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Journey of a Passage

Isaiah 28:9–13

"Precept upon precept" or mocking babble? Tsav la-tsav

"For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line… here a little, and there a little: For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people." The Hebrew tsav la-tsav, qav la-qav may be nonsense syllables (or alphabet drill: tsade and qof are neighbors) with which drunken leaders mock Isaiah. The KJV and the Vulgate (manda, remanda) translate them as words; the library's Greek reads "affliction upon affliction, hope upon hope." Paul quotes vv. 11–12 in 1 Corinthians 14:21.

Same letters, different readings: the consonants agree, but ancient readers vocalized or interpreted them differently

The family tree

Each row is a language or text tradition. Witnesses in the same row may share ancestry, revise one another, or have an uncertain relationship; the line under each box says which. A solid arrow appears only where direct copying or a documented revised edition is established. Order by date never implies copying. Scroll sideways on a phone.

✓ contains it · ✕ does not · ❝ quotes part of it · ⓘ reports on manuscripts · ▢ pages lost · – no copy survives

  • Same line, through lost copies
  • Translation
  • Uncertain connection
Hebrew
  1. The oracle as first spoken or written8th–6th century BC (by section; debated)
  2. Great Isaiah Scroll (1QIsa-a), Qumran Cave 1c. 125 BC (palaeography; reported)Descends, through lost copies, from The oracle as first spoken or written
  3. 4QIsa-c (4Q57), Qumran Cave 41st century AD (reported)Descends, through lost copies, from The oracle as first spoken or written
  4. Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)AD 1008Descends, through lost copies, from The oracle as first spoken or written
Greek
  1. Greek Isaiah (library: Giguet's French)Greek translation c. 2nd century BC; French 1872Translated from the Old Greek Isaiah
Latin
  1. Latin Vulgate (Clementine)Jerome c. AD 400, from Hebrew; edition 1592Translated from the Hebrew text Jerome used
English
  1. King James Bible1611Translated from printed Masoretic Hebrew
New Testament quotation
  1. 1 Corinthians 14:21 (Greek New Testament; library: Statistical Restoration text)1st century AD; edition 2010sUncertain relationship to the verse (which wording it followed is the question)

Every witness, in order

  1. 8th–6th century BC (by section; debated)

    The oracle as first spoken or written

    – No copy survives

    No original survives. The oldest copies of Isaiah are the Qumran scrolls: the Great Isaiah Scroll (1QIsa-a, about 125 BC, nearly complete), 1QIsa-b (1Q8) and some twenty other fragmentary manuscripts.

  2. c. 125 BC (palaeography; reported)

    Great Isaiah Scroll (1QIsa-a), Qumran Cave 1

    ✓ Contains this passageDescends, through lost copies, from The oracle as first spoken or written

    How the site knows this: Described from a published transcription of the manuscript. Described in the site's own words from Martin Abegg's transcription (ETCBC/CACCHT Dead Sea Scrolls dataset v2.0.5); the transcription itself is not reproduced. Photographs and DJD XXXII not yet checked.

    Hebrew numbering: Isaiah 28:9–13. In the transcription the scroll writes the first word of the refrain with yod where the Masoretic Text has vav (tsi la-tsi rather than tsav la-tsav); vav and yod are often hard to tell apart in this scroll, so this may be the transcription's reading of an ambiguous letter rather than a real variant (photograph check open). In v. 12 "they would not hear" has an extra letter. Otherwise the differences are of spelling (fuller use of vowel letters) and small grammatical forms.

  3. 1st century AD (reported)

    4QIsa-c (4Q57), Qumran Cave 4

    ◐ Contains part of itDescends, through lost copies, from The oracle as first spoken or written

    How the site knows this: Described from a published transcription of the manuscript. Described in the site's own words from Martin Abegg's transcription (ETCBC/CACCHT Dead Sea Scrolls dataset v2.0.5); the transcription itself is not reproduced. Photographs and DJD XXXII not yet checked.

