¹⁴ Therefore hear the word of the Lord, you scoffers who rule this people in Jerusalem!

¹⁵ Because you have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with Sheol (the place of the dead) we have an agreement—when the overflowing scourge passes through, it will not come to us, for we have made lies our refuge, and in falsehood we have taken shelter.

¹⁶ Therefore thus says the Lord God, Behold, I am laying in Zion for a foundation a Stone, a tested Stone, a precious Cornerstone of sure foundation; he who believes (trusts in, relies on, and adheres to that Stone) will not ^[a]be ashamed or give way or hasten away [in sudden panic].^(A)