And I will make justice the measuring line
and righteousness the mason’s level.”
Hail will sweep away the false refuge,
and water will flood your hiding place.

The desert owl and the screech owl will possess it,
and the great owl and the raven will dwell there.
The Lord will stretch out a measuring line
and a plumb line over her
for her destruction and chaos.

He has ordained a lot for them;
His hand allotted their portion with a measuring line.
They will possess it forever;
they will dwell in it from generation to generation.

The woodworker stretches out a measuring line,
he outlines it with a stylus;
he shapes it with chisels
and outlines it with a compass.
He makes it according to a human likeness,
like a beautiful person,
to dwell in a temple.

So the Lord cut off Israel’s head and tail,
palm branch and reed in a single day.

sends couriers by sea,
in reed vessels on the waters.

Go, swift messengers,
to a nation tall and smooth-skinned,
to a people feared far and near,
a powerful nation with a strange language,
whose land is divided by rivers.

The channels will stink;
they will dwindle, and Egypt’s canals will be parched.
Reed and rush will die.

No head or tail, palm or reed,
will be able to do anything for Egypt.

Look, you are trusting in Egypt, that splintered reed of a staff that will enter and pierce the hand of anyone who leans on it. This is how Pharaoh king of Egypt is to all who trust in him.

He will not break a bruised reed,
and He will not put out a smoldering wick;
He will faithfully bring justice.

Will the fast I choose be like this:
A day for a person to deny himself,
to bow his head like a reed,
and to spread out sackcloth and ashes?
Will you call this a fast
and a day acceptable to the Lord?

Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand
or marked off the heavens with the span of his hand?
Who has gathered the dust of the earth in a measure
or weighed the mountains in a balance
and the hills in the scales?

“Who will you compare Me or make Me equal to?
Who will you measure Me with,
so that we should be like each other?