Isaiah 28:10

Indeed, they will hear meaningless gibberish, senseless babbling, a syllable here, a syllable there. ¹ 

For it is: Do and do, do and do, rule on rule, rule on rule; a little here, a little there."

"For He says, ‘Order on order, order on order, Line on line, line on line, A little here, a little there.’"

He tells us everything over and over again, a line at a time, in very simple words!"

'Da, da, da, da, blah, blah, blah, blah. That's a good little girl, that's a good little boy.'"

For it is one rule after another; one line after another; here a little, there a little.

For it is precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little."

For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept, Line upon line, line upon line, Here a little, there a little."

Indeed, they will hear meaningless gibberish, senseless babbling, a syllable here, a syllable there. ¹ 

¹ tn The meaning of this verse has been debated. The text has literally “indeed [or “for”] a little there, a little there” ( כִּי צַו לָצָו צַו לָצָו קַו לָקָו קַו, ki tsav latsav, tsav latsav, qav laqav, qav laqav). The present translation assumes that the repetitive syllables are gibberish that resembles baby talk (cf v. 9b) and mimics what the people will hear when foreign invaders conquer the land (v. 11). In this case זְעֵיר (zÿ’er, “a little”) refers to the short syllabic structure of the babbling (cf. CEV). Some take צַו (tsav) as a derivative of צָוָה (tsavah, “command”) and translate the first part of the statement as “command after command, command after command.” Proponents of this position (followed by many English versions) also take קַו (qav) as a noun meaning “measuring line” (see v. 17), understood here in the abstract sense of “standard” or “rule.”