CONDEMNATION OF THE EGYPTIAN ALLIANCE

30 Woe to the rebellious children!i

This is the Lord’s declaration.

They carry out a plan,j but not mine;

they make an alliance,

but against my will,

piling sin on top of sin.

2 Without asking my advice

they set out to go down to Egyptk

in order to seek shelter under Pharaoh’s protection

and take refuge in Egypt’s shadow.l

3 But Pharaoh’s protection will become your shame,

and refuge in Egypt’s shadow your humiliation.m

4 For though hisA princes are at Zoann

and his messengers reach as far as Hanes,

5 everyone will be ashamed

because of a people who can’t help.

They are of no benefit, they are no help;

they are good for nothing but shame and disgrace.o

6 A pronouncementp concerning the animals of the Negev:B

Through a land of trouble and distress,

of lioness and lion,

of viper and flying serpent,q

they carry their wealth on the backs of donkeys

and their treasures on the humps of camels,

to a people who will not help them.

7 Egypt’s help is completely worthless;

therefore, I call her:

Rahab Who Just Sits.r

8 Go now, write it on a tablet in their presence

and inscribe it on a scroll;

it will be for the future,

forever and ever.

9 They are a rebellious people,

deceptive children,s

children who do not want to listen to the Lord’s instruction.

10 They say to the seers, “Do not see,”

and to the prophets,

“Do not prophesy the truth to us.

Tell us flattering things.t

Prophesy illusions.

11 Get out of the way!

Leave the pathway.

Rid us of the Holy One of Israel.”u

12 Therefore the Holy One of Israel says:

“Because you have rejected this message

and have trusted in oppression and deceit,

and have depended on them,

13 this iniquityv of yours will be

like a crumbling gap,

a bulge in a high wall

whose collapse will come in an instant—suddenly!

14 Its collapse will be like the shattering

of a potter’s jar,w crushed to pieces,

so that not even a fragment of pottery

will be found among its shattered remains—

no fragment large enough to take fire from a hearth

or scoop water from a cistern.”

15 For the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, has said:

“You will be delivered by returning and resting;

your strength will lie in quiet confidence.

But you are not willing.”

16 You say, “No!

We will escape on horses”—

therefore you will escape!—

and, “We will ride on fast horses”—

but those who pursue you will be faster.a

17 One thousand will flee at the threat of one,b

at the threat of five you will flee,

until you remain

like a solitary pole on a mountaintop

or a banner on a hill.