Isaiah 30–31
Judah Warned against Egyptian Alliance
1 “Woe to the arebellious children,” declares the Lord,
“Who bexecute a plan, but not Mine,
And 1cmake an alliance, but not of My Spirit,
In order to add sin to sin;
2 Who aproceed down to Egypt
cTo take refuge in the safety of Pharaoh
And to seek shelter in the shadow of Egypt!
3 “Therefore the safety of Pharaoh will be ayour shame
And the shelter in the shadow of Egypt, your humiliation.
4 “For atheir princes are at Zoan
And their ambassadors arrive at Hanes.
5 “Everyone will be aashamed because of a people who cannot profit them,
Who are bnot for help or profit, but for shame and also for reproach.”
6 The 1oracle concerning the abeasts of the bNegev.
Through a land of cdistress and anguish,
From 2where come lioness and lion, viper and dflying serpent,
They ecarry their riches on the 3backs of young donkeys
And their treasures on fcamels’ humps,
To a people who cannot profit them;
7 Even Egypt, whose ahelp is vain and empty.
Therefore, I have called 1her
“2bRahab who has been exterminated.”
8 Now go, awrite it on a tablet before them
And inscribe it on a scroll,
That it may 1serve in the time to come
2As a witness forever.
9 For this is a arebellious people, bfalse sons,
To the 2instruction of the Lord;
10 Who say to the aseers, “You must not see visions”;
And to the prophets, “You must not bprophesy to us what is right,
Prophesy illusions.
11 “Get out of the way, aturn aside from the path,
1bLet us hear no more about the Holy One of Israel.”
12 Therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel,
“aSince you have rejected this word
And have put your trust in boppression and guile, and have relied on them,
13 Therefore this ainiquity will be to you
Like a bbreach about to fall,
A bulge in a high wall,
Whose collapse comes csuddenly in an instant,
14 Whose collapse is like the smashing of a apotter’s jar,
1So ruthlessly shattered
That a sherd will not be found among its pieces
To 2take fire from a hearth
Or to scoop water from a cistern.”
15 For thus the Lord 1God, the Holy One of Israel, has said,
“In 2repentance and arest you will be saved,
In bquietness and trust is your strength.”
But you were not willing,
16 And you said, “No, for we will flee on ahorses,”
Therefore you shall flee!
“And we will ride on swift horses,”
Therefore those who pursue you shall be swift.
17 aOne thousand will flee at the threat of one man;
You will flee at the threat of five,
Until you are left as a 1flag on a mountain top
And as a signal on a hill.
18 Therefore the Lord 1alongs to be gracious to you,
And therefore He 2waits on bhigh to have compassion on you.
For the Lord is a cGod of justice;
How blessed are all those who 3dlong for Him.
19 1O people in Zion, ainhabitant in Jerusalem, you will bweep no longer. He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry; when He hears it, He will canswer you.
20 Although the Lord has given you abread of privation and water of oppression, He, your Teacher will no longer bhide Himself, but your eyes will behold your Teacher.
21 Your ears will hear a word behind you, “1This is the away, walk in it,” whenever you bturn to the right or to the left.
22 And you will defile your graven aimages overlaid with silver, and your molten aimages plated with gold. You will scatter them as an impure thing, and say to 1them, “bBe gone!”
23 Then He will agive you rain for 1the seed which you will sow in the ground, and bread from the yield of the ground, and it will be 2rich and 3plenteous; on that day byour livestock will graze in a roomy pasture.
24 Also the oxen and the donkeys which work the ground will eat salted fodder, which 1has been awinnowed with shovel and fork.
25 On every lofty mountain and on aevery high hill there will be 1streams running with water on the day of the great bslaughter, when the towers fall.
26 aThe light of the moon will be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be seven times brighter, like the light of seven days, on the day bthe Lord binds up the cfracture of His people and dheals the bruise 1He has inflicted.
27 Behold, athe name of the Lord comes from a 1remote place;
bBurning is His anger and 2dense is His 3smoke;
His lips are filled with cindignation
And His tongue is like a dconsuming fire;
28 His abreath is like an overflowing torrent,
Which breaches to the neck,
To cshake the nations back and forth in a 1sieve,
And to put in the jaws of the peoples dthe bridle which 2leads to ruin.
29 You will have 1songs as in the night when you keep the festival,
And gladness of heart as when one marches to the sound of the flute,
To go to the mountain of the Lord, to the Rock of Israel.
30 And the Lord will cause 1His voice of authority to be heard,
And the 2descending of His arm to be seen in fierce anger,
And in the flame of a consuming fire
In cloudburst, downpour and hailstones.
31 For aat the voice of the Lord bAssyria will be terrified,
When He strikes with the crod.
32 And every 1blow of the 2arod of punishment,
Which the Lord will lay on him,
Will be with the music of btambourines and lyres;
And in battles, cbrandishing weapons, He will fight them.
33 For 1aTopheth has long been ready,
Indeed, it has been prepared for the king.
He has made it deep and large,
2A pyre of fire with plenty of wood;
The bbreath of the Lord, like a torrent of cbrimstone, sets it afire.
1 Woe to those who go down to aEgypt for help
And brely on horses,
And trust in chariots because they are many
And in horsemen because they are very strong,
But they do not clook to the dHoly One of Israel, nor seek the Lord!
2 Yet He also is awise and will bbring disaster
And does cnot retract His words,
But will arise against the house of devildoers
And against the help of the eworkers of iniquity.
3 Now the Egyptians are amen and not God,
And their bhorses are flesh and not spirit;
So the Lord will cstretch out His hand,
And dhe who helps will stumble
And he who is helped will fall,
And all of them will come to an end together.
4 For thus says the Lord to me,
“As the alion or the young lion growls over his prey,
Against which a band of shepherds is called out,
And he will not be terrified at their voice nor disturbed at their noise,
So will the Lord of hosts come down to wage bwar on Mount Zion and on its hill.”
5 Like 1flying abirds so the Lord of hosts will protect Jerusalem.
He will bprotect and deliver it;
He will pass over and rescue it.
6 aReturn to Him from whom 1you have bdeeply defected, O sons of Israel.
7 For in that day every man will acast away his silver idols and his gold idols, which your bsinful hands have made for you as ba sin.
8 And the aAssyrian will fall by a sword not of man,
And a bsword not of man will devour him.
So he will 1cnot escape the sword,
And his young men will become dforced laborers.
9 “His arock will pass away because of panic,
And his princes will be terrified at the bstandard,”
Declares the Lord, whose cfire is in Zion and whose furnace is in Jerusalem.