his strange task.
22. So now, do not mock,or your chains will become heavier!For I have heard a message about decreed destruction,from the sovereign master, the Lord who commands armies, against the entire land.