Isaiah 30

Chapter 30

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;

²Who ^aproceed down to Egypt

Without ^bconsulting ¹Me,

^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.”

⁶The 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;

⁷Even Egypt, whose ^ahelp is vain and empty.

Therefore, I have called ¹her

“^2bRahab who has been exterminated.”

⁸Now 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.

⁹For this is a ^arebellious people, ^bfalse sons,

Sons who ¹refuse to ^clisten

To the ²instruction of the Lord;

¹⁰Who say to the ^aseers, “You must not see visions”;

And to the prophets, “You must not ^bprophesy to us what is right,

^cSpeak to us ¹pleasant words,

Prophesy illusions.

¹¹“Get out of the way, ^aturn aside from the path,

^1bLet us hear no more about the Holy One of Israel.”

¹²Therefore 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,

¹³Therefore 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,

¹⁴Whose 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.”

¹⁵For 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,

¹⁶And 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.

^17aOne 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.

God Is Gracious and Just

¹⁸Therefore 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.

¹⁹¹O 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.

²⁰Although 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.

²¹Your ears will hear a word behind you, “¹This is the ^away, walk in it,” whenever you ^bturn to the right or to the left.

²²And you will defile your graven ^aimages overlaid with silver, and your molten images plated with gold. You will scatter them as an impure thing, and say to ¹them, “^bBe gone!”

²³Then 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.

²⁴Also the oxen and the donkeys which work the ground will eat salted fodder, which ¹has been ^awinnowed with shovel and fork.

²⁵On 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.

^26aThe 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.

²⁷Behold, ^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;

²⁸His ^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.

²⁹You 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.

³⁰And 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.

³¹For ^aat the voice of the Lord ^bAssyria will be terrified,

When He strikes with the ^crod.

³²And 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.

³³For ^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.