Isaiah 30:15–22

¹⁵For thus said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel,

“In ^kreturning³ and ^lrest you shall be saved;

in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.”

But you were unwilling, ¹⁶and you said,

“No! We will flee upon ^mhorses”;

therefore you shall flee away;

and, “We will ride upon swift steeds”;

therefore your pursuers shall be swift.

¹⁷ⁿA thousand shall flee at the threat of one;

at the threat of five you shall flee,

till you are left

like a flagstaff on the top of a mountain,

like a signal on a hill.

The Lord Will Be Gracious

¹⁸Therefore the Lord ^owaits to be gracious to you,

and therefore he ^pexalts himself to show mercy to you.

For the Lord is a God of justice;

^qblessed are all those who wait for him.

¹⁹For a people shall dwell ^rin Zion, in Jerusalem; you shall weep no more. He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry. As soon as he hears it, he answers you. ²⁰And though the Lord give you the ^sbread of adversity and the ^swater of affliction, ^tyet your Teacher will not hide himself anymore, but your eyes shall see your Teacher. ^21uAnd your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is ^vthe way, walk in it,” when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left. ²²Then you will defile your carved idols overlaid with silver and your gold-plated metal images. ^wYou will scatter them as unclean things. You will say to them, “Be gone!”