¹⁴ Wherefore hear the word of the LORD, ye mockers that rule the LORD's people, which is at Jerusalem. ¹⁵ For ye comfort yourselves thus: "Tush, we have made a covenant with death, and with hell we are at an agreement. Though there break out any sore plague, it shall not come upon us. For with deceit will we escape, and with nimbleness will we defend ourselves." ¹⁶ Therefore thus sayeth the LORD God: "Behold, I will lay a stone in Zion, a great stone, a costly corner stone, for a sure foundation: that whoso putteth his trust in him, shall not be confounded. ¹⁷ Righteousness will I set up again in the balance, and judgment in the weights. The tempest of hail shall take away your refuge, that ye have to deceive withal: and the overflowing waters shall break down your strongholds of dissimulation." ¹⁸ Thus the covenant that ye have made with death shall be done away: and the condition that ye made with hell, shall not stand. Yea, when the sore plague goeth forth, ye shall be trodden down under it. ¹⁹ For it shall go forth early in the morning, and continue only that day and that night. And the very fear only shall teach you, when ye hear it. ²⁰ For the bed shall be so narrow that a man cannot lie upon it: And the covering too small, that a man may not wind himself therein. ²¹ For the LORD shall step forth as he did upon the mount Perazim, and shall take on as he did upon the vale of Gibeon: that he may bring forth his device, his strange device: and fulfill his work, his wonderful work. ²² And therefore make no mocks at it, that your captivity increase not. For I have heard the LORD God of Hosts say that there shall come a sudden destruction and plague upon the whole earth.