    Hebrew numbering: Isaiah 28:9–13. A fragmentary copy: only parts of these verses survive, and in the transcription much of the passage is restored by the editors. The refrain itself is restored by the editors, so this copy does not decide its spelling.

  4. 1st century AD; edition 2010s

    1 Corinthians 14:21 (Greek New Testament; library: Statistical Restoration text)

    ✓ Contains this passageUncertain relationship to the verse (which wording it followed is the question)

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: the Greek New Testament editions in the library (Textus Receptus, Byzantine Textform, Statistical Restoration).

    Ἐν τῷ νόμῳ γέγραπται, ὅτι “Ἐν ἑτερογλώσσοις καὶ ἐν χείλεσιν ἑτέρων, λαλήσω τῷ λαῷ τούτῳ… καὶ οὐδʼ οὕτως εἰσακούσονταί μου”, λέγει ˚Κύριος.

    In the law it is written: By people of other tongues and by the lips of others I will speak to this people, and not even so will they listen to me, says the Lord

    Paul's quotation; wording differs from Hebrew and Greek. KJV: "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."

  5. Jerome c. AD 400, from Hebrew; edition 1592

    Latin Vulgate (Clementine)

    ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from the Hebrew text Jerome used

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Clementine Vulgate (1592 edition).

    Quem docebit scientiam? et quem intelligere faciet auditum? Ablactatos a lacte, avulsos ab uberibus. Quia manda, remanda; manda, remanda; exspecta, reexspecta; exspecta, reexspecta; modicum ibi, modicum ibi. In loquela enim labii, et lingua altera loquetur ad populum istum. Cui dixit: Hæc est requies mea, reficite lassum; et hoc est meum refrigerium: et noluerunt audire. Et erit eis verbum Domini: Manda, remanda; manda, remanda; exspecta, reexspecta; exspecta, reexspecta; modicum ibi, modicum ibi; ut vadant, et cadant retrorsum, et conterantur, et illaqueentur, et capiantur.

    Latin numbering: Isaiah 28:9–13. Jerome translated Isaiah from Hebrew (c. AD 400).

  6. AD 1008

    Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)

    ✓ Contains this passageDescends, through lost copies, from The oracle as first spoken or written

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Westminster Leningrad Codex, a digital transcription of the Leningrad Codex.

    אֶת־מִי֙ יוֹרֶ֣ה דֵעָ֔ה וְאֶת־מִ֖י יָבִ֣ין שְׁמוּעָ֑ה גְּמוּלֵי֙ מֵֽחָלָ֔ב עַתִּיקֵ֖י מִשָּׁדָֽיִם׃ כִּ֣י צַ֤ו לָצָו֙ צַ֣ו לָצָ֔ו קַ֥ו לָקָ֖ו קַ֣ו לָקָ֑ו זְעֵ֥יר שָׁ֖ם זְעֵ֥יר שָֽׁם׃ כִּ֚י בְּלַעֲגֵ֣י שָׂפָ֔ה וּבְלָשׁ֖וֹן אַחֶ֑רֶת יְדַבֵּ֖ר אֶל־הָעָ֥ם הַזֶּֽה׃ אֲשֶׁ֣ר ׀ אָמַ֣ר אֲלֵיהֶ֗ם זֹ֤את הַמְּנוּחָה֙ הָנִ֣יחוּ לֶֽעָיֵ֔ף וְזֹ֖את הַמַּרְגֵּעָ֑ה וְלֹ֥א אָב֖וּא שְׁמֽוֹעַ׃ וְהָיָ֨ה לָהֶ֜ם דְּבַר־יְהוָ֗ה צַ֣ו לָצָ֞ו צַ֤ו לָצָו֙ קַ֤ו לָקָו֙ קַ֣ו לָקָ֔ו זְעֵ֥יר שָׁ֖ם זְעֵ֣יר שָׁ֑ם לְמַ֨עַן יֵלְכ֜וּ וְכָשְׁל֤וּ אָחוֹר֙ וְנִשְׁבָּ֔רוּ וְנוֹקְשׁ֖וּ וְנִלְכָּֽדוּ׃

    For it is tsav la-tsav, tsav la-tsav, qav la-qav, qav la-qav, a little here, a little there (v. 10)

    Hebrew numbering: Isaiah 28:9–13.

  7. 1611

    King James Bible

    ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from printed Masoretic Hebrew

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: King James Version (1769 text).

    Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts. For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little: For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people. To whom he said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear. 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.

  8. Greek translation c. 2nd century BC; French 1872

    Greek Isaiah (library: Giguet's French)

    ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from the Old Greek Isaiah

    How the site knows this: Known here only through a translation.

    À qui avons-nous prédit ces maux? à qui avons-nous porté ce message? À vous qui venez d’être sevrés, vous qu’on vient de retirer de la mamelle. Attendez affliction sur affliction, espérance sur espérance; encore un peu de temps, encore un peu de temps. Avec des lèvres dédaigneuses, en une langue étrangère, Dieu parlera à ce peuple. Il lui dira: Voici le repos de celui qui a faim, et voilà son affliction; et ils n’ont pas voulu écouter. Et la prédiction du Seigneur sera pour eux: affliction sur affliction, espérance sur espérance; encore un peu de temps, encore un peu de temps; afin qu’ils partent, et qu’ils tombent à la renverse; et ils seront broyés, et ils seront pris au piége, et ils périront.

    Greek (digital file) numbering: Isaiah 28:9–13. Giguet's 1872 French of a printed Greek text (D check only); a C check needs Ziegler's Göttingen Isaiah or Rahlfs–Hanhart.

What changed, and why

Classification: a translation problem (meaningful words or babble?); the Greek is interpretive; the Great Isaiah Scroll's spelling of the refrain in the transcription is uncertain (vav/yod).

Verse 11 turns the mockery back: God will speak through the incomprehensible speech of foreign (Assyrian) soldiers (compare Deuteronomy 28:49).

1 Corinthians 14:21 quotes vv. 11–12 as "the law," applying them to tongues; its wording differs from the Hebrew and the library's Greek.

What the evidence shows

  • Plausible, not confirmedTsav la-tsav may be nonsense syllables.
  • Independently documented1 Corinthians 14:21 quotes Isaiah 28:11–12.
  • Not independently verifiedThe Great Isaiah Scroll has a different word in the refrain. The transcription shows yod for vav; the letters are often indistinguishable.

Sources

    Related lessons

    • Isaiah 28: A Precious Corner Stone →Woe to Samaria, the proud crown of Ephraim's drunkards, a fading flower that the storm will trample; God himself will be a crown for the remnant (28:1–6). Judah's priests and prophets reel with wine and mock Isaiah's teaching as baby talk, "tsav la-tsav, qav la-qav"; so God will speak to them through foreign lips (vv. 7–13). Jerusalem's rulers boast of a covenant with death; God lays in Zion a tested, precious cornerstone: "he that believeth shall not make haste"; their covenant will be annulled (vv. 14–22). A farmer's parable: as the plowman knows when to plow and how to thresh each crop, so God's work is measured and wise (vv. 23–29).
    • Investigation: The Great Isaiah Scroll →Found in a cave near the Dead Sea in 1947, the Great Isaiah Scroll (1QIsa-a) is the only complete book of the Hebrew Bible among the Dead Sea Scrolls, about a thousand years older than the medieval codices behind printed Hebrew Bibles. It agrees with the Masoretic Text in most of its words and differs in thousands of small ways: spelling, grammar, scribal slips, corrections, and a few real variants. This investigation explains what the scroll is, how its differences are classified, and which ones matter.