Isaiah 30:1–17
Warning against Alliance with Egypt
30 “Oh rebellious children!” ⌊declares⌋a Yahweh,
“to make a plan, butb not from me,
and pour out a libation, butc not from my Spirit,
⌊so as to add⌋d sin to sin.
bute they do not ask of my mouth,
to take refuge in the protection of Pharaoh
and to take refuge in the shadow of Egypt.
3 And the protection of Pharaoh shall be shame to you,
and the refuge in the shadow of Egypt, humiliation.
4 For his officials are at Zoan,
and his envoys reach to Hanes.
5 Everyone will start to stink because of a people that cannot profit them,
not for help and not for profiting,
but for shame and also for disgrace.”
6 An oracle of the animals of the Negev:
Through a land of trouble and distress,
of lioness and lion,
⌊among⌋f them are snake and flying serpent;
they carry their wealth on the ⌊backs⌋g of male donkeys
and their treasures on the humpsh of camels,
to a people that cannot profit them.
7 Fori ⌊Egyptians⌋j help with vanity and emptiness,
therefore I have called this one “Rahab, they are sitting.”
8 Now go, write it on a tablet with them,
and inscribe it on a scroll,
⌊that⌋k it may be ⌊for the time to come⌋,l
forever, forever.
9 For it is a people of rebellion, deceitful children,
children who are not willing to hear the instruction of Yahweh,
10 who say to those who do see, “You must not see!”
and to the seers, “You must not see truth for us;
speak smooth things to us,
see illusions,
11 turn aside from the way, turn aside from the path,
put an end to the holy one of Israel from our face.”
12 Therefore the holy one of Israel says this:
“Because you are rejecting this word
and you trust in oppression and ⌊cunning⌋m
and you rely on it,
13 therefore this iniquity shall come for you like a breach about to fall,
bulging out on a high wall ⌊that breaks⌋n suddenly, in an instant.
14 And he breaks it like a vessel of ⌊a potter⌋o breaks,
that is crushed; he has no compassion,
and no potsherd is found among its fragmentsp ⌊to take fire⌋q from the hearth,
or ⌊to skim⌋r water from the cistern.”
15 For the Lord Yahweh, the holy one of Israel, said this:
“In returning and rest you shall be saved;
your strength shall be in quietness and in trust.”
Buts you were not willing, 16 and you said,
“No! For we will flee on horses!”t Therefore you shall flee!
And, “We will ride on swift horses!”u Therefore your pursuers shall be swift!
17 One thousand ⌊because of⌋v a threat of one,
⌊because⌋w of a threat of five you shall flee,
until you are left like a flagstaff on ⌊top⌋x of a mountain,
and like a signal on a hill